Thinking of getting into quails any tips?

[bhaugh]

Thank you. I dont plan to get loads to hatch out first time only 24-36. I heard some can be mean an do plan on culling if they are jerks more meat for the freezer. Any health issues that is commen if any?

They are pretty hearty.

 

[morganalefae]

UPDATE: hubby caved and agreed to let me get quail. I really wanted Italian or golden giant quail (cuz they are pretty) but ultimately i settled on the traditional Japanese quail as they quite literally fall between both the orginal breeds in weight and egg laying abilities and honestly the more i look at them the more i like their plain wild colouring.

We have agreed to get no more the 4 dozen hatching eggs that takes into account non-fertile eggs etc. So we hope to get at least 12 in total but our worse case is hoping for 6 (5 females and 1 male).

I have had quail meat but a long time ago (i liked it) and we agreed that if it turns out we dont like the meat and/or eggs we will chalk it up as a lesson learned and wont breed them or buy more we will let any we have live out their lives (they will become pets for us).

So now its pulling out my incubator cuz in about 4 days to a week ill have my quail hatching eggs. So now its anyone got some quail hatching tips lol. Im super excited!

 

[bhaugh]

Honestly the size is about the same. I've had the larger quail but they really didn't perform in eggs any better than the regular quail. And if your raising for meat you want as many eggs as you can get. Before you buy those big quail I'd ask more questions from the seller because pics are deceiving and what they show doesn't mean the eggs will hatch or that the birds in the pics that you hatch will grow as big.
I've bought eggs from several of the big farms. The best hatches I've had over the years is from backyard people who had a good ration of females to males. And that the birds were happy. I breed for temperament so anything that falls out of cohesiveness is culled. Mean dead birds breed mean birds and you can't collect eggs from dead ones.
I think most start out with pharoh. The birds are easy to sex so you can process the boys faster as they grow out. If you haven't already bought eggs buy from someone who has Italians in the batch. It's fun to get different colors. Some colors are harder to produce than others and remember just like any other bird species, the boys have favorites so just because you have one color doesn't mean the hen will let the roo breed her.

 

[morganalefae]

Honestly the size is about the same. I've had the larger quail but they really didn't perform in eggs any better than the regular quail. And if your raising for meat you want as many eggs as you can get. Before you buy those big quail I'd ask more questions from the seller because pics are deceiving and what they show doesn't mean the eggs will hatch or that the birds in the pics that you hatch will grow as big.
I've bought eggs from several of the big farms. The best hatches I've had over the years is from backyard people who had a good ration of females to males. And that the birds were happy. I breed for temperament so anything that falls out of cohesiveness is culled. Mean dead birds breed mean birds and you can't collect eggs from dead ones.
I think most start out with pharoh. The birds are easy to sex so you can process the boys faster as they grow out. If you haven't already bought eggs buy from someone who has Italians in the batch. It's fun to get different colors. Some colors are harder to produce than others and remember just like any other bird species, the boys have favorites so just because you have one color doesn't mean the hen will let the roo breed her.

I bought from a farm here in the UK they have only a few breeds of quail and they sell all 3 i mentioned in my previous post. Any that are mean will be culled period. Im not going to breed for colours right off the bat im going to breed for temperament and size as that is more important then colours at this point. Never heard of pharoh i dont think they have them here as most are japanese when i did my quick searches.ill defo look into them tho. As far as i know from the farm they say the japanese are easy to sex the males have russet breasts while the females have speckled breasts. If they are any females that dont want breeding by any male then ill make a single ladies cage just for egg production.

 

[morganalefae]

Just got my quail eggs im super excited i ordered 4 dozen i recieved 50 so 2 more then expected which is really nice (im pretty sure i counted right). At got them at 12pm so ill put them in the incubator tomorrow at 2pm as that will be what 26hrs of rest should be good enough right?

Im incredibly greatful for moonridge farm with how quickly they shipped my eggs and how quickly and well packed they were. I will be honest i really hope we like at least quail eggs as i really really want to get some gaint goldens and maybe moonridge farms blue quail for some different colours.

Now i guess i just need to know how ppl get quail eggs out of this without breaking them as they look snug and i got 2 of these bad boys in total.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Just got my quail eggs im super excited i ordered 4 dozen i recieved 50 so 2 more then expected which is really nice (im pretty sure i counted right). At got them at 12pm so ill put them in the incubator tomorrow at 2pm as that will be what 26hrs of rest should be good enough right?

Im incredibly greatful for moonridge farm with how quickly they shipped my eggs and how quickly and well packed they were. I will be honest i really hope we like at least quail eggs as i really really want to get some gaint goldens and maybe moonridge farms blue quail for some different colours.

Now i guess i just need to know how ppl get quail eggs out of this without breaking them as they look snug and i got 2 of these bad boys in total.

Good luck with the incubation! Quails are fricking awesome! Which Bator you using?

26 hours is perfectly fine and Moonridge are awesome, very nice customer service too. Im so tempted to try their blue quails they look amazing! Japanese quail are awesome for here in UK, they don't care about any weather they're brilliant! Proper hardy.

 

[morganalefae]

Good luck with the incubation! Quails are fricking awesome! Which Bator you using?

26 hours is perfectly fine and Moonridge are awesome, very nice customer service too. Im so tempted to try their blue quails they look amazing! Japanese quail are awesome for here in UK, they don't care about any weather they're brilliant! Proper hardy.

I have a german incubator called heka format best £500 i ever spent i normally get 90-95% give or take from my own bred birds and about 60-70% with shipped eggs.

Im tempted but right now i have to hold off as i had to rig my current trays with pipe foam to make the opening between bars smaller im going to turn them myself until the other trays arrive hopefully by the weekend. Found 1 egg with a hole in it sucks but hey 49 eggs going to go in im happy.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I have a german incubator called heka format best £500 i ever spent i normally get 90-95% give or take from my own bred birds and about 60-70% with shipped eggs.

Im tempted but right now i have to hold off as i had to rig my current trays with pipe foam to make the opening between bars smaller im going to turn them myself until the other trays arrive hopefully by the weekend. Found 1 egg with a hole in it sucks but hey 49 eggs going to go in im happy.

Oh okay not heard of it but if it's good then can't complain ahah!

Ahhh hopefully they come soon then! 49 sounds good, you'll have loads of little Chickie's running around soon!!

 

[morganalefae]

Oh okay not heard of it but if it's good then can't complain ahah!

Ahhh hopefully they come soon then! 49 sounds good, you'll have loads of little Chickie's running around soon!!

Got the incubator back in 2017/2018. But unfortunately the guy who decided to sell heka incubators in the UK decided it was to much hassle an packed up shop a few months ago. So had to directly message the german company thankfully after reading most likely my poor german grammar they said i could type in english but thanked me for trying.

I only contacted them 2 days ago bought the trays today and they shipped them out today as well its a great company cant rate them high enough.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Got the incubator back in 2017/2018. But unfortunately the guy who decided to sell heka incubators in the UK decided it was to much hassle an packed up shop a few months ago. So had to directly message the german company thankfully after reading most likely my poor german grammar they said i could type in english but thanked me for trying.

I only contacted them 2 days ago bought the trays today and they shipped them out today as well its a great company cant rate them high enough.

Well that's fair enough, nice of them to do so. If it works, can't knock it! Hadn't heard of them before but they look good!