There are several ways to get started with Coturnix quail, eggs, chicks and breeders.

Hatching eggs are the most economical if you already have an incubator.

Chicks are great if you don’t have an incubator and want the experience of raising them from baby stage.

Breeders are a good choice if you want to go straight to production.

No right or wrong answer, jsut what works for you.

Choose wisely now to prevent issues later. Everyone raises their birds a bit differently based on environment, time and budget.

IF you can source eggs locally and just want to get your feet wet, ask just a few questions. How old are the eggs, what do they feed the breeders and do they hatch regularly.

Eggs should be less than 10 days when you put in the incubator. They start to decline in viability after 10 days. Keep them pointy side down to keep the air bubble stable.

Breeders should be fed a layer feed. This gives them optimum nutrition to maintain fertility and to give the yolks great nutrition to start the chick off correctly.

Hatching regularly signals good fertility. Someone who isn’t hatching cannot speak to their fertility.

Anytime you purchase live birds, you risk bringing disease onto your farm. Know the breeder’s ethics and quarantine the new birds away from your current ones.

Ask the breeder what traits they select for. For example, larger eggs or larger breasts or temperment. Pick a breeder whose interests align with yours.

Coturnix quail come in 2 sizes, standard and jumbo. Jumbos are consistently over 10oz at 10weeks within the line, not just one particular bird. Standards are under 10oz.

The egg size is not relative to the bird size.

Incubating quail eggs is super easy. Set the incubator at 99.5F and roughly 40% humidity. Put the eggs pointy side down or on their sides for 14 days in a turner. For days 14-18, leave them out of the turner to orientate themselves and hatch. Once they start, they pop like popcorn!

Baby quail like to be hot, dry and draft free. They need warmish water and 28-30% protein, non medcated crumbles. A chilly breeze and cool them too much so keep sides on the brooder. They can also hop out after a week so keep a screen over the top.

Quail can be off heat by 3-4 weeks, depending on the weather. They are fully feathered but still growing. Leave them on the starter feed until after they start laying which typically happens around 7 weeks. Once they have been laying a week or so, move them to a 17-20% layer feed of quality.

At some point you will have extra males. Leave them in a cage by themselves on the starter ration with dimmer light. The dim light helps keep their hormones at bay to not fight. These can be processed at 8-10 weeks.

A breeder set is typically one male to 4-5 hens. They can be kept in sets or communities.

In an aviary set up, a bird needs one square foot each. In a cage set up, they like to be tighter to prevent territorial behavior, typicaly 2 birds per sqft.

You can mix and match colors of coturnix with no issue. The wild type or pharoah is the most common. IT is a feather sexable color, among many, the hens having a speckled chest and the males have a rusty colored chest.

For more information on genetics, see Pips ‘n Chicks website for more detail.

Many colors of quail are feather sexable but if you are unsure or have another color, you need to vent sex.

The bird must be sexually active.

Hold the bird on its back in one hand with the feet held against its body with your thumb. With your other hand place fingers on either side of the vent and gently press. IF whip cream comes out, its a male. if poop or nothing comes out, its a hen. Sometimes you can also feel an egg so be careful not to break it.

Dispatching a quail can be done in many ways but cervical dislocation is the preferred method. You can pull the head off with your hand. I prefer scissors. A Quail pop is a metal hanger which removes the head.

Harvesting for meat is much simpler than chickens and takes only minutes.