Why Do People Have Gold Fish For Pets?
The Question Tho Different Is Quite Similar.....
Many Folks Keep Them For Pets, Or They Just Like The Animals. Some For Meat Production, Some For Egg Production. Some Just To Propagate The Speces..... Or A Combination Of All 3.
Take Coturnix Quail For Example---- They Are The Roach Of The Quail World--- I Mean That In The Best Possible Way! They Normally Have Very Good Hatch Rates, And A High Survival Rate Too. They Can Be Sexually Mature And Reproducing At 6 To 8 Wks Old In Many Cases. They Normally Reach Full Size In 10-12 Wks Of Age. So If You Hatched A Batch And Kept Them As Breeders In 6 Mos Time You Could Easily Be Hatching Eggs From The 3rd Or 4th Generation Birds... Did I Meantion That If Conditions Are Right A Coturnix Hen Can Produce Over 300 Eggs A Year? This Is The Reason Most Are Attracted To Coturnix....
Bob White Speces-- Eh Not So Much..... More Than Likely You'll Have A Year Or So Invested In Them Before You Get 1 Egg. They Dont Lay Nearly As Many Eggs As Coturnix-- Hen For Hen. And They Take Much Longer To Mature Both Physically And Sexually.....
Gambels, Valley, Blue Scale---- See Bob White ---- While They Are Different Speces They Are Pretty Similar In Their Life Cycle
Exotics--- Such As Montezuma, Wood And Some Other Rare And Difficult Speces Are Primarily Done For Speces Propagation And The Owners Enjoyment---- Many Folks Will Invest 300-400 A Pair For These! And The Egg Production From Them Will Be As Low Or Lower Than Bob White, And In Many Cases They Can Be Extremly Hard To Raise And Keep--- These Are For The Folks Who Are Serious About Keeping A Beautiful And Rare Speces
Oh Forgot To Mention Button Quail--- Somewhat Useless For Meat And Egg Production, But They Are On A Time Scale Similar To Coturnix And Quite Colorful--- Some Keep As Pets In The Home. They Are Small, Quiet And Sweet Tho Flighty, And Primarily For Fertile Egg Production And Personal Enjoyment
Hope This Helps! I Gather By Your Posting Either A. You Cant See Any Reason For Them, Or B. You're Curious And Wanting To Look Into Getting Some---- They Are Quite Cool Little Animals--- I For 1 Would Encourage You To Continue To Investigate Them And Further Your Future Addiction---lol