Trials And Tribulations Of Suburban Meat Bird Production

[Morrigan]

Ha, right?! They go right into my pocket, or even sometimes under my shirt, for direct skin contact… probably horrifying to some people but to me their life is precious, even if short, even when I’m eating them at the end of the process… their life is valuable to me, emotionally as well as $$ wise.

Well said. For what they ultimately give me, those little meat birds deserve the best care and attention I can give them.

 

[Birdinhand]

Well, this year, much to my chagrin, Jenks hatchery no longer carries Cornish cross. I did give a decent look for a new source that was still close enough to allow a quick overnight shipment with low mortality and just have not been successful. This, combined with how my wife and daughter no longer eat chicken, I warmed up to my friends idea of raising quail for meat. He kept extolling the virtues, and even started inviting me over for meals. First it was a meal of an already prepared bird, which I found quite tasty. He had mentioned how, since the roosters don’t crow, that a perpetual breeding colony can easily be maintained even in the suburbs of Seattle, where it’s essentially illegal to breed chickens, because roosters are too loud. I was warming up to the idea and so he kept nudging me. One night I showed up at his house and he said, ok, let’s go harvest dinner. We walked out to his coop, selected two quail, walked into his house, used a pair of scissors and dispatched them right there in his sink. I normally wouldn’t go into details about this except my jaw dropped when he dispatched and cleaned two quail on all of 60 seconds, with a pair of scissors, then threw them in a frying pan and added herbs, onions and potatoes. There was hardly any mess, no chicken plucker to deal with, no resting of the meat, no taking the bird off food… it was so easy it could be done with spontaneity and they are much cleaner than chickens. It kind of rocked my world. They were surprisingly tasty and had a reasonable amount of meat on them, as he had been selectively breeding for larger breast size and overall weight. By the end of the evening I was hooked on the idea of giving it a try. He had a pile of eggs sitting in a bowl on his counter which he sent me home with. I popped them into my incubator and a new chapter began. That was less than 3 weeks ago, yesterday they started to hatch. The cutest darn things ever. My kids are now teenagers, but my daughter still got excited about them.

I have been doing some researching on jumbo cortunix and will try ordering some of those eggs once I determine if there is an ideal line to start with and if there are any downsides with the larger bird, that gets up to a pound.

There are several things about this that appeals to me. They still grow out fairly quickly, they can be harvested “as you go”, quickly and cooked right away without being tough and with minimal mess. They are small and dainty, cleaner and just take very little effort to clean. They don’t crow, they can be bread in my back yard… no more relying on mail order for the chicks. The smaller amount of meat actually seems to fit our current need better… no need for an extra freezer and a big production over a week to get them prepped, rested and frozen.

I will update this thread as I gain more experience but I just wanted to pass on this development in case others like me had not come to the realization that quail could actually be a viable source of meat and eggs, one that can be self sustained in a breeding colony due to the fact that the males don’t create a noise ordinance issue that leads to complaints.

 

[Mrs. K]

Birding and-do keep posting about them, I am interested.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I will update this thread as I gain more experience

I'll be watching but I do have one question on rigor mortis. If you cook chicken before rigor mortis sets up you do not have to age it. Mom would cook a chicken immediately after it was killed, rigor was never a problem. If you don't cook it immediately but let rigor set up, it needs to be aged.

The quail you processed was immediately cooked. I wonder what would have happened if you had frozen it instead and eventually cooked it without it being aged? I know you don't have that experience yet but I'll be watching this thread.

I don't do quail but that sounds like a great option.

 

[Birdinhand]

Ridgrunner, I’ve cooked CX without resting and the meat was not as tender as a 3-5 day rest close to freezing. With quail, maybe it’s that it’s smaller and more of a game bird, maybe I expect it to be more chewy, not sure but with the ease of prep, how much cleaner they are, dispatching as a part of overall meal prep just seemed way more doable than with a large chicken. Then again, the novelty may have a lot to do with my excitement, we’ll see if it wears off .

 

[RUNuts]

@Birdinhand Yes! Quail are easy to process and delicious. I raised them for several years and elected to stop. I want you to try and succeed because quail are very tasty.

Look at how @Nabiki raises her quail on her garden beds. She has several articles up on quail.

What cages are you building? I have my cages from recycled wood in my photo book.

Pros:
-smaller footprint in the cages.
-self sustaining colony that will provide a lot of eggs and meat.
-easy to process. They come in meal sized portions.
-no spill feeders easy to make from plastic containers. By no spill, I mean the quail don't throw as much out of the cage.

Cons:
-Messy. Neighbor lady started a colony of stray cats and the free food caused a rat boom. The spilled quailed food contributed. I have my quail cages in the chicken coop and the chickens cleaned up some of the quail food. I rat and mouse proofed the quail cages since the mice were leaving poop in the no spill feeders.

-Buffalo gnats surrounded the quail and left their eyes swollen. The gnats would bite me and the chickens in a nice cloud around the quail. I live near a swamp, so this may not be an issue for you. Watch the flies.

-I didn't get the quail on the ground, so they only ate bought food and generally didn't touch greens. I liked the chickens free ranging the backyard and getting forage. Easier on the food bill.

 

[Nabiki]

I started raising quail because I lived in a suburban area that regulated chickens pretty strictly. Quail do crow, but happy males don't crow much and it's easy to not know what the sound is if you're not familiar with it.

It takes a bit longer to process quail if you like the skin (which I do), but even plucking doesn't take all that long. This article shows a few ways to process quail.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-process-your-quail-including-gory-pictures.75834/

Rigor sets in fast with quail, so if they're not going straight into the pan or pot for cooking, I let them rest for 24 hours before putting them into the freezer.

 

[Molpet]

They come in meal sized portions.

but with a big chicken I only have to take a life and cook once a week. A half of a jake will feed me for a week