I have raised quail now for 7 years. I have at any given time about 60 quail. I have 11 consistent buyers for the eggs and barter & trade at farmers' Markets the meat for almost 100% of my fruits and veggie that I don't grow myself. After the cost of feed, the eggs & meat generate cash of about $200 and more fruit and veggies than the wife, and I can eat. It's fun as well. I produce this in a Shed that is 15X15; I have eight cages combined. I pickle the eggs, and I sit and watch your videos while cracking eggs for scrambling throughout the week. You are good at your math for Quail. Great job. enjoy the Authenticity.
Just wonderful, I been tryin to find out about "quail indoors" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (just google it ) ? It is a good one of a kind guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail minus the hard work. Ive heard some amazing things about it and my neighbour got great results with it.
This was great, I been tryin to find out about "raising bobwhite quail for profit" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? It is a smashing one of a kind guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail without the headache. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my colleague got great results with it.
This was great, been searching for "raising quail chicks" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (do a search on google ) ? It is an awesome exclusive guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail without the headache. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my work buddy got cool results with it.
The positive thing about quail is that they are small, require less room and there is a demand for both the eggs and the birds for meat. In my area the eggs can be sold at farmer's markets or from a roadside stand. The birds can be sold live and the buyer instructed on how to dress them. This eliminates issues with the pure foods laws.
Yes, but they are smaller and require less space in exact proportion to the volume of eggs and meat they produce. So, I chicken gives you the same amount of meat and eggs as, what, 4-6 quail? As he says in the video, one quail per person. So I need 5 quail to feed my family supper tonight. Or 1 chicken. So I'm not so sure there's a benefit to raising quail, especially since it takes longer to butcher 5 quail than it does 1 chicken.
@@자시엘 Can you elaborate with some examples of how raising quail are easier than standard meat chickens? I'm legitimately interested because my chickens are so easy, they're almost on autopilot. I'd raise quail but it seems like a lot of egg collecting and skinning, compared to chickens... and the only thing anybody ever says as a counter argument is that quails are "easier" without ever specifically explaining why.
@@esperago mostly autopilot. Basically. Also depending where you are it can be cheaper to feed and maintain their health Also they grow fast as heck which is why many people prefer quail.
@@자시엘 if you can get Cornish cross meat breed chickens, they grow freakishly fast. Most people can butcher them between 6 to 8 weeks. They don't do great in extreme heat though. Their bodies undergo a lot of stress from growing so quickly.
This was great, I been tryin to find out about "keeping quail outside" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (just google it ) ? It is an awesome one of a kind guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail minus the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my colleague got amazing results with it.
Thinking along the lines of 35 eggs per week, and ending up with 3 meals, if you took the eggs each week and incubated (3 incubators on the go) you could put each hatchlings into a pen until ready to eat, and once you’ve had your first 3 meals you’d only have to wait another week for 3 more meals. This would work if you had enough pens, alternatively you could incubate eggs every other week and have half the amount of pens. If you incubated each week and processed each week you would, in theory, have 12x6 (72) quails all growing, plus the original 7........That’s a lot of quail and a lot of feed but a very sustainable way of feeding your family 3 days per week 😊
You one of the best gardening TH-camrs. You have a positive and abundant mindset rather than a negative and lacking mindset You’ll make a video on “10 good reasons to do ____” and won’t make “10 good reasons to not do ____” 👍🏽
I realize this video is 5 years old and you may not be answering questions from the comments, but the video was quite helpful to me, and I have a question about your keeping your birds in a large outdoor enclosure versus i small cages indoors. 1. Do you find that you have more rodent problems, 2. Do you have any trouble with contamination from wild birds (especially now with all the bird flu), mites, etc. 3. How do you tell your breeding stock from the new birds you are raising out, and 4. Do you have any difficulty with the older birds accepting the newer ones? Thank you!
If you plant mint and other strong-smelling herbs around the perimeter of the enclosure, marigolds, etc., you will deter rodents and snakes, and add to the health of your birds, who will eat any leaves and flowers they can reach. Mountain mint, native to the South, is rumored to be less invasive than other members of the mint family. So is pennyroyal, which is useful as a ground cover in shady areas, and under other plants. Outdoor enclosures should always include a rain cover, which should prevent outside birds' poop from winding up in the enclosure, and help prevent contamination. Breeding stock should ALWAYS be kept separately from the main flock, so if your flock DOES get infected, it won't take out your breeders too. Quails are pretty mild tempered, as long as they have enough room, and as long as there aren't too many males vs. females. Roosters can be pretty brutal to each other, so overcrowding is never a good idea, and any real bullies should be culled.
Years ago your videos inspired me to refurbish my smallholding into a little more self sufficient place. After nearly 3 years my first two groups of layer type quails finally started to slow down with production and die off. Often I told myself that quail are not worth the effort and cost of their feed, that I'm better off with just chickens and geese outside. But the fewer birds I had left and fewer eggs I got, the more I started to miss them, even if for their absolutely "head empty" kinds of antics. So this year I got eggs from mixbreed quails from various dual purpose and meat breeds. Went back to this video and realised just how much has changed because I stumbled upon your channel and got inspired to get off my butt to do something useful. Many thanks.
Some info from a Professional Quail Breeder: 2, 3 or 4 "typical" quails a sitting is more reasonable. But of course it depends on the appetite of the individual and the quail's weight. There are jumbo quail which are larger, thus less would be needed. But 1 quail a person is very very little. A ration of 1 male for 3 females is a very good ratio. But note that male quails eat and don’t lay eggs, thus it’s common for some breeders to have a ratio of 1:4 or 1:5 The more females to male ratio the less the fertility potential (it could make a difference or it might not, depending on the male quail you have) A 1 male for 3 females is the best ratio, if you have a higher male to female ration is actually counterproductive due to more fighting. This unless you keep your male quails separate with their females. A typical quail egg is the equivalent of 1 chicken egg. Quails lay around 1 egg a day, and this is normally where they excel, eating the quail itself is not as much cost effective as eating their eggs. Quails come in a variety of subspecies (not exactly called this way but it’s easier to understand if this term is used), some are best for meat(they grow larger in size at a faster rate), others for eggs, others as a general purpose. I hope the info helps!
I love all your content. But I really enjoy the Mini Zoo contents. Call it repetitive but it’s always fascinating just watching the quail and the habitat, it’s just satisfying. Please continue. Cheers.
Have been watching almost every single video you put out. Also on your secondary channel... I´m crazy, yet... We just got the news we are upgrading to a farm with 4 acres. Tree´s and healthy soil, everything. So happy! Now I can do this all for real. I have chickens, rabbits, dogs and lots of experience. Time to expend. Gonna be awesome. Thanks for all the knowledge.
Grilled or deep fried quail is very popular in SE Asia. Each quail could run for $1.5 to $2 depending on what size they get. Cheers Mark from Minnesota!
Hell, years ago when I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment my wife and I raised quail in a spare bedroom. 3 trio's and I had a still air incubator= lots of pickled eggs and roasters.
@@circa134 Not a mixed dish, my bad. We made pickled eggs and processed the quail and oven roasted the birds, just like a turkey, but really small.....lol.
Excellent information. I agree with everything except the egg ratio, but that's because I've kept chickens before. In my experience 1 egg producing bird to one person eating said eggs is overkill, but my chicken keeping experience is probably not the rule. Having extra room for a hen positively impacts laying, as does diet. A secret thing that greatly increases egg laying in any chickens is woodlice. (aka springtails. aka pillbugs, rollipolly, and a whole bunch of other common names) The name woodlice is the wrong imagery. Land Crustaceans is more accurate. They provide a big protein and calcium boost specifically for birds which are things your hens need specifically while producing. They're easy-ish to make small habitats for but might be a little difficult to farm as a type of hen fodder. Reptile keepers do like to keep them though for reptiles.
I raise them (isopods) in a medium sized tupperware. They are easy to keep, and easy to find to start breeding them. It works well for my toads, but I'd probably have to multiply it a few times considering these birds can eat all day long.
Hello from Oklahoma, just started raising quail and I found your information very helpful since I know nothing about them at this point. Newly subscribed to your channel and look forward to watching your past videos.
@@Griffin-eg9zc You name them by the days! "This one is Tuesday. That one is Thursday. And, the big dark brown one over there? Mmmmm, that one is Saturday night..." 😋🤤
I've just discovered your gardening videos and thought I'd look into quail. I clicked on this without reading the title and was like "Oh hey, it's this guy" and then I subscribed 🥰😁
Thank you for the interesting video. It's nice to see that your quails have plenty of exercise. Up until now I have unfortunately only seen videos with quails in battery cages very often. I was wondering if this is the standard in other countries. I am glad that this is not the case. I myself live in Germany and have been keeping quails for 3 years. best regards
Be sure to use a cookie dough roller, and mash all feed on a smooth surface, or counter top, to be sure your feed is very fine, for baby quail for the first week of life, as some babies may choke on the feed, so this stop choking on the feed if not flattened with a Cookie Dough Roller, and this story comes from the Chicken Tractor seller. on Craigslist, Jackson Mississippi, in the U.S.A. As this man once lost babies choking on the feed, . . and also give the chicks some boiled egg yellows, for the first week of age for quail, . the yellow ONLY, this is mild protein.
Wouldn’t that be a good thing to nor crack their food so that you are left with the strongest birds? It’s not about saving every bird, it’s about having the best flock.
You've got the best channel mate. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. The wife and I have 57 acres up in FNQ on the Atherton Tablelands, and we're looking to live off the land and become self sufficient and your video's are invaluable. We keep chickens, and I just started processing them for the first time last week. I've also been thinking about quail, so knew exactly where to look for some good info. I know this is an old video, so not sure if you'll see the comment, but thanks again.
Thanks Mark for the very good information you gave and in the short period of time. I think you are a very good teacher and you make it so simple to understand of what you are getting across to us. I appreciate you giving your time into this presentation of the Quail. I do love these little birds. I have Button Quail in my house in very large fish tanks to enjoy. Again Thank so much Robin
+Roberta Platter thanks Robin! I'm glad you say my explanation was easy to understand because I was worried it could have been a little complicated so thanks for the feedback! :)
Thanks for your help to understand the Quals and the Quals farming. I also need your assistance to start. But I didn’t know anything about where I by these birds..
I also have pet button quail in a large cage in my garage! I currently have 7 buttons (all different colors) in a guinea pig cage with a plexiglas front, wire sides and top, 3 floors, 2 hideouts and a mini seesaw that came with the cage and I also put plants and rocks at the bottom and a sand bath!
Thanks for this video, i used to have 4 female one male ratio on my backyard but only 2 years being productive for eggs and will need to incubated and butcher the rest
Thank you very much! I want to really emphasize why though, Your presentation, discussion, and points were all laid out in a completely comprehensible fashion!
G'day Mark! Love quail, I've kept them for years, my fav. Little poultry, they have always called the wild ones in, really funny when we lived in town..lol.cheers! Blessings.
Awesome video. Answered my questions. We are just building a quail area. Hoping to have them breed naturally by sitting on their eggs rather than us incubating. Works ok for our ducks. We are making the area rat-proof as neighbours have had baby quail taken by rats. Using same wire I see on your enclosure (10mmx10mm). I think we'll aim for 10 female and say three males as we are only a small household.
I thought I was doing horrible but I guess I was close to average at 50% hatch and 30% lose. Thank you for your numbers. I got mine from a professional down the road with a very expensive incubator who was getting really high hatch rates and got really disheartened. I love quail though and want to get back into it.
We used to keep 8 quals in an 1.5 square feet cage and we had at least 50 eggs every week!! And the cost was less than a buck each week here in Bangladesh. My father loved those eggs. Because we live in an apartment, cleaning the waste two times a day was the only effort I had to put. But if you don't have a spacious place to keep them it would stick a lot. We kept them near frash air but we stopped keeping them when we shifted to another place.
I never noticed this video of yours until today. For me, personally, I never viewed quail as a food option. However, I did find the protein information interesting! So, maybe I should change my view? What I did notice for use in the near future and never thought of before: using old pot/skillet lids for food and water covers!!! Where was my brain? This is infinitely easier to do than some of the rigs I have come up with. Thank you!
I used to keep Coturnix, as many as 80. I did cages in a hutch but I'm going back ... SOON! And will do as a coop. Used to eat 30-36 quail eggs per day, several times per week. Pickling and cocktailing? No ... actually, I'm still eating 3 year old dehydrated raw eggs. Not dead yet.
Thanks for taking the time to make this I love eating quail and i saw a man selling them live by the side of the road today so i have bought 3 females and one male and hopefully i can breed them to eat. going to check out your other videos now
I drink raw eggs everyday. When i have them...I'll have 2 quail eggs and 4 chicken eggs in the morning......very satisfying to the hunger and keeps me full longer than you might expect. Never realized i could be easily raising quail and harvesting meat and eggs on my own in such a small space. Thanks for the tips
Quail eggs do not have salmonella. They have increased amounts of lysozyme which kills bacteria. To wash use boiling water to clean shells. Source Cackle Hatery. God bless.
I love quail, just as a bird in general, nevermind the meat which is quite good. They're not super noisy or smelly. They look beautiful, and they're pretty cute the way they scuttle about picking through the leaf litter.
So I'm researching quails because our Mexican tenants needed a plumber and there were what looked like two chickens in a cage in their apt. Turns out it's probably quails, as they have a nice chirp. No wonder she's been vacuuming a lot lately. This is in a city so they don't go out. But we are hoping they are ok.
I've been considering getting some quail, but I need to establish some chickens first, since they're bigger & need to produce fewer eggs & offspring to keep you fed, then I can add some quail to supplement the chickens to mix things up a bit every once in a while...
I've been watching your videos the past two days - learning about quail raising and I think I have have now gained the confidence to start incubation later next week. I probably only know about 10% of what I need to know, but if I dont act now I'll learn TOO much that I convince myself not to do it. I guess the rest Ill learn by doing :) Thank you so much!
Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful and I'm very interested in raising Coturnix. I have Button quail (their eggs are teeny tiny and only really good as a garnish) and i have four chicken hens. The chickens are my favorite because they're friendly but they are older and don't lay much. I'm incubating some eggs from my sister's flock for new layers at the moment but would like to have a self contained type of bird to reproduce when needed. Quail are a great option for suburban settings compared to chickens because you can keep a breeding flock. Many places won't allow roosters (like where I live), so you have to rely on outside sources to replenish your flock if you need to.
Thank you sooo much for this informative video!! I really appreciate the detail you put into answering the question! I have been considering keeping quail…and you have answered most of my questions!! Thank you…from Nova Scotia, Canada
The way I figured it is 2 quail per person each day for meat. 8 eggs per person per day. So you'll want 20 laying hens just for egg consumption. I double this number to keep incubators full giving new quail every 2 Weeks. For your meat you need 28 birds for butcher every 7 days. I keep my incubators running fulltime dropping 50-60 chicks every 18 days. Once the rotation catches itself you'll have plenty of food. You'll need room for your birds, you won't provide enough food continually with 30 or 40 birds just laying
Thanks for all the numbers and the great explanations what they mean, that of course really helps people with no experience but who are still interested in getting started.
I keep two chickens and about twenty quail. I get about 16 eggs a day between the two species. I mix two quail eggs to one chicken egg when I fry them for breakfast. I also eat a lot of pickled eggs and quail snacks (put a couple boiled ones I to my lunch bag to go with my sandwich or soup). I agree one bird is a meal for one grown man. My partners who are chefs and foodies eat more. But still. Such a good investment. I house them in the same shed as my rabbits and adjacent to my veggies garden. I'm growing about a fifth of the food my household of three adults eats from the three animal species. All in a back garden about 500 ft square. We likely spend about 40$ US per month on our set up and bring in about twice that in cash sales after eating and preservation of all we can or want to eat.
The calculation only holds if you don’t incubate anything while the hatchlings are growing. If on the other hand you do it in a batch process you are looking at 12-15 chicks *per week*.
Miscalculated quite a bit. It'll take approximately 12 weeks before eating time, but you forgot to figure in the other 35 that are gathered again every single week. That is a HUGE difference!
So, quail live 2-3yrs Lay 1 egg a day From incubation to plate is 4 months 5 females 2 males can feed a fam of 4 once a month. Questions: What do you do with the eggs that didnt hatch? Trash or are those eaten? If you want to eat the eggs simply dont incubate? When the 1st batch matures? Do you kill off the 1st batch n proceed to the same as time goes on?
Well if you are planning on being *self sufficient* having only females isn't very efficient, because they won't reproduce, but will keep laying eggs anyways. You can, but having a male just makes the creation so much more versatile
HS algebra teachers should pose these problems to their students so when they ask what they need to learn this for they know that the lowly farmer is really pretty fucing cool
Just got my first 10 coturnix quail chicks,and I'm stoked. I raise new Zealand red rabbits for meat and black australorps for meat and eggs. Dont trust the goings on in the world today,trying to be more self sufficient.
First off, Best youtube channel ive found in my 12 years of watching videos. 2nd, can you let your quail out to roam free like you would with chickens?
That Quail manure would be awesome. I like the concept of putting old quail manure back through a worm farm...got me thinking now Mark,,,as I used to do that with chooks,,,not enough space now. I wonder if I could kill my own Quail though,,,never done that. Thanks for the video Mark,,,big help. Warm regards Marty & Karin
I lost seven quail out of two dozen in just two days. I'm pretty sure that was just the shock of moving them, because they were bought rather than raised, but I'm not sure.
Do you have other birds? Sometimes if your current birds are disease carriers new birds are susceptible and can quickly drop dead. Why many people are carefull whith chickens is that unknown coccidiosis is common in backyard flocks and kills new birds.
My family had hatched some quail. Only two survived their chick days, and only one survived to sexual maturity (egg laying stage); the rest died early. I was thinking it might have been a disease, but my family member thought it was due to the cold, which is possible, since they're fragile when they're young.
Mark, I don't know if you have them down there but split dove breast inside a bacon wrapped jalapeno popper with cheese on the bbq ...............Valhalla/ Elyisium/Heaven food :)
I like your conservative measure of quail growing for meat. Its realistic. I will add if you have a big incubator as you can get in some places, obviously made in China or something for not much money you can do a constant hatch out, meaning lets say you collect 12 quail eggs a week from your stock, so say you have 10 females and 3 males or some similar number and get around 50 eggs a week conservatively, you can take 1/4th of those eggs and every week incubate them, in batches or you can do more. and just keep them organized in the incubator so any that dont hatch dont just stay there forever, unfortunately every few hatches youve got to take the incubator down to sterilize it. But in this way you can hatch out 8-10 quail every week, and grow them to size. After the first 10 or so week youre harvesting quail every week or two consistently, at least 8 quail. So you end up being able to eat a lot of quail which is what we do. The only downside is you'd better love quail.
Then there is successional hatches after your incubator is empty and cleaned by time your next batch are ready to hatch your birds in the brooder are old enough to move to a growers cage or pen
my plan is to completely sustain myself on quail eggs in my apt so that I only have to buy quail feed for groceries. So if I want about 7 chicken eggs a day, I need maintain 35 female and 5 male quails in my apt.
I have never seen a white Quail. I do love the meat. My Husband use to hunt wild Quail. Loved it. I have had chickens instead though, up until the last few years. I hatched eggs to keep up the flock. I injoyed it very much. I miss it.
I have raised quail now for 7 years. I have at any given time about 60 quail. I have 11 consistent buyers for the eggs and barter & trade at farmers' Markets the meat for almost 100% of my fruits and veggie that I don't grow myself. After the cost of feed, the eggs & meat generate cash of about $200 and more fruit and veggies than the wife, and I can eat. It's fun as well. I produce this in a Shed that is 15X15; I have eight cages combined. I pickle the eggs, and I sit and watch your videos while cracking eggs for scrambling throughout the week. You are good at your math for Quail. Great job. enjoy the Authenticity.
15 is feet 😊
the Russell Crowe of self-sufficiency....
Just wonderful, I been tryin to find out about "quail indoors" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (just google it ) ? It is a good one of a kind guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail minus the hard work. Ive heard some amazing things about it and my neighbour got great results with it.
This was great, I been tryin to find out about "raising bobwhite quail for profit" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? It is a smashing one of a kind guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail without the headache. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my colleague got great results with it.
This was great, been searching for "raising quail chicks" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (do a search on google ) ? It is an awesome exclusive guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail without the headache. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my work buddy got cool results with it.
Russell Crowe is a Kiwi
And you know he's doing a bloody good job of it with that healthy dad bod
Russell quail
piespeafield I see what you did there. In his defense, Russel quail seems like he isn't the doucher that Russel crow is.
Good one
Ha! Awesome❤
HI
12 9 HI
The positive thing about quail is that they are small, require less room and there is a demand for both the eggs and the birds for meat. In my area the eggs can be sold at farmer's markets or from a roadside stand. The birds can be sold live and the buyer instructed on how to dress them. This eliminates issues with the pure foods laws.
Yes, but they are smaller and require less space in exact proportion to the volume of eggs and meat they produce. So, I chicken gives you the same amount of meat and eggs as, what, 4-6 quail? As he says in the video, one quail per person. So I need 5 quail to feed my family supper tonight. Or 1 chicken. So I'm not so sure there's a benefit to raising quail, especially since it takes longer to butcher 5 quail than it does 1 chicken.
@@esperago quail are easier to raise and maintain and grow fast
@@자시엘 Can you elaborate with some examples of how raising quail are easier than standard meat chickens? I'm legitimately interested because my chickens are so easy, they're almost on autopilot. I'd raise quail but it seems like a lot of egg collecting and skinning, compared to chickens... and the only thing anybody ever says as a counter argument is that quails are "easier" without ever specifically explaining why.
@@esperago mostly autopilot. Basically. Also depending where you are it can be cheaper to feed and maintain their health
Also they grow fast as heck which is why many people prefer quail.
@@자시엘 if you can get Cornish cross meat breed chickens, they grow freakishly fast. Most people can butcher them between 6 to 8 weeks. They don't do great in extreme heat though. Their bodies undergo a lot of stress from growing so quickly.
You gotta keep the hens serviced!
I just noticed I've been reading comments with an Australian accent.
Im reading it in a British accent
This was great, I been tryin to find out about "keeping quail outside" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Eeyila Rudimentary Expediency - (just google it ) ? It is an awesome one of a kind guide for discovering how to raise healthy and fertile quail minus the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my colleague got amazing results with it.
Me too mate. Sorry, just noticed you are a Sheila.
Me too but I am a Strayan,
I read English comments in a Norwegian accent while I read German comments in an Austrian accent
Thinking along the lines of 35 eggs per week, and ending up with 3 meals, if you took the eggs each week and incubated (3 incubators on the go) you could put each hatchlings into a pen until ready to eat, and once you’ve had your first 3 meals you’d only have to wait another week for 3 more meals. This would work if you had enough pens, alternatively you could incubate eggs every other week and have half the amount of pens. If you incubated each week and processed each week you would, in theory, have 12x6 (72) quails all growing, plus the original 7........That’s a lot of quail and a lot of feed but a very sustainable way of feeding your family 3 days per week 😊
This is the correct take on things
You one of the best gardening TH-camrs. You have a positive and abundant mindset rather than a negative and lacking mindset
You’ll make a video on “10 good reasons to do ____” and won’t make “10 good reasons to not do ____” 👍🏽
I realize this video is 5 years old and you may not be answering questions from the comments, but the video was quite helpful to me, and I have a question about your keeping your birds in a large outdoor enclosure versus i small cages indoors. 1. Do you find that you have more rodent problems, 2. Do you have any trouble with contamination from wild birds (especially now with all the bird flu), mites, etc. 3. How do you tell your breeding stock from the new birds you are raising out, and 4. Do you have any difficulty with the older birds accepting the newer ones? Thank you!
If you plant mint and other strong-smelling herbs around the perimeter of the enclosure, marigolds, etc., you will deter rodents and snakes, and add to the health of your birds, who will eat any leaves and flowers they can reach.
Mountain mint, native to the South, is rumored to be less invasive than other members of the mint family. So is pennyroyal, which is useful as a ground cover in shady areas, and under other plants.
Outdoor enclosures should always include a rain cover, which should prevent outside birds' poop from winding up in the enclosure, and help prevent contamination.
Breeding stock should ALWAYS be kept separately from the main flock, so if your flock DOES get infected, it won't take out your breeders too.
Quails are pretty mild tempered, as long as they have enough room, and as long as there aren't too many males vs. females.
Roosters can be pretty brutal to each other, so overcrowding is never a good idea, and any real bullies should be culled.
Years ago your videos inspired me to refurbish my smallholding into a little more self sufficient place. After nearly 3 years my first two groups of layer type quails finally started to slow down with production and die off. Often I told myself that quail are not worth the effort and cost of their feed, that I'm better off with just chickens and geese outside. But the fewer birds I had left and fewer eggs I got, the more I started to miss them, even if for their absolutely "head empty" kinds of antics. So this year I got eggs from mixbreed quails from various dual purpose and meat breeds. Went back to this video and realised just how much has changed because I stumbled upon your channel and got inspired to get off my butt to do something useful. Many thanks.
Good to hear from a quail-afield person on the subject
Some info from a Professional Quail Breeder:
2, 3 or 4 "typical" quails a sitting is more reasonable. But of course it depends on the appetite of the individual and the quail's weight. There are jumbo quail which are larger, thus less would be needed. But 1 quail a person is very very little.
A ration of 1 male for 3 females is a very good ratio. But note that male quails eat and don’t lay eggs, thus it’s common for some breeders to have a ratio of 1:4 or 1:5
The more females to male ratio the less the fertility potential (it could make a difference or it might not, depending on the male quail you have)
A 1 male for 3 females is the best ratio, if you have a higher male to female ration is actually counterproductive due to more fighting. This unless you keep your male quails separate with their females.
A typical quail egg is the equivalent of 1 chicken egg.
Quails lay around 1 egg a day, and this is normally where they excel, eating the quail itself is not as much cost effective as eating their eggs.
Quails come in a variety of subspecies (not exactly called this way but it’s easier to understand if this term is used), some are best for meat(they grow larger in size at a faster rate), others for eggs, others as a general purpose.
I hope the info helps!
Some info from another professional breeder
1 per person in a balanced meal is plenty .
james ollom what country are you from? also do you know if quail eggs can be used for baking, such as cakes or cookies?
The Home Plate Special , USA . and yes they can be used in anything you can use chicken eggs for .
james ollom, great, thank you, Mr. James.
My Corturnix quail eggs are not equivalent in size to a chicken egg. I'd say three or more quail eggs are needed.
I appreciate all your info and I am amazed at the amount if knowledge you give freely to others. I hope you get as much back with TH-cam supporters!
You give some of the clearest explanations I’ve come across on You tubers. I love your channel .
Excellent video, Mark! My husband was asking about this very subject just the other day, and you provided the answers to all his questions. Thanks!
Good to know thanks for the feedback! :)
I love all your content. But I really enjoy the Mini Zoo contents. Call it repetitive but it’s always fascinating just watching the quail and the habitat, it’s just satisfying. Please continue. Cheers.
Thank you! I can sit and watch them all day also (if I had the time) sometimes I do just chill out down the back with the birds. Cheers :)
@@Selfsufficientme please do on catfish.,ducks, doves and goats
Have been watching almost every single video you put out. Also on your secondary channel... I´m crazy, yet... We just got the news we are upgrading to a farm with 4 acres. Tree´s and healthy soil, everything. So happy! Now I can do this all for real. I have chickens, rabbits, dogs and lots of experience. Time to expend. Gonna be awesome. Thanks for all the knowledge.
Grilled or deep fried quail is very popular in SE Asia. Each quail could run for $1.5 to $2 depending on what size they get. Cheers Mark from Minnesota!
Hell, years ago when I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment my wife and I raised quail in a spare bedroom. 3 trio's and I had a still air incubator= lots of pickled eggs and roasters.
That's fabulous!
What are pickled eggs and roasters?
@@circa134 Not a mixed dish, my bad. We made pickled eggs and processed the quail and oven roasted the birds, just like a turkey, but really small.....lol.
It’s not often a video with all the information your looking for is found. Thank you
I like the quail and gardening videos. You give unique information a lot of other gardening youtubers don't.
Excellent information.
I agree with everything except the egg ratio, but that's because I've kept chickens before.
In my experience 1 egg producing bird to one person eating said eggs is overkill, but my chicken keeping experience is probably not the rule.
Having extra room for a hen positively impacts laying, as does diet.
A secret thing that greatly increases egg laying in any chickens is woodlice.
(aka springtails. aka pillbugs, rollipolly, and a whole bunch of other common names)
The name woodlice is the wrong imagery. Land Crustaceans is more accurate.
They provide a big protein and calcium boost specifically for birds which are things your hens need specifically while producing. They're easy-ish to make small habitats for but might be a little difficult to farm as a type of hen fodder.
Reptile keepers do like to keep them though for reptiles.
I raise them (isopods) in a medium sized tupperware. They are easy to keep, and easy to find to start breeding them. It works well for my toads, but I'd probably have to multiply it a few times considering these birds can eat all day long.
Hello from Oklahoma, just started raising quail and I found your information very helpful since I know nothing about them at this point. Newly subscribed to your channel and look forward to watching your past videos.
i love the natural way you are keeping them,greetings from Kenya where quails still clean themselves with soil in their natural habitat
Thanks. It was very informative.
It's a shame that they only live 2-3 years.
Rachel Barbour or just freeze them up at 18mo
Yeah, but they slaughter in 4-5 minutes. Great bird.
Rachel Barbour that’s why you don’t have to name them
@@Griffin-eg9zc You name them by the days!
"This one is Tuesday. That one is Thursday. And, the big dark brown one over there? Mmmmm, that one is Saturday night..." 😋🤤
I've just discovered your gardening videos and thought I'd look into quail. I clicked on this without reading the title and was like "Oh hey, it's this guy" and then I subscribed 🥰😁
Love this dudes content. I started a veggie patch and am looking into getting chooks because of him!
Thank you for the interesting video. It's nice to see that your quails have plenty of exercise. Up until now I have unfortunately only seen videos with quails in battery cages very often. I was wondering if this is the standard in other countries. I am glad that this is not the case.
I myself live in Germany and have been keeping quails for 3 years. best regards
Be sure to use a cookie dough roller, and mash all feed on a smooth surface, or counter top, to be sure your feed is very fine, for baby quail for the first week of life, as some babies may choke on the feed, so this stop choking on the feed if not flattened with a Cookie Dough Roller, and this story comes from the Chicken Tractor seller. on Craigslist, Jackson Mississippi, in the U.S.A. As this man once lost babies choking on the feed, . . and also give the chicks some boiled egg yellows, for the first week of age for quail, . the yellow ONLY, this is mild protein.
you are correct. I lost several when I first started and thought they were just sick.
Wouldn’t that be a good thing to nor crack their food so that you are left with the strongest birds? It’s not about saving every bird, it’s about having the best flock.
You've got the best channel mate. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. The wife and I have 57 acres up in FNQ on the Atherton Tablelands, and we're looking to live off the land and become self sufficient and your video's are invaluable. We keep chickens, and I just started processing them for the first time last week. I've also been thinking about quail, so knew exactly where to look for some good info. I know this is an old video, so not sure if you'll see the comment, but thanks again.
Thanks Mark for the very good information you gave and in the short period of time. I think you are a very good teacher and you make it so simple to understand of what you are getting across to us. I appreciate you giving your time into this presentation of the Quail. I do love these little birds. I have Button Quail in my house in very large fish tanks to enjoy. Again Thank so much Robin
+Roberta Platter thanks Robin! I'm glad you say my explanation was easy to understand because I was worried it could have been a little complicated so thanks for the feedback! :)
Thanks for your help to understand the Quals and the Quals farming. I also need your assistance to start. But I didn’t know anything about where I by these birds..
I also have pet button quail in a large cage in my garage! I currently have 7 buttons (all different colors) in a guinea pig cage with a plexiglas front, wire sides and top, 3 floors, 2 hideouts and a mini seesaw that came with the cage and I also put plants and rocks at the bottom and a sand bath!
Thanks for this video, i used to have 4 female one male ratio on my backyard but only 2 years being productive for eggs and will need to incubated and butcher the rest
Thank you very much! I want to really emphasize why though, Your presentation, discussion, and points were all laid out in a completely comprehensible fashion!
G'day Mark! Love quail, I've kept them for years, my fav. Little poultry, they have always called the wild ones in, really funny when we lived in town..lol.cheers! Blessings.
G'day Linda, yeah quail might be small but they are lively little creatures alright lol... Cheers :)
It's also amazing to see the greater health benefits that quail meat and eggs provide, over that of chicken! Thanks so much for sharing the video!
Awesome video. Answered my questions. We are just building a quail area. Hoping to have them breed naturally by sitting on their eggs rather than us incubating. Works ok for our ducks. We are making the area rat-proof as neighbours have had baby quail taken by rats. Using same wire I see on your enclosure (10mmx10mm). I think we'll aim for 10 female and say three males as we are only a small household.
I thought I was doing horrible but I guess I was close to average at 50% hatch and 30% lose. Thank you for your numbers. I got mine from a professional down the road with a very expensive incubator who was getting really high hatch rates and got really disheartened. I love quail though and want to get back into it.
Yeah, don't be disheartened with low hatch rates just keep going... Sure, always try to improve and look for "why" etc but don't worry too much. :)
Filipino recipe with Quail eggs and shrimp at gulay, cornstarch, Sarap! Quail meat with pacit is also sarap depending on the cook.
Great video Mark, thank you. I used to keep quail just to clean up the aviaries my parrots lived in, they did a great job.
Hi! I came across you while searching how to grow out large numbers of quail at a time. Great Video, Im glad I found your channel. Nice To Meet You!
Great vid man I’ve been really looking into these birds because I hear they’re quiet, easy to raise and are really delicious.
i like how quails just boop when they walk. just boop forward. if i had to put a sound to their movement it would be "boop...boop...boop"
😂😅, now that's funny ❤🇺🇸
We used to keep 8 quals in an 1.5 square feet cage and we had at least 50 eggs every week!! And the cost was less than a buck each week here in Bangladesh. My father loved those eggs. Because we live in an apartment, cleaning the waste two times a day was the only effort I had to put.
But if you don't have a spacious place to keep them it would stick a lot. We kept them near frash air but we stopped keeping them when we shifted to another place.
Your life is amazing, one of your subscribers in Los Angeles.
Good explanation Mark
"Mark, quail, question mark?" - Mark
k98killer “when’s your next quail video, mark?” - Mark
🐥🐥🐥???
sweet and tasty love it,marinated in sweet soy sauce,grounded chili(spicy),garlic,bit oil,lemon juice,put on bbq with half a lime up his......
Oh yeah... Hard to beat them fresh and spiced like that :)
I never noticed this video of yours until today. For me, personally, I never viewed quail as a food option. However, I did find the protein information interesting! So, maybe I should change my view? What I did notice for use in the near future and never thought of before: using old pot/skillet lids for food and water covers!!! Where was my brain? This is infinitely easier to do than some of the rigs I have come up with. Thank you!
I used to keep Coturnix, as many as 80. I did cages in a hutch but I'm going back ... SOON! And will do as a coop. Used to eat 30-36 quail eggs per day, several times per week. Pickling and cocktailing? No ... actually, I'm still eating 3 year old dehydrated raw eggs. Not dead yet.
This is very informative! I plan to hatch some quails for pets but also for food!
Hi Alexandria how do you hatch quail do you need a bird?
Your cute
Thanks for taking the time to make this
I love eating quail and i saw a man selling them live by the side of the road today so i have bought 3 females and one male and hopefully i can breed them to eat. going to check out your other videos now
I started watching his videos weeks ago and I'm up to a breeding stock of 50 birds. Very easy and rewarding. Good luck!
I drink raw eggs everyday. When i have them...I'll have 2 quail eggs and 4 chicken eggs in the morning......very satisfying to the hunger and keeps me full longer than you might expect.
Never realized i could be easily raising quail and harvesting meat and eggs on my own in such a small space. Thanks for the tips
isn't there risk of getting sick by drinking raw eggs if the eggs are contaminated?
Quail eggs do not have salmonella. They have increased amounts of lysozyme which kills bacteria. To wash use boiling water to clean shells. Source Cackle Hatery. God bless.
I love quail, just as a bird in general, nevermind the meat which is quite good. They're not super noisy or smelly. They look beautiful, and they're pretty cute the way they scuttle about picking through the leaf litter.
So I'm researching quails because our Mexican tenants needed a plumber and there were what looked like two chickens in a cage in their apt. Turns out it's probably quails, as they have a nice chirp. No wonder she's been vacuuming a lot lately. This is in a city so they don't go out. But we are hoping they are ok.
I've been considering getting some quail, but I need to establish some chickens first, since they're bigger & need to produce fewer eggs & offspring to keep you fed, then I can add some quail to supplement the chickens to mix things up a bit every once in a while...
I've been watching your videos the past two days - learning about quail raising and I think I have have now gained the confidence to start incubation later next week. I probably only know about 10% of what I need to know, but if I dont act now I'll learn TOO much that I convince myself not to do it. I guess the rest Ill learn by doing :) Thank you so much!
Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful and I'm very interested in raising Coturnix. I have Button quail (their eggs are teeny tiny and only really good as a garnish) and i have four chicken hens. The chickens are my favorite because they're friendly but they are older and don't lay much. I'm incubating some eggs from my sister's flock for new layers at the moment but would like to have a self contained type of bird to reproduce when needed. Quail are a great option for suburban settings compared to chickens because you can keep a breeding flock. Many places won't allow roosters (like where I live), so you have to rely on outside sources to replenish your flock if you need to.
3:34 "But then you'll know for sure that at least those 5 females are getting serviced." Hahaha...
Read this comment at the exact time he said it. 😁
Not the phrasing I was expecting 😂
I love how this guy explained guinea pig poop with an exact number of poops. That is 100% the way I garden-math. Lol
Thank you sooo much for this informative video!! I really appreciate the detail you put into answering the question! I have been considering keeping quail…and you have answered most of my questions!!
Thank you…from Nova Scotia, Canada
Hard boil the little eggs, shell them, and put them in stews and casseroles towards the end of cooking. They are tasty as. They love them in China.
I love both types of videos mate keep it up.Gardeing and Quail keeping.
The way I figured it is 2 quail per person each day for meat. 8 eggs per person per day. So you'll want 20 laying hens just for egg consumption. I double this number to keep incubators full giving new quail every 2 Weeks.
For your meat you need 28 birds for butcher every 7 days. I keep my incubators running fulltime dropping 50-60 chicks every 18 days. Once the rotation catches itself you'll have plenty of food.
You'll need room for your birds, you won't provide enough food continually with 30 or 40 birds just laying
Thanks for all the numbers and the great explanations what they mean, that of course really helps people with no experience but who are still interested in getting started.
I keep two chickens and about twenty quail. I get about 16 eggs a day between the two species. I mix two quail eggs to one chicken egg when I fry them for breakfast. I also eat a lot of pickled eggs and quail snacks (put a couple boiled ones I to my lunch bag to go with my sandwich or soup). I agree one bird is a meal for one grown man. My partners who are chefs and foodies eat more. But still. Such a good investment. I house them in the same shed as my rabbits and adjacent to my veggies garden. I'm growing about a fifth of the food my household of three adults eats from the three animal species. All in a back garden about 500 ft square. We likely spend about 40$ US per month on our set up and bring in about twice that in cash sales after eating and preservation of all we can or want to eat.
Very practical calculation and nice explaination. Thank you.
The calculation only holds if you don’t incubate anything while the hatchlings are growing. If on the other hand you do it in a batch process you are looking at 12-15 chicks *per week*.
Hello, I'm Jukli, a quail breeder from Indonesia. Nice to meet you
I watch your stuff so dont beat yourself up. I have a house now. And always wanted to garden.im subbed to you.
Really informative video. Thanks for taking the time to explain all about quails.
Thanks!
Miscalculated quite a bit. It'll take approximately 12 weeks before eating time, but you forgot to figure in the other 35 that are gathered again every single week. That is a HUGE difference!
I would just like to say this is a smashing channel and hope you keep going =)
So, quail live 2-3yrs
Lay 1 egg a day
From incubation to plate is 4 months
5 females 2 males can feed a fam of 4 once a month.
Questions:
What do you do with the eggs that didnt hatch? Trash or are those eaten?
If you want to eat the eggs simply dont incubate?
When the 1st batch matures? Do you kill off the 1st batch n proceed to the same as time goes on?
Pickled quail eggs are nice.
This is why i started raising them, my first hatching eggs from a local farm are in my new incubator now
wish me luck!
Are you gonna eat them
Love your channel. Cheers from the states...and thank you for your military service.
when keeping them just for eggs, is it possible to go all females like you would with chooks or do they require a male in the flock?
Good question , I'd like to know this to.
@@cryptoboi1753 Hi - females will lay without males. You only need a male if you are planning on incubating :)
If you dont have a male your hens will eventually die off. Having males and females keeps you producing more stock.
I meant that having only one sex means you cant make more quail to replace your old dying quail*
Well if you are planning on being *self sufficient* having only females isn't very efficient, because they won't reproduce, but will keep laying eggs anyways. You can, but having a male just makes the creation so much more versatile
All your videos are awesome Mark, always teach me something new in every episode, keep up the good work brother 👍👍👍
Never mind. Kitchen shears. You should get a leather sheath for those bad boys. Thanks for the quality videos Mark
Thank you for this video! It was super helpful! I'm getting my first batch of quail this year
HS algebra teachers should pose these problems to their students so when they ask what they need to learn this for they know that the lowly farmer is really pretty fucing cool
Just got my first 10 coturnix quail chicks,and I'm stoked. I raise new Zealand red rabbits for meat and black australorps for meat and eggs. Dont trust the goings on in the world today,trying to be more self sufficient.
First off, Best youtube channel ive found in my 12 years of watching videos. 2nd, can you let your quail out to roam free like you would with chickens?
That Quail manure would be awesome. I like the concept of putting old quail manure back through a worm farm...got me thinking now Mark,,,as I used to do that with chooks,,,not enough space now.
I wonder if I could kill my own Quail though,,,never done that.
Thanks for the video Mark,,,big help.
Warm regards
Marty & Karin
First seeing hope you have continued to post. Love the accent!
I lost seven quail out of two dozen in just two days. I'm pretty sure that was just the shock of moving them, because they were bought rather than raised, but I'm not sure.
This is so sad.
Do you have other birds? Sometimes if your current birds are disease carriers new birds are susceptible and can quickly drop dead. Why many people are carefull whith chickens is that unknown coccidiosis is common in backyard flocks and kills new birds.
My family had hatched some quail. Only two survived their chick days, and only one survived to sexual maturity (egg laying stage); the rest died early. I was thinking it might have been a disease, but my family member thought it was due to the cold, which is possible, since they're fragile when they're young.
Mark, I don't know if you have them down there but split dove breast inside a bacon wrapped jalapeno popper with cheese on the bbq ...............Valhalla/ Elyisium/Heaven food :)
Sounds amazing and no, I've never tried it but I'll note it for the next BBQ. Thnaks :)
0 for eating and at least 2 for breeding. Thanks for your question, sir.
Thank you ! For such informative videos! Your my go to guy for so many Homestead questions!
:)
I like your conservative measure of quail growing for meat. Its realistic. I will add if you have a big incubator as you can get in some places, obviously made in China or something for not much money you can do a constant hatch out, meaning lets say you collect 12 quail eggs a week from your stock, so say you have 10 females and 3 males or some similar number and get around 50 eggs a week conservatively, you can take 1/4th of those eggs and every week incubate them, in batches or you can do more. and just keep them organized in the incubator so any that dont hatch dont just stay there forever, unfortunately every few hatches youve got to take the incubator down to sterilize it.
But in this way you can hatch out 8-10 quail every week, and grow them to size. After the first 10 or so week youre harvesting quail every week or two consistently, at least 8 quail. So you end up being able to eat a lot of quail which is what we do. The only downside is you'd better love quail.
Then there is successional hatches after your incubator is empty and cleaned by time your next batch are ready to hatch your birds in the brooder are old enough to move to a growers cage or pen
+sam wilkinson yes you're absolutely right thanks for your input! Cheers :)
Your an amazing person. Thank you so much for making great videos! Thank you for being awesome and cheerful!
I learned a lot about miles and femiles and to think it was only a unit of measurement for distance. Learn something everyday.
they're so cute!!
yeah cute on the plate ...
ich, lordvalves
my plan is to completely sustain myself on quail eggs in my apt so that I only have to buy quail feed for groceries. So if I want about 7 chicken eggs a day, I need maintain 35 female and 5 male quails in my apt.
As soon as he said people trolling him, I clicked Like and Subcribed
Thanks so much for laying down these calculations!
What a great instructional video! Thanks mate!
Did anyone else watch this just to see the adorable birds? Great information! I wish I could use it (we live in town, so no quail for us!)
Yes you can have some.
Quail are perfect for people in town
I have never seen a white Quail. I do love the meat. My Husband use to hunt wild Quail. Loved it. I have had chickens instead though, up until the last few years. I hatched eggs to keep up the flock. I injoyed it very much. I miss it.
Bronk Tug: More cannibalism talk from you. Are you just joking Gook?