What to do with Quail?

[sonjab314]

I have recently gotten into the whole thing of poultry including ducks and quineas. I do not have any quail and I was curious why people raise them? Do you raise them as meat birds? Are they released into the wild? Do you raise them to sell their eggs? Are they pets? I have the quail racks for my turner in my bator and I'm thinking about hatching some but I have no idea what to do with them once they hatch.

 

[apc]

I have several color varieties of coturnix quail. I raise som for meat, but most for eggs. They lay right at 6 to 7 weeks and are extremely prolific. I raise them till they are about 5 weeks old and then I sell them (usually for $4-$6) and then repeat

 

[sonjab314]

What do you do with the eggs? Are they big enough to eat or do you just hatch and sell the babies?

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

You can eat quail eggs. They are really good meat birds the best i would say is the bobwhites.

Thanks,
RIrs

 

[apc]

I eat the eggs (greatest egg salad ever!), hatch them (each egg is worth .50-to $1 if it hatches) and make pickled eggs (the hunters absolutely loooooove them. Its a novilty). I raise coturnix just because of their layed back behavior and the fast tur around. I also raise chickens, but the quail pay everyones food bill

And it doesnt take the jumbos much feed to get to market weight, and the meat is delicious!

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

Just curious apc what do you sell that the quail pay the feed bill? Where do you sell them at?

Thanks,
RIrs

 

[apc]

I sell my quail at the sale barn and at local swaps. There are not many breeders of quail around here so the market is good. (expecially with certain ethnic groups).

Many people buy them for eggs, but the majority of my buyers are hunters (use them to train their dogs). And the ones I sell the most of are the "english" (white) qual. Which is rather suprising because some of my other ones are by far prettier

 

[RhodeIslandReds]

Wish I had a good as a market as you.

Thanks,
RIrs

 

[DLS]

I sell the eggs to hatch , & more so lately to eat.
The most money I make is selling the meat. . You got to wach the dates & butcher on time or the feed will eat up your profits. eggs are sketchey at best . they sell & then they don't. I had a guy that bought ALL my eggs for a while but he gave up the quail raising buisness. I hope to get some of his used (new,less than 1 year old ) equipment

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
sometime your market has to be developed

I advertise in a penny paper and like APC I am getting 4-6 $ depending on how many they want to buy. I also sell day old to week old for $1, after a week I start raising the price. I try to encourage folks to wait until 3 week then I can sex about half of the birds DLS is right about the eggs, some weeks I sell 5 dz in 2 days other weeks nobody want them. I have been selling them to employees of asian restaurants here lately I have sold a few dozen to employees of 7-11 every other week. Take out joints are easier to sell to then buffets, buffets with the sushi bars want lots of them I am only getting about 27-32 eggs a day at present. I am kina trying to get to where I can sell enough to the same buffet each day. I have 2 different gentlemen coming over tomorrow to look at / buy some birds. Cold calls to restaurants are kina hard when you first start but after a couple you get the hang of it. good luck