Things I Wish I Knew Before Raising Coturnix Quails 

You forgot to mention that they are so cute!

You forgot to mention the 5-6 MONTHS you have to wait for chickens as opposed to quail the 6-8 WEEKS needed to wait for quail

Things to address here: 1. Quail wasting food is going to happen unless you use a "quail proof feeder", this is something that I absolutely can not recommend enough. The reason they're wasting food is because it entertains them. I have no source for that, I have just been around them enough to know it's true. 2. You seriously won't by quail egg scissors for your eggs? Seriously? You consider a tool that makes your job significantly easier a waste of money? That was like saying "If I have to buy a knife to cut my steak why buy the steak. If I can't just use my hands without my hands getting dirty it's a waste of time". Go to your feed store, or shop online, it costs like 5 dollars and you'll alleviate yourself of having to fiddle around with removing eggshell from the bowl permanently.

I raised quail in my apartment. I kept 4-5 breeding hens with 1 rooster, hatched out eggs in my incubator, and I had all the meat and eggs I could eat. the egg scissors work great. It wasnt fun killing them. I had to learn how to butcher and quick fry them. Finally though, even though I live alone, I just couldnt take the mess any more. and yes the food is a problem b ecause they must have turkey or gamebird feed. but all in all it was a fun experience for this old lady. My daughter just bought a house so when I go to live with her I may do it again.

I loved raising my jumbo coturnix quail … built several cages with pull away poo trays to use for fertilizer ( works miracles in gardens) I kept 6 females with one male in each cage.. had more eggs than I could handle ,kids loved them. Hatched some.. had all the quail meat I could ever need.. easy to clean .. takes less than a minute.. Easiest animal I’ve ever cared for.

You could use a better feeder since they are so messy, it would help tremendously. Try a Tupperware type covered rectangle plastic dish, with holes cut in the side so they must place their heads inside to eat. -Almost no spillage.

I live in a small city. Not sure if I'm legally allowed but even if I was, I wouldn't have the space I want to keep chickens. So I have 12 quail that live in an enclosure I built a little bigger than the footprint of a twin mattress. Quail don't need free range like chickens, make little noise. Very low maintinence. Ans the scissors to open the quail eggs is a one time purchase of like 5 bucks. "If u had to buy something to use something else it's not worth it. " ok now apply that logic to ur whole life. I sell eggs and scissors along w much more at a local farmers market. They're a hit!

I bought 10 quails just for fun during corona Within a year, I ended up with like 200 quails I was eating fried quails and exchanged a bunch of them for turkey and chicken 😂

So let me get this straight, you'll buy quails/fertile eggs, feeders, waterers, bedding, cages, feed but when it comes to a $3 pair of scissors that's where you draw the line? If you're reading this comment please do not go off this video if you're considering quail. If you want them to eat 100% of their food then make a proper feeder, a small plastic container to a 5gal bucket can be used from simple drilling holes in a container to more advanced set and forget PVC elbows in a 5 gallon bucket. As for water there's small drinker bowls with a yellow nipple you can use and have as many or as little as you need hooked up to whatever size container you want, water stays clean and they don't spill any, I have a 30 litre container and have to fill it once a week when growing out a meat bird run and once every 3 weeks for my maintenance flock and I have my birds trained on the nipples within 2 weeks so they are using them successfully before they are even off the heat. The eggs taste better as they have more yolk to white ratio and they are laying in 6 weeks and aren't nearly as hard to keep laying consistently as chickens. The meat is better and easier to process at home than chickens, the males taste just as good as females unlike roosters which are far less tasty than hens and more tough. The video mentions that it feels wrong to raise quail just to eat but chickens lay eggs then you can eat them, you know that it's the same with quail right? What do you do with excess roosters? Unless you are buying hens/quail from a store which is pointless and expensive for meat anyway. I have ducks, chickens and quail for meat/eggs, here's my honest review on the 3 Muscovy ducks: taste amazing, I mean so good, but they escape all the time unless you have a roof and males are dicks to the females, they're big and hard to process and messy! I recommend for advanced homesteaders who want the best meat. Chickens: straight forward, dumb enough to keep in a pen with no roof, good for eggs as size of eggs is ideal and they lay well but for dual purpose they lack as roosters are tough and stringy no matter how fall off the bone tender you cook them, medium difficulty to process, easy to feed as there's heaps available and are walking Composters perfect to process food scraps. Quail: best dual purpose, fast to breed/hatch/lay eggs/ butcher. Lay eggs well and taste better than chickens eggs. Everything wants to eat them so you need a good predator proof enclosure and they cannot be free ranged, eat some scraps like chickens but not as efficiently unless you have many. These guys are pretty aggressive and need to be kept in appropriate male/female ratios too. Best for co-housing with things like guinea pig and rabbits etc. There's pros and cons to every animal but for a small homestead they can't be beaten for eggs and meat in small spaces.

I'm going to raise quail next year. Their space requirements, quick growth, & minimal noise has me sold. Can't do chickens in many cities.

1:40 it is because your feed is a dry commercial feed. Quails need to drink more water to help digestion. I occasionally feed them some scraps lettuce and notice they drink less water.

1) You can sell the fertile eggs for hatching with 3 or 4 hens to a male 2) Sell the eggs, pickled quail eggs are great! 3) Sell as breeding stock 4) Sell for meat! It can take a chicken 13-20 weeks until ready to harvest their meat vs 6-8 weeks for quail. Of course the chickens weight more and harder to harvest. Pro & cons to both!

Crack your eggs on a FLAT surface , not sure why we assume we have to smack em on the edge of something. But it’s life changing when you start using flat surfaces to crack eggs , no shell fragments

In my experience raising quail, they will scratch around and eat what's on the ground just like chickens will. The difference is that humans have kind of bred a lot of the instincts that would be natural out of quail. Being kept on wire over generations and not having access to solid ground, hay, or something similar to scratch in is what I think has done this. So just like with learning where the food is, showing your quail that there's interesting and tasty stuff under their feet can help to reduce food waste. I kind of train my quail to eat from the ground by throwing out dried BSFL and crickets and scratching around in the area with my fingers. They seem to get the message pretty quickly, and if they have times where they've almost emptied their feeders, they will start to clean up the feed they'd previously scratched out of the feeder. I now use scratch-proof feeders, so there's a LOT less waste, but I still throw out bugs and little microgreen scraps and such to them, and they eat from the ground without any issues. As far as their eggs, I eat them, and they're also a part of our pets' raw diets. I don't really have an issue with them being super brittle. That kind of sounds like low calcium. Between free-choice crushed oyster shells and BSFL, my quail get plenty of calcium. I just tap them or cut them open with a light butter knife if I need to crack them open. I also have a little egg boiler for them because they're perfect in salads! They're very easy to keep when in a decent coop on the ground, using the deep litter method, no-drip waterers, and scratch-proof feeders. Fairly quiet, although their noise blends in with natural bird sounds. Not stinky if you're working the deep litter method appropriately and composting old cleaned out litter. And fairly friendly if you handle them and spend time with them regularly. Free-ranging is a no-go, but they can be kept in a moveable coop with no bottom so they always have access to fresh grass (as long as the area the coop is in is well protected from predators). To me, they're a joy to keep and can have little personalities very much like chickens!

This video was such a good watch. To the point and very informative. Thank you!

Quail are really great for keeping in a confined space, like a small aviary or a chicken tractor or a rabbit enclosure. Most chickens don't do well when they are totally confined and I don't like to see these active creatures so restricted in their movement. So quail are awesome for folks with a small yard or city folks with just a balcony. Weight wise they produce a lot of egg for their size and food intake, but require high protein food with a fine structure. If you have the space and are allowed to keep chickens, go with chickens. My bantam wyandottes are practically maintenance free, raise their own offspring, produce lots and lots of eggs and only get a few scoops of wheat and sunflower seeds here and there.

I raise quail pheasant and chickens. We raise chickens for eggs. Quail for meat and eggs. Pheasant for the same as quail. Quail are a very quick turnover. From hatch to laying is about 6-8 week. Pheasant and chickens is more like 5-6 months. If I had to only raise one it would be Quail. I can have thousands (which I have) and no one would even know. You can fit a lot in very little space. They are a must on the homestead in my opinion. Eggs are delicious and yes buy the tool to open them it's cheap. And Quail meat is excellent 👌

I just got quail (already have chickens) and love them. I appreciate this video your video is helpful and entertaining.

A friend of mine had Quails as side project in his farm. They eat and poop alot for their size :) They indeed reach maturity within a month. Male croak is definitely NOT for indoors. Neighbours definitely wont think it as a random wild bird! Quails shed alot and the sand bath thing gets really messy, if your setup is like 2x1x1 cage thats a red flag . When it comes to eating habits quail chicks do not learn as fast as chicken chicks. My friend ended up hand-feeding some of them which never really was the case with chickens.

Excellent video .. I’m thinking about raising some quails in a coop in my backyard. Since they are quieter, hopefully neighbors or association won’t complain.

Quails are awesome I have 50 of them I collect the eggs every day and sell them to my neighbors at a decent price it's actually very easy to take care of them and when it comes down to feed don't spoil them with special feed they will eat the same a a chicken for those of you that don't know.

Get Video and information like this is so beneficial to people just getting into or deciding on. Thanks

The scissors work really well and only cost a few dollars.

Thank you for sharing!

Quail egg scissors are $3. Very useful.

I raised chukars for a few years and they were okay. An old-timer told me about putting cut sod in the coup so they could scratch through it to get bugs, grubs and wild greens. That did make the meat taste more like a game bird and less like a yard chicken. One benefit is the turnaround time for quail; 2 months and they're ready for processing.

They need more water because they’re not getting it from their food. The crumble is very dry so it’s going to dehydrate them. Chickens will eat vegetable and fruits and even raw meat that has a higher water content comparatively. So the reason they need more water is purely to compensate for their diet

How can you not mention how delicious the eggs are? They have a 50-50 yolk to egg ratio - unreal for pickling

I’m hoping the way I’m going to do it is easier as far as cleaning goes. I purchased an A-frame hutch on Amazon that has a little nest box area on one end. I reserved four hens and one male to go in it. I think they’ll have enough room, but my idea is to put a hardware cloth bottom on this little cage and two drawer pulls on each end at the top so that my husband and I can pick it up and put it on different places on the ground so that they can hopefully forage through that and then we’ll never have to clean it because we can put them in a little different spot every day. My plan is to put them inside the shipping container at night so that predators can’t get into the hutch and they are safe from weather. I think this will work out OK for just having five But I will report back how that works out, pros and cons. My chickens were a much larger investment, financially and space wise. But I’m happy to have both.

Thank you for this very informative video! It helped me to decide that I will just stick with chickens👍

Thanks for sharing

I LOVED raising these quails! They were so fun to watch and raise. My babies loved mealworms and crickets. Unfortunately I just don't have the time or space to raise them anymore. 😕

I love quails, because we used to have few in our garden when I was a child. We had them like pets though, not for eating them. Less messy and noisy than hens.

Thanks for your honest viewpoint.

Hey, do you think you could raise quail on the go? The portable aspect might make them the better option for nomadic individuals.

GREAT VIDEO BUDDY. CHEERS

Dashound and Mic'ro chicken's. Awesome content thank you!

Cant have chickens where i live due to noise but sure are lookin into quails

I stuck with chickens after giving a hatch of quail a try and buying an expensive 3 tier cage. I felt like the quail were trapped in a small space and didn’t have much of a quality of life compared to my chickens. They ate a lot compared to chickens who could forage and come back to the coop on their own. Plus, they pooped just as much as they ate and at the end of a week that tray covered in pine shavings would be full! That metal cage I had started rusting with all the poop on it and it went everywhere. Trying to pressure wash it off wouldn’t even work. Trying to keep them inside during winter months meant poop flying everywhere requiring a tarp around the cage to catch flung food which they loved to fling it and poop. While we know there are good nutrients in the quail eggs I’d still rather crack one chicken egg rather than snipping the tops off three quail eggs to get the same result, plus my chickens have a lot more freedom and the hens aren’t trapped in a small cage with a rooster wanting to breed them every five minutes either resulting in them loosing all feathers on their back. That can happen with chickens too but in small cages it will be a guarantee.

one thing you can do to avoid the messy egg is, just grab a small knife from your kitchen. give the egg a little stab and then just cut a bit where you stabbed. It should opened up nice and clean. Is also fast.

Thank you! You just helped me to make my decision to not bay quails. Thank you for all the information. I am staying with low maintenance chickens 😊

what flooring do you use in the quail coop? im planning on getting a coop like a ground one) and don't want any rats to get in and eat my quails

Are yours laying right now? My adventure with Quail started in the fall so still waiting for our first egg. The males are finally crowing but still no eggs.

Something i've found with the hanging water things is that they tend to leak and spill a lot. I've heard it's better to use hamster water feeders with quail.

use the back of a butter knife on the fat end of the egg. and pull it toward your thumb. hope that helps

Cute💖💖

Do you have to deworm or flea stuff? What vet stuff do I need to know so they’re healthy?

The Quail ! Very important to Falconry and healthy Raptors .

Put some mint leaves (from a tea bag or fresh) to harden the egg shells

Theyre sooooo cute

I never put their feed in a container but i also put live meal worms in their pen. Also pinch the top of the egg dont try cracking it

If you have brittle eggs it’s because they aren’t getting enough calcium. Quail eggs are rubbery and fun to try to crack with your fingers.

I really like the idea of quail. they are so sweet. I was offered some the other day, they are so nice! i think that they would be lovely and easy to clean compared to biger birds. I have ducks, chicken meat and egg and turkey.

They are very soft and their feet are sharp.. he crows and she makes cricket sounds

Very interesting, I thought quails might be worth considering because they take less space, but it sounds like they take as much effort as a coop of chickens if not more despite the space saving.

Yep

❤️❤️❤️❤️

I love Quailz

in terms of meat...culling quails has its own terms...when a quail stop producing eggs...that is the time you need to dispose or cull the quail for meat...usually when quails reaches 1 year and 2 months their egg production decreases so that will be the time for you to decide weather you will cull them for meat consumption or you will sell them for petting use.

Get the quail scissors! It makes it so easy!

love it or hate it, they are too cute

Can you harvest quail meat when the laying slows down? Or does it get tough or something as they age?

I'm thinking about quail for my scaley babies. Chicken eggs aren't good for my lizards and quail are perfect food size for my burmese python

❤Sukses always May I know how many day the egg of the birth beacouse I have 4 birth same and the egg almost 2moon

What do you feed them

How are the hens with their maternal behavior?

Crack eggs on a flat surface or use a knife, tap into egg and twist blade to crack, like you would an oyster.

The scissors are not that bad 😂😂😂

My quail eggs are definitely not brittle. They love water I'm finding Bay like a little dish to stand in and wash their feet and then they leave their drinking dish alone just to drink perhaps that's where all the water is going they really like to wash their feet and splash water everywhere

You should buy a quail egg scissor. Greetings from Hungary.

"an egg is an egg" By 'Wanted' 😎

Can you wait for the quail to die naturally before eating?

*buys feed, coops, water buckets, food troughs, live birds to avoid buying 2.39 per dozen eggs* "if I have to buy something to get at my own eggs, it ain't worth it!" Good video tho

Here is a tip when cracking eggs. Do not crack them on the edge of a bowl, instead craxk them on a flat surface like the counter. This will prevent the eggs from falling apart when you separate them into a bowl.

Up the calcium in your quails diet for the egg problem. Crush up oyster shells and let them get at it as desired

A lot of the problems youre having are easy to solve. Use the correct food dishes, cut holeas in food grade tupperware and buy a 3 dollar pair of quail scissors... I use mine to eat the eggs raw. It's like opening a small snack.

There’s no comparison in taste quail vs chicken. I love chicken but the qual are another level. And you hatch out 50/50 males to females and in 10 weeks they are laying or cooking. It cost at $25 per 50lb bag at those prices it’s about $2 to raise a quail to maturity It seems like the quail sell better. Either hatching eggs or live birds. I hatch 50 in a month all are gone. I hatch 50 chickens and 3 months later I still have a few especially roosters. They aren’t good meat birds unless they are Cornish crosses. They are thin and crazy tuff. Crock pot is the way to go all day soaking. I’ll probably keep some production reds for eggs but the rest are going elsewhere soon. Eggs scissor and the proper feeder and life pretty good with quail.

This video took a big twist I was looking for quails as a pet You start off talking about tips for caring for the animal and harvesting eggs which was fine but then towards the end you talk about how the one of the big advantages is how small they are and easy for meat? This video took a big turn

OMG! The egg scissors cost like $4 on Amazon and they last a very long time.

I noticed when raising that the normal colored quail would kill the ones born white yellow etc

Can they handle being in cold weather

Geez I was so pissed watching the one wasting loads of food😐

Smoke quail on the grill with garlic and herb and powdered chipotle and the meat will taste identical to steak no joke

Crack eggs on a flat surface, never on the edge of a bowl or whatever. This stops the shards getting in the egg

Dude I thought you was talking about bathing a quail when you said cleaning a quail

You could sale the quail eggs to snake owners since some snakes only eat eggs and chicken eggs are too big for juvenile snakes

U need to give your quail laying mash

So, raising for eggs, go chickens, but for a personal source of meat, go with the quail?

actually raising quail doesn't require bigger space not like chickens and at the same time feeding quails are much cheaper than the chickens.. Also, in additional quails can lay eggs 4 to 5 eggs per head in one day, so when it comes to egg production or producing new gens of quail hatchers you don't need to worry coz everyday they lay eggs...when your nails reaches 30 to 45 days that is the time they will produce eggs and you will see that the result will be great.

Dam. Its extremely rare to see a video on RU-vid from just a regular guy. Thanks. Answered all my questions in a few minutes

The males say whaaat da craaap

I thought only my cat did that

I wonder why more people aren't getting meat pigeons? I can't find videos on homesteaders raising them. My husband had the idea, because they can partly feed themselves, since they can free range FLYING. If you live where it's more wild, this could be a great, cheap, practical meat.

Food: You say their beaks are only able to manage crumble.....WRONG They are able to eat sunflower seeds they can eat mealworm. Ive seen them chase and group attack a cockroach And one very large spider. They eat leafy greens, you attach the greens to the cage with a rubber band so they can browse. I've never fed mine strawberries but they can be trained to try new things while they are young.

I can actually see Roosters being annoying with their crowing, because they're extremely loud, and even if I am not affected by noises I can see how it would bother others. Male Quail crowing is more hilarious than it is annoying. I cant help but laugh every time I see one.

Quail eggs are great, you just crack the larger side a bit on a flat surface turn that facing up and gently cut the top with a knife or the quail egg scissors you mentioned. I get it probably takes a little getting used to but it soon becomes second nature :)

My chickens don't even look at scraps

Maybe the cats don't finish their food because you keep pouring fresh food on top of the old stuff and when they get down to that old stuff, they stop eating. Next time pour out the leftovers before refilling the bowl and see what happens.

My grandmas quails are loud

I always found quail don’t remember anything, they don’t make pets like chickens they don’t have personalities like chickens. They don’t live very long and they don’t roost. The special scissors for the eggs cost me less than $2 and they are essential if you’re keeping quail for eggs. Quail eggs are far superior to chickens in their health properties they are full of anti oxidants and slightly creamier. In terms of keeping them for interest as well as meat and eggs quail are just plain dumb and each day is day one ground hog day. Chickens do learn and remember and will go inside at night if you have fox issues and cold nights. Without heat quail will die whereas chickens are much more able to keep warm together. Larger body mass and more sense. You can develop relationships with chickens and they will recognise you and come when they see you. Quails just run and hide as if you’re the devil himself. Quail are messy layers meaning you have to hunt for the eggs they could be anywhere, chickens will lay in specific places every day and are reliable layers. Quails give you plenty of eggs, are quiet if you have neighbours who report every trump you make as a noise issue but don’t live more than a few years. Chickens give you plenty of eggs are fun to keep, good meat eating birds and live much longer. Chickens can be really noisy and if you get reported you could find your local council placing a noise order on you. Foxes seem to smell chickens far easier and from greater distances away. Quail don’t smell as much and rats don’t seem as troublesome with quail.