Would you buy quail from a live poultry market to keep as breeding stock?

[Nadeerah]

Hi everyone!

I am very motivated to get into raising quail for meat and eggs. I already have rabbits. And would love to raise some jumbo brown quail.

I live in NYC near a live poultry market, that has the jumbo quail for sale. The price is 6 for $20.

Would any of you buy some to keep as breeders? And how many would a family of 5 need for eggs 3 times per week and meat 2 times a week?

Thanks in advance.

 

[oktx]

Eggs 3 times per week and meat 2 times per week for a family of 5 is a pretty large operation. You'd need to be cycling meat birds pretty regularly. Two quail per adult/child over 12 and 1 per child under 12 is about one meal with sides so depending on your family's needs it could be anywhere from 14 birds per week for meat to 20 or more per week for meat. For eggs, if you had 25 laying females you would get around 150-175 eggs per week. That seems like a lot but it takes about a dozen to make the equivalent of a 3-egg breakfast. That is equivalent to around 14.5 servings per week, give or take.

As to buying from a poultry market, if you don't currently have any other birds, it would be fine but I'd deworm them first thing and check thoroughly for mites, etc. I wouldn't mix birds bought elsewhere with my flock unless I could see the conditions in which they were raised and I would always have a long period of quarantine to make sure I'm not introducing anything bad to my current birds.

 

[Nadeerah]

I don't have any birds. Just rabbit and tilapia. Ok, I'll get the 25 laying hens for eggs and keep them in one pen.

Out of 30 eggs, maybe 20 will hatch and get to 6 weeks/ eating size?

For the meat, should I get 6 hens and 2 roosters for about 30 fertilized eggs per week?

I'm thinking to have the breeders in two separate pens 3 hens to 1 rooster.

4 incubaters and 4 brooders/grow out pens?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I want fresh meat without having to use a freezer.

How do you deworm and check for mites?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Nadeerah]

Eggs 3 times per week and meat 2 times per week for a family of 5 is a pretty large operation. You'd need to be cycling meat birds pretty regularly.  Two quail per adult/child over 12 and 1 per child under 12 is about one meal with sides so depending on your family's needs it could be anywhere from 14 birds per week for meat to 20 or more per week for meat.  For eggs, if you had 25 laying females you would get around 150-175 eggs per week.  That seems like a lot but it takes about a dozen to make the equivalent of a 3-egg breakfast. That is equivalent to around 14.5 servings per week, give or take. 

As to buying from a poultry market, if you don't currently have any other birds, it would be fine but I'd deworm them first thing and check thoroughly for mites, etc. I wouldn't mix birds bought elsewhere with my flock unless I could see the conditions in which they were raised and I would always have a long period of quarantine to make sure I'm not introducing anything bad to my current birds.

 

[TwoCrows]

Eggs 3 times per week and meat 2 times per week for a family of 5 is a pretty large operation. You'd need to be cycling meat birds pretty regularly. Two quail per adult/child over 12 and 1 per child under 12 is about one meal with sides so depending on your family's needs it could be anywhere from 14 birds per week for meat to 20 or more per week for meat. For eggs, if you had 25 laying females you would get around 150-175 eggs per week. That seems like a lot but it takes about a dozen to make the equivalent of a 3-egg breakfast. That is equivalent to around 14.5 servings per week, give or take.

As to buying from a poultry market, if you don't currently have any other birds, it would be fine but I'd deworm them first thing and check thoroughly for mites, etc. I wouldn't mix birds bought elsewhere with my flock unless I could see the conditions in which they were raised and I would always have a long period of quarantine to make sure I'm not introducing anything bad to my current birds.

X2 on the worming and giving them a physical. You have no idea how these birds were raised and many times birds that come from auctions or poultry markets are less than quality. They can even be "spent" birds, (not laying much) or they have physical issues. Folks don't get rid of their good birds.

So keep this in mind as you take a chance purchasing from these place and people you don't know.

Worm them immediately. They will most likely stop laying for a few weeks while they adjust to their new surroundings, so this is the perfect time to worm.

 

[oktx]

I don't have any birds. Just rabbit and tilapia. Ok, I'll get the 25 laying hens for eggs and keep them in one pen.

Out of 30 eggs, maybe 20 will hatch and get to 6 weeks/ eating size?

For the meat, should I get 6 hens and 2 roosters for about 30 fertilized eggs per week?

I'm thinking to have the breeders in two separate pens 3 hens to 1 rooster.

4 incubaters and 4 brooders/grow out pens?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I want fresh meat without having to use a freezer.

How do you deworm and check for mites?

Thanks so much for your help!

You could add a few more laying hens, add 4-5 males in a larger colony pen then hold back 15-20 eggs a week for incubating. If you are incubating your own eggs, you are going to find they have a much higher hatch rate. (I recently had 10/15 of my own eggs hatch from my colony pen) This will also save you having to have separate birds for breeding/meat purposes.

Honestly, I'd start out small and then build up. Start with just the laying birds and see how that works before you try the incubating, growing out and meat processing.

If I'm not mistaken, you probably came here from Jack's site. I started quail last year and it's been a learning process. I began with just a few and now I'm up to a dozen layers and just this Spring began incubating for meat but I learned all the other steps first. It is so easy to get caught up in trying to do too much at once and getting stuck when something doesn't work right.

Also, just fyi, the coop sizes that were recommended there are a lot smaller than what most experienced quail raisers consider humane. Even if we are only raising them for short terms, we are going to have a healthier end product if we follow the advice of people who've been doing it a lot longer versus someone who's done it a year.

 

[Nadeerah]

Great advice thanks!

I will start small, and worm them.

Is there anyone in nyc or nj willing to part with some quail?

You guys are great!

 

[stormseeker]

Great advice thanks!

I will start small, and worm them.

Is there anyone in nyc or nj willing to part with some quail?

You guys are great!

hey nadeerah! i live in the bx. you can read ALL of my posts on jumbo coturnix as i was exaclty where you are just barely 2 mos ago. i chart every bit of my progress i did exaclty what you want to do, rescuing jumbos from my local poultry shop. my flock of 1 male and 4 females are clean and healthy. all girls are laying and fertile. im having great success and attribute alot to the fellow members here. im already giving away eggs and gonna have to consider to sell/trade birds away soon lol. first batch i got 4 of 5. i just hatched 8 of 12 and got another 2 dozen+eggs ready to incubate. id like to be in a group of bird/quail breeders in the local nyc area if there is one. it would be very interesting who we all are and what we have. feel free to message me if you want to meet up and see our setup! yes, you can do this.

 

[Nadeerah]

I took the plunge! I found some golden Italians and some pharaohs quail on Craig's list.. They were hatched February 24, 2014. So I should be having eggs soon.

I have 5 girls and 3 boys. So I will be looking for some more girls.

I decided to start small. And have added an incubator to my wishlist. I am trying to decide between the hovabator genesis or the incuview

 

[stormseeker]

I took the plunge! I found some golden Italians and some pharaohs quail on Craig's list.. They were hatched February 24, 2014. So I should be having eggs soon.

I have 5 girls and 3 boys. So I will be looking for some more girls.

I decided to start small. And have added an incubator to my wishlist. I am trying to decide between the hovabator genesis or the incuview

hurray u did it! now watch them boys dont start attacking each other once theyre mature. Try grouping them 3 or 4 to 1.