RE: Why Quail? Well We Just Processed And Packaged ~100 Pasture Raised Quail
An excellent reply! I know we used to (back in 2008) have that game bird feed available here. I'd have to check our organic options for something in that line.
You did 100 birds I see. It looks like you skinned them. Are they too hard to pluck, or to use a plucker on? How hard are they to gut? (My husband has a time with standard chickens...) Did you leave them in the chest for time to "hang" or cool and freeze right away?
You used a tractor on pasture. I am assuming, because they are so small, they can fly easily and our set-up would not work with them.
For feed, at only 8 lbs for 2 months, we could have our homestead feed maker make some up, so we could use organic.
This is very intriguing! I've resteemed the post so I can find it later. And thank you for such complete answers! Don't often run into someone who can give them about poultry!
Here is a link to our video on how to process them.
I honestly don't know of very many people that will put them in a tractor other than us. It's a concept that I believe is gaining in popularity due to our videos, but time will tell if it is truly the best option. We have actually been asked to speak at a conference this weekend about it, so we will see what kind of backlash we get on it LOL. Yes, they like to fly (although only about 3' off the ground), so most people keep them in cages, or I have seen a few aviaries or flight pens that people keep them in as another option. Since they are so small, they can escape easily and I have watched them walk through 2x4 welded wire pretty easily, so I wouldn't suggest poultry net fencing.
Good to know about the netting. We would use chicken wire, 1", inside of the netting. That's what we are doing now for the chickens, due to fox and rat depredation. But they'd fly right over the 4' chicken wire... So looks like a tractor if we want them on pasture.
I'll check out the video also.
Thank you for all your great info!
Well that deleted the first part of my reply with the link...weird. I mentioned that there is one of our videos on how to process the quail. Gutting is really easy with this method. And yes, we did let them sit on ice over night to allow them to rest before packaging.
I had to Google when I read this, because my quail quite often fly up much higher than that. We have them in quite a large run, though. If they scare they can shoot up about 6 or 7 ft.
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6-7' is pretty impressive. We raise jumbo coturnix and haven't had experience with bobwhites or any other type. Is that what you have? I'm 6'3" and almost always have to bend over a little to try and catch them in mid flight.
I have a mix of jumbo and standard coturnix. Perhaps it's the smaller ones which can gain more height. I've had bobwhite in the past and they are actually quite controlled flyers. They will go onto a roost at night.
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I had no idea bobwhites would roost. Very cool!
We didn't, when we first got them! Lol We moved them to an old aviary, thinking they'd live on the ground and found them lined up on the top perch that night. When they can't roost they sit butt to butt on the ground in a circle.