Thinking of raising Quail for meat

[Buttercup Chillin]

They will do better on Gamebird/Turkey starter if you can get it. Non Medicated. The higher the protein the better. If you are growing for meat, grow them fast and process or they will cost you a bunch. They are little big eaters. I did large hatches in the past. Once they are about 3 weeks old for 75 Jumbo Coturnix I go through a50# bag feed a week. With little waste. But think about it, that is not very expensive meat for the table even if the feed is expensive and I pay $17.50 a bag now. I start processing at 6 weeks old.

The type of feeder and waterers you have makes a big difference. Check back posts for the feeder that is "s" shaped cut out of PVC. DH made me one, not fancy by far, but oh my gosh what a change in the feed bill. Very noticable.

I have both glass waterers with the little metal thing through the wire and the little Pop Bottle Cup that you stick through the wire. That's the one mine like the best and I just have extra little cups that I change out and bleach every few days. No biggy.

And yes, I like my breeder cages with paper or old cookie sheets or whatever under them. I give my Breeders a dust bath pan of sand and it gets mixed with the Poo and makes it easier to clean off and less smell too. I have the same set up for the larger grow out cage. I still want another grow out cage though. Winters coming and thats a good time for making up things.

I started with quail to make my life easier than with all the chickens. I still have to many chickens. Only Ducks are easier, I think. But maybe I think so, because its at eye level and I'm not bent over standing on my head to deal with chickens and ducks all the time. It is easier on my back.

Good luck and don't forget to take time to enjoy them.

 

[coturnix2044]

Quote:
I agree, The higher protein you can get will help growth, becuase these little guys eat a LOT.
IMO I would probably keep a few birds in a seperate pen for hatching eggs, and hatch out your meaties, that way your pretty much producing out of nothing but the cost of the cages, feed water, and the incubator or a broody bantam. Either way It pays itself off in the long run, I've already gotten back my investment on about 30 birds, 5 pens, 2 brooders, Misc. bird cages for transport, 3 incubators (fans and turners), wood and tin to make a weather/heat proof over-hang, and feeders, waterers etc.
I do it for the love of the birds and not a source of income other than to pay for what they need and for the meat/eggs I get out of it.
Oh and if you raise them on wire, get some DE, fly traps and the hanging vanilla scented car freshners to help rid the flies, and shovel waste 2-3 X weekly - works greatly
Once you get rolling you'll love it and you'll probably make some mistakes (hopefully not ones that have happened to some of us) and learn what the do's and don'ts are
Ty

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Thanks for the support everybody! I dont know if I'll get pens build yet this fall, we're still working on our brand new coop! I'm going to try though!

 

[Randomhero]

Looks like my turkey/duck mix is perfect for quail! (MidWest Organics, pm for their info)

Question(s):

Can you free range quail? Anyone clip their wings to prevent flying?

Thanks.

 

[Pancholoco]

Well, I would reccomend Coturnix quail.

They mature in 8 to 10 weeks, get fairly big ( I don't have a number, but they hold a bit of meat!

), are quick to incubate, easy to brood, you get lots of eggs from the hens, the list goes on and on!

You can't beat 8 weeks maturity!

Mine started laying after 12 weeks

 

[Randomhero]

Scratch this idea for awhile, after reading more into it I realized I don't have the time for quail this year. Maybe next year

 

[justafew4me]

What a great forum! I have been playing with the idea of raising a few quail for meat also, but on a much smaller scale.. I was thinking 4 hens and a male.. save a few days worth of eggs to hatch a batch to grow out and process and eat the eggs in between times.

 

[quailtrail]

What a great forum!  I have been playing with the idea of raising a few quail for meat also, but on a much smaller scale.. I was thinking 4 hens and a male.. save a few days worth of eggs to hatch a batch to grow out and process and eat the eggs in between times.

That's what we were thinking. And a good test run for chickens. Now that we have 2 baby chicks which my kids named I need to start over as wasn't planning on pets too lol!

 

[CrosStitching]

Are quail noisy? Louder than chickens? Are they good in a backyard setup? And can you eat the extra eggs? And will they eat weeds and produce like chickens or are they all grain?

 

[veggiecanner]

The jumbo browns or Texas A&M are good to raise for meat.
I have 3 rabbit cages set up with one male and 3 females in each.
When they are all laying I should get 54 eggs in 6 days. I'll put those in the incubator. The rest we will eat.
If I do that once a month It should provide 2 people with what we can eat. If that's not enough I'll add one more female per cage.
I have the browns, after I get this figured out I want to add an some groups of the texas A&Ms.
I am not sure I can raise them in the winter, So I may have to increase my numbers so I can put a few up for then.