Coturnix Quail

[Birdguy]

Thanks for the tag guys! Yes, I raise a few birds, have raised a few types of birds and likely will continue to raise some. Pros:
Coturnix are the "rat" of the bird world. Very quick to mature (most laying fertile eggs at 6 weeks) grow like crazy and lay a ton of eggs. They are a boom for egg production or bird production. They are cheap, super easy to raise and you can have an army of them in no time with a decent incubator. plenty hardy to be kept outside during our weather. Are great for puppies or soft mouthed well trained dogs looking by scent.
Cons:
Wasteful, they will spill more food than almost any other bird, poop a LOT, eating like they do it goes through them quickly and cleaning regimen will be needed if kept inside. Lots of feather dust (again problem if kept inside). Not great flyers. Usually only last a round or two in training a dog (stress out). Can get aggressive strains of birds (males and females can pick others to death in short order, once it starts I replace the entire pen.

They are fantastic for what they are. If raising for eggs or real meat I would only raise jumbos, find a good line of bigger good layers and get started. The jumbos mature at the same rate, will lay as many eggs just bigger and will grow bigger, some get the size of small chukar. If I were on the east side I would make sure in the winter they were protected from rain and wind (even a wrap of clear plastic around the pen works great, also a piece of wood or cardboard to keep feet off the wire when real cold) but for the most part they will huddle for warmth when cold.

I am glad to help anyone however I can with bird stuff, do not hesitate to ask!

[jackelope]

What's your pickled eggs recipe...if you don't mind sharing.

I don’t really have a recipe. I used this one for the boiling. I put them in cold water.

https://practicalselfreliance.com/pickled-quail-eggs/

Don’t really have a recipe. I use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. I got pickling spices and use that. Peppercorns. Put some jalapeño slices in. A bunch of garlic. Whatever else sounds good. Let them sit for 7 days before eating.

[Machias]

Thanks for the tag guys! Yes, I raise a few birds, have raised a few types of birds and likely will continue to raise some. Pros:
Coturnix are the "rat" of the bird world. Very quick to mature (most laying fertile eggs at 6 weeks) grow like crazy and lay a ton of eggs. They are a boom for egg production or bird production. They are cheap, super easy to raise and you can have an army of them in no time with a decent incubator. plenty hardy to be kept outside during our weather. Are great for puppies or soft mouthed well trained dogs looking by scent.
Cons:
Wasteful, they will spill more food than almost any other bird, poop a LOT, eating like they do it goes through them quickly and cleaning regimen will be needed if kept inside. Lots of feather dust (again problem if kept inside). Not great flyers. Usually only last a round or two in training a dog (stress out). Can get aggressive strains of birds (males and females can pick others to death in short order, once it starts I replace the entire pen.

They are fantastic for what they are. If raising for eggs or real meat I would only raise jumbos, find a good line of bigger good layers and get started. The jumbos mature at the same rate, will lay as many eggs just bigger and will grow bigger, some get the size of small chukar. If I were on the east side I would make sure in the winter they were protected from rain and wind (even a wrap of clear plastic around the pen works great, also a piece of wood or cardboard to keep feet off the wire when real cold) but for the most part they will huddle for warmth when cold.

I am glad to help anyone however I can with bird stuff, do not hesitate to ask!

Thank you!  I've read back though a lot of your past post and learned a lot.  I'm already doing the jumbo birds like you recommended.

[Machias]

What's your pickled eggs recipe...if you don't mind sharing.

I don’t really have a recipe. I used this one for the boiling. I put them in cold water.

https://practicalselfreliance.com/pickled-quail-eggs/

Don’t really have a recipe. I use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. I got pickling spices and use that. Peppercorns. Put some jalapeño slices in. A bunch of garlic. Whatever else sounds good. Let them sit for 7 days before eating.

Thanks!

[Machias]

65 quail eggs going in the incubator tomorrow. 

[Machias]

Ended up putting 73 eggs in the incubators.  Had 77 eggs, but 4 would not fit, just had no more room.  I ordered 50 eggs from Southwest Game Birds and they shipped me 60 eggs.  My wife was helping me put them in the incubators and dropped one.  Really honey, that egg made it all the way through the Postal system from Arizona only to be dropped before putting it in the incubator!!      Didn't matter as we ran out of room.  I also bought a dozen eggs from a local breeder and she showed up with 18 eggs.  So I had 18 more eggs than I had originally anticipated.  Shipped eggs don't always have the best hatch rate so I'm hoping for at least a 50% hatch rate.

[Machias]

So update on my last batch of quail eggs in the incubators.  Final quail count, 13 hatched.  Had to assist the last two, not sure they will make it or not. Got 78 eggs, 60 shipped from AZ.  None of those hatched.  Got 18 from a local lady and 13 of those hatched.  Just put in 56 eggs from the local lady.

[jackelope]

Sounds like my wife's experience the first time around.  Her and her friend bought a bunch of eggs from someone through the mail because they wanted good celadon eggs. I think they ordered 36 of them and 15 hatched.

[boneaddict]

Unless the person really knows what they are doing, eggs are incredibly hard to ship to remain viable for hatching.    Lots of money is wasted on eggs especially on ebay.    One of the reasons I had the success I did and the clientele.   

[Machias]

These came from Southwest Gamebirds.  They have have a ton of happy customer's on the Facebook Page Coturnix Corner.  Normally pretty high hatch rates.  But they were shipped out of Phoenix, AZ when they were experiencing 110+ temps.  I will order from them again in the fall when it cools down.  Shipped eggs are always a gamble.  These were packed perfectly and the box arrived with no visible damage.  It's all about how long they sat somewhere and how they were handled.

[boneaddict]

Yes indeed!   I hope you have better luck this next go around.

[jackelope]

My wife’s friend is a poultry collector and breeder. She put together this directory. Might be worth a look.

https://www.theflockdirectory.com

[Jonathan_S]

Columbia Quail in Tri Cities if you want shorter shipping/pickup. When I was in the quail game, I bought from them several times.

[Machias]

Thanks guys!!

[Norman89]

Well I’m now invested in the coturnix quail game too 

Next Homestead Project: Coturnix Quail!