Which breed of Quail lay the largest eggs?

[Danielle27]

Hello, I was wondering which breeds of quail lay the largest eggs? Also, is it okay to mix different breeds of quail together? I live in the city and would like fresh eggs for my family and I. I have read that quail are not incredibly loud birds, so I figured they would be a good fit for us. I am similar with raising chickens, but quail are new to me so any tips are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Chicken-Farmer]

Coturnix Quail lay the largest Quail Eggs. That being said it still takes 5 eggs from my girls to equal 1 chicken egg worth. Do yourself a favor and purchase a cigar cutter or one of the scissor type quail egg cutters from Amazon. The quail eggs are small and difficult to crack without a cutter. You can score the outside of the egg with a knife and then crack, but I find it easier to use the scissor type cutter.
Coturnix are very quiet. The boys do crow, but it's pretty quiet and sounds like a wild bird sound, not a Rooster Crow.
I personally chose to raise Coturnix over chickens because we wanted fertile eggs for hatching and although not prohibited where I live, I didn't want to anger the neighbors with constant rooster crowing.
Coturnix shine in many ways. They hatch in 16 days. They grow extremely fast and the girls start laying about 7-8 weeks. Birds are almost full grown in this timeframe also. I usually butcher at 8 weeks and my birds are 9-10 oz. My breeding birds are 13-14 oz, but they are also a year old. The extra couple of weeks of growth and feed cost aren't worth my time. Others may disagree, but our birds are very large and usually 3 fill me up for dinner.
We have 6 breeding cages comprised of 1 cock to 5 hens. I typically get 25-30 eggs a day in the summer. Right now with the winter darkness laying has slowed down, but the girls will pick back up soon, but I still get 20 eggs a day. I stimulate my birds with a string of Led Christmas lights in the winter for 4 hours each night.
My breeders are housed in individual 3'x2' cages and the birds have more than enough room to move about. I use automatic waterers outside the pens and feeders inside.

Chicken-Farmer

 

[dc3085]

Hello, I was wondering which breeds of quail lay the largest eggs? Also, is it okay to mix different breeds of quail together? I live in the city and would like fresh eggs for my family and I. I have read that quail are not incredibly loud birds, so I figured they would be a good fit for us. I am similar with raising chickens, but quail are new to me so any tips are appreciated. Thanks!

Some people do, but it is a good idea not mix quail breeds. Each breed gets aggressive during its mating season and some like coturnix mate all year long.

Keep chickens and quail separate and use different gloves or disinfect your hands in between handling as chickens carry disease that can be fatal to quail.

In your situation as the previous poster suggested I would go with coturnix. They lay the biggest eggs and they lay them all year long. Bobwhites are the second best layer and only lay 75-100 eggs per year vs a coturnix laying 275-300 eggs each year. Coturnix are also easier to catch if they escape. If you have bobwhites that get out in town the whole neighborhood is going to know about it.

You can also just use a pair regular scissors and cut the skinny end of the egg off. Or cut them against your thumb with a dull knife.

 

[pawtraitart]

Hello, I was wondering which breeds of quail lay the largest eggs? Also, is it okay to mix different breeds of quail together? I live in the city and would like fresh eggs for my family and I. I have read that quail are not incredibly loud birds, so I figured they would be a good fit for us. I am similar with raising chickens, but quail are new to me so any tips are appreciated. Thanks!

I agree, coturnix lay the largest egg. Make sure you get REAL jumbo coturnix out of stock that lay large eggs. Not all flocks are the same. It still takes quite a few eggs to make a meal compared to chickens, but I've found coturnix quail to be prolific layers with friendly personalities.

 

[mrlaff007]

I have to say Butler Bobwhite eggs are bigger than coturnix. Some people aren't familiar with them

 

[dc3085]

My cots lay 13-15 gram eggs on average. No bobwhite will come close to that.