Starter/ Grower - Quail

[DAttard]

Hi all,
Raising quail for meat, how soon can I switch from starter to grower? Want to process at 10wks max.
Thanks!

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Hi all,
Raising quail for meat, how soon can I switch from starter to grower? Want to process at 10wks max.
Thanks!

I think 2 weeks is reasonable, but I don’t really know. All I know is I bought the big bag of feed and when they were done with that bag, I gave them high protein chicken food and/ or gamebird food. And now all they want to eat is their brother Apollo, and I can’t handle it so I have 5 birds to re home. (The ones trying to eat Apollo are his two little brothers, they keep ripping up his head because he tries to mate with the only 2 female quails I have, and those guys already claimed them. but I can’t keep my birds separate because my farm is set up for free range hens, not caged Coturnix.)

 

[DAttard]

I think 2 weeks is reasonable, but I don’t really know. All I know is I bought the big bag of feed and when they were done with that bag, I gave them high protein chicken food and/ or gamebird food. And now all they want to eat is their brother Apollo, and I can’t handle it so I have 5 birds to re home. (The ones trying to eat Apollo are his two little brothers, they keep ripping up his head because he tries to mate with the only 2 female quails I have, and those guys already claimed them. but I can’t keep my birds separate because my farm is set up for free range hens, not caged Coturnix.)

One roo for 3-4 hens.. put them in the freezer/BBQ. Yummy

 

[Nabiki]

I start transitioning my birds to adult feed at 8-10 weeks.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

One roo for 3-4 hens.. put them in the freezer/BBQ. Yummy

I would, but I done got emotionally attached. Even Apollo is special to me, and he keeps starting fights and getting beat. I tried to release him into the woods, and one of my free range chickens picked him up by the neck and threw him. So I can’t put him in the woods. Because if he doesn’t even run from a dude 15 times his size……. Maybe I should have named him after someone other than the Greek god of war.

 

[DAttard]

I would, but I done got emotionally attached. Even Apollo is special to me, and he keeps starting fights and getting beat. I tried to release him into the woods, and one of my free range chickens picked him up by the neck and threw him. So I can’t put him in the woods. Because if he doesn’t even run from a dude 15 times his size……. Maybe I should have named him after someone other than the Greek god of war.

Aww... lots of logs & branches in the cage to hide help

 

[Susan Skylark]

Please don’t release domestic birds into the wild! It isn’t fair to the bird (starve, freeze, get eaten), is probably illegal, and is never an ethical response to problems with your pets/livestock. Please find someone to wring his neck if you can’t, much more humane!

 

[Nabiki]

I would, but I done got emotionally attached. Even Apollo is special to me, and he keeps starting fights and getting beat. I tried to release him into the woods, and one of my free range chickens picked him up by the neck and threw him. So I can’t put him in the woods. Because if he doesn’t even run from a dude 15 times his size……. Maybe I should have named him after someone other than the Greek god of war.

1 - releasing them into the wild is illegal
2 - coturnix quail are domestic birds with very little survival instinct, so releasing them is a slow, nasty death for them.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

1 - releasing them into the wild is illegal
2 - coturnix quail are domestic birds with very little survival instinct, so releasing them is a slow, nasty death for them.

Yeah I put him in the chicken coop under a laundry basket because when I tried to put him in the woods, he was immediately chased down by all my chickens. They can’t get him when he’s in the basket, and it was like that one scene in Jurassic World when I was at the edge of the woods, recapturing my quail and trying to convince my roosters to back off.

 

[Deanna-Leigh]

Yeah I put him in the chicken coop under a laundry basket because when I tried to put him in the woods, he was immediately chased down by all my chickens. They can’t get him when he’s in the basket, and it was like that one scene in Jurassic World when I was at the edge of the woods, recapturing my quail and trying to convince my roosters to back off.

Quail need proper environment and lots of room to run around in. It seems to me you have improper care for your quail please consider rehoming him as of your attempt to put him in the wild is extremely concerning.