I've always thought of quail as something you raised for your hunting dogs or something people raised who didn't have a lot of land or restricted land that couldn't have chickens...
These are both reasons to raise quail...
But there are other reasons to raise this neat little bird Coturnix Quail...
- They are easy to care for
- And they are tasty, For both Eggs and meat! The eggs are nice, fluffy and light. I love them! The meat is delicious! Not like anything else we raise.
- They have to be the easiest things we've ever processed. 3 to 5 minutes per bird!! Total!! It takes me 12 to 15 to pluck a Pekin duck on a good day if we slaughter at the proper time before the big pin feathers come in and that doesn't include kill time or cleaning out the guts. Muscovies and geese take At least 40 minutes per bird unless I use a plucker. Yeah, it's a lot more me that's that's a lot of time.
But sometimes it's nice to have something so fast to get in the freezer and not as dramatic to kill. Geese and Muscovies do not go down easy ☹️
Makes it harder and sadder to me.
But they can't all be breeders and to many males hurt the females. So it's part of life here.
The downsides, Let me start by saying, they are not a low input animal!
Yes, I said they are easy to keep and daily care... Especially if you just want them for eggs. They start laying at just around 8 weeks! Lay around 300 eggs a year. Feed, water, gather eggs..simple.
The high input comes in with the feed. Most animals with that fast of a growth rate and that much output are going to have higher inputs on feed though.
They need fairly high protein food and eat quite a lot, as most poultry does.
They can't really even be free ranged easily. So all their food needs must come from you.
Though this lady does raise them in cages on the ground which gives them a happier life maybe it wasn't something I had time to venture into when I first got Coturnix quail. Solutions for Ground Raised Quail
They are also high input if you want meat or replacement layers. They won't brood their eggs so you have to collect, incubate and brood Every time you want new quail. If you love brooding chicks this will not be a bad thing for you! With my gardens being so big I honestly get tight on time and have a hard time keeping up with brooding frequently enough for meat.
So why raise Coturnix quail for a farm that has no restrictions & enough land to raise lesser input livestock?
Besides being easy to care for day to day.
They are very high output!!! And from what I can see very Efficient!! A steady supply of gourmet meat and different tasting eggs from the other egg layers I raise.
Yes, please!
Loads of their eggs fit in the incubator. So even if you just get a 50% hatch rate you should still have plenty of quail. Though I see most people getting 60 and up to 75% hatch rates. Incubating and Brooding birds isn't something everyone enjoys. If you're one of those people quail wouldn't be a good fit obviously!
Always having to incubate and brood would become a huge drudgery if you hate it.
Here is a good book I bought, that I really liked on raising quail (I'm NOT an affilate I just really liked this book) Urban Quail Keeping
So Fast eggs, fast meat... Outstanding taste. Easy care...
All good reasons to give them a try!
Plus I'm able to make good use of all those rabbit hutches I've got!
We tried to raise meat rabbits for 4 years and I tried angora rabbits for a couple of years. You can read more about that here if you like Raising Rabbits for meat or Fiber
Hoping these will fit in much better!
😃😃
Have a blessed weekend! and check out our pinterest boards for more homesteader Ideas! Homestead and Horse Boards
UPDATE: here's a post made a while after this one that has a more 'pros and cons' approach
*All pictures on my blog are real pictures from our farm of our actual livestock, past or present and our gardens, or places we have been. They are NOT purchased stock photos.
