Quail

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PK
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Quail

Post by PK »

Does anyone keep quail? After years of keeping a range of poultry, last spring we decided to add some quail. We got 5 females and 1 male, which is the recommended ratio for one group. They have been prolific layers. We also hatched some. Not knowing how well they would hatch we put 20 in an incubator, 18 hatched and 16 survived. All but one was a female. The result is that we have been somewhat overloaded with quail eggs. They are good to have if you only have a small space and are easy to look after. We use a home made aviary-type construction. They can't free range (notwithstanding avian flu) because they have no homing instinct like chickens.

Mo
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Re: Quail

Post by Mo »

What do you use the eggs for. Are they worth the bother of shelling hem?
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
PK
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Re: Quail

Post by PK »

When it comes to peeling after a while you learn how to peel them easily so they are not a bother. If you can shell them, taking off the outer membrane at the same time the shell comes off without much fuss.
We do the usual thing - add them to salads etc. We also make a quail egg curry.
lancashire lass
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Re: Quail

Post by lancashire lass »

PK wrote: 31 Oct 2022, 21:15 Does anyone keep quail?
Alas no, but I seriously looked into it after I had got my first (4) chickens. Within a few short weeks, the girls were laying too many eggs for my own consumption that I offered some to colleagues at work who insisted on buying them and before I knew it, all my eggs were for sales only. I thought about getting quails to diversify the egg sales and any surplus to feed to the hens (for added protein - I did a lot of research about various feedstuff and egg laying ... perhaps too scientific and technical for DTL posts but looking back through my diary trying to find the posts about "Project Quail", I have been reminiscing about keeping chickens and wondering if I should give it another go. Hard to believe it has been just over 3 years since the last chicken passed away)
Anyway, after building the first chicken run , I was perhaps feeling over confident of my building skills and proceeded to build a Quail House . As the post goes on, I seem to be okay with building big structures but when it came to the smaller things, my skills are not so clever. Not only that, but the one place I could buy the quails didn't always have them in stock so it all fell a bit flat. Remnants of the quail house still remain and then became part of a second chicken run where I used the base (of the raised quail house) as the roof of a home-made chicken coop for 3 new girls. The base eventually became a convenient shelf to dump stuff and has since been taken over by my cat (it is sheltered, dry, and warm in summer and he hides well amongst the clutter - he much prefers that than sleeping indoors)
Sandra M
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Re: Quail

Post by Sandra M »

I do holiday boarding for chickens and ducks in the summer we had some quail stay they lay so many eggs. I like the eggs boiled and put in chicken soup
PK
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Re: Quail

Post by PK »

LL - I did build a quail house but we put some of the ones we hatched we got a second hand rabbit hutch which is a good sized one.
That’s a good way of using quail eggs, Sandra.
nicklincs
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Re: Quail

Post by nicklincs »

I used to keep quail and they laid very well. I tried selling the eggs at the gate along with my chicken and duck eggs however found they hardly sold which i thought was strange as they are quite exspensive in shops.
Mo
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Re: Quail

Post by Mo »

I suppose people who buy them in the shops are looking for a luxury item (for a dinner party?). People who buy at the door maybe want staples, not little fiddly things.
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
nicklincs
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Re: Quail

Post by nicklincs »

You could be right there, and they are a bit fiddly.

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