shared post from FB
I was asked by some members of this group to start a new post on quail. SO here we go.
My mention of quail in another post was in the course of conversation about rabbit production and profitability as compared to other livestock. I originally mentioned quail when someone was asking about “bird stink’. So I will address how we raise quail for good production and profitability. And I will also address the “bird stink’ issue (yes, it can be real with quail if you do not manage them well).
Let’s all just move past the genetics issue. We will go on the premise that we all know that you need to have stock with good-to-excellent genetic makeup, to be able to expect top production from them.
Aside from that, the ongoing issue with any animal that really effects the bottom line of meat and profit is feed. It is an ongoing issue, because feed needs to be provided every day, one way or another. But on our farm, we operate sustainably. This can be done on any scale, too, including the smallest of backyards. We grow and raise the feeds for our livestock. In doing so, we know what is in the food they get. It is actually more simple that you might think.
Most recommendations for feeding quail state that they need a diet of commercial GameBird Feed. This recommendation is made because it meets the dietary needs of a higher protein content for quail. That is 28%. But the issue with that is commercial Gamebird feed is much more expensive than commercial chicken feed. Many people choose to use chicken feed for their quail anyway, which ranges in protein content somewhere in the neighborhood of 14-16%. And they will tell you ‘this works’, and they see no difference in production. But in the long run there IS a difference. It is noticed down the line. Generations of quail are very, very fast. And the lack of adequate nutrition will be reflected in the following generations, if they do not see it in the current ones. But honestly, if I had to feed only Gamebird feed (or turkey feed – it is also high in protein content) to my quail, we would not be able to afford it.
There is another easy, nutritionally superior approach to this, which also happens to be sustainable, and low budget. I raise mealworms, black soldier fly larva, crickets, azolla, duckweed, moringa, comfrey and various greens for my quail. Anyone can do some or all of this and use it as the only feed for their quail. Another approach can be to do some of what I just mentioned as a supplement to a diet of commercial chicken feed.
We. chose to raise our own feed because it is economical, and we know what is going into the animals that are providing us with food, and because it constitutes an excellent diet for the animal. Going into all this I just mentioned, would take a LOT of space. They are all easy to do. SO I will just focus on three on the list that I mentioned that are easy for anyone to produce, even in a small space and a shoe string budget (for starting this out . after starting, it costs close to nothing). This also greatly enhances profit potentail.
1) Azolla (incidentally it is excellent rabbit food too) is a small floating plant that you can grow in a bucket, aquarium, kiddie pool, tote or hole in the ground ( that holds water). This is a great thing for anyone to grow as a feed source. It is actually higher in protein content that alfalfa (hope rabbit people pay attention to that). It quickly reproduces by vegetative cloning. We grow it in kiddie pools. We scoop the azolla off the top of the water, and take it right in and feed the quail. They LOVE the stuff. And in a few days, the azolla has re-covered the surface of the water again! So we have several pools growing azolla. Mosquito control for the pools? No problem, add a few mosquito fish (Gambusia) or gold fish to the pool. Or you can cover the pools with netting. The great thing is, that once you get the azolla started growing in the pools, you basically just let it grow! It is a no fuss, continually productive feed source. This is NOT duckweed, although it has similar growth habit, and is also a good feed source. Azolla is a better feed source though, because it has low-to-no lignin content, so the amazing nutrient array is readily available for the quail consuming it. If anyone wants more detail on this, I will be happy to help out on that.
2) Mealworms – these are so very easy to raise a LOT of, and you can do it in a closet in your house, or outdoors in a protected shed. Mealworms provide a good nutrient array for the quail, and they readily will eat them. I started raising them in my kitchen counter I one of those small plastic 3 drawer craft units from Walmart. The mealworms at any life stage cannot escape/climb from the set up. Then I graduated the set-up out to the green house. From there I built an insulated cabinet inside my quail coop, that I have my mealworms growing in. It was built out of 2’X4’ one inch thick insulation foam boards from Home Depot (if I remember right the panels are about $5 each), and duct tape and two wooden dowels. Mealworms are not expensive to keep and raise. We feed them the azolla (dried) we raise, and greens and kitchen peelings. One serious caution about mealworms though. If you happen to have any asthmatic people in your household, I do not recommend keeping mealworms in the house. Their frass (poo) is very light. It can irritate asthmatic issues. Many people who have these issues still keep mealworms, but when they work with them (harvesting to feed out), they cover their mouth and nose with a mask or kerchief. This is a good idea anyway. As a side note, if these are cleanly raised, they are a good source of human food too. They can also be a source of income. If you want more detail on mealworms, let me know.
3) Crickets – This is an excellent food source. BUT the type of cricket does matter in how easy this can be (or not). I recommend Banded Crickets. Why? Because other species of crickets DO SMELL. Banded crickets Do NOT smell (but you still need to clean their home, just like any other critter). Banded crickets do not bite. Banded crickets are very quiet (no deafening constant chirp). They are also very disease resistant. We keep ours in 18 gallon totes with lids we have added metal screening to. We feed them azolla, duckweed and dead mealworms, as a mainstay. You also can feed them commercial rabbit feed if you want to. They are very easy keepers, and raising generations is very easy too. At 5 weeks old, they are reproducing. And if you cleanly raise them, you can eat them too. And they can be a source of income too. If you want more detail on crickets, let me know.
Each of the food sources I mentioned, are easy to maintain, and is truly a sustainable top notch food source for quail. This also gives your quail the nutrients they need to be productive, long term, and through generations. You can raise quail with basically low-to-no cost, once you get any or all of these sustainable feed options established.
So now that you can feed your quail for top quality productions, l will continue about the quail themselves. Specifically Coturnix quail, which is the variety most used for this type of production.
Coturnix quail are a ground dwelling variety. They prefer to hop, over flying. But they can fly. They also do not roost. They will lay eggs on floor nests. They do well in cages too. I like Coturnix quail’s innate docile nature. We do nothing to tame them, yet they will walk right over my shoes on the coop. I can bend down and pic them up, easily. (Those who have raised bob white know just how flighty a quail can be – those are on the opposite spectrum of the tame–to-wild scale).
Coturnix quail hens will start laying eggs at an average of 42 days old. The eggs hatch at an average of 16 days incubation. Most people use an incubator or a silkie or banti chicken hen to hatch eggs, because typically, quail will not set on their eggs in captivity. A few do, but as a generality, they do not hatch their own eggs. At three weeks old, it is easy to differentiate the males from the females, due to distinct feather patterns. This is great, because it allows you to separate the males, and prepare them for the trip to Freezer Camp. They typically are ready for Camp at about 7 weeks old. Some wait a bit longer. If you get a Jumbo strain of Coturnix quail, they can be about a pound at this point. I keep a batch of quail hens and a few roos (ratio of 4 hens to 1 roo) in my coop as the production flock. They are my egg layers. The others are Freezer Camp candidates. I replace my production hens at about 1 year. Some people replace their flocks between 6-9 months of age. It is always best to replace the entire flock at once. SO I raise up a new batch of production quail, and move them in once they begin egg production, and graduate the old production flock to Freezer Camp (human food, cat food, dog food). I keep a constant group of chicks coming and growing and graduating to Freezer Camp. But the eggs are wonderful too, and profitable. Each hen should reasonably be producing one egg each day. Some breeders push egg production to more than that.
I have found that the price one can get for eggs, depends on your location. Locally, I can sell them for $4.50 – 5.00 a dozen. If they go to a large city to the west of me, they can sell for $8 a dozen. Restaurants love the too. But a great local customer base is people you know who are allergic to chicken eggs. I am allergic to chicken eggs and cannot tolerate duck eggs either. But I can eat quail eggs.
How do eggs taste? No different than chicken eggs. And because they have similar consistency, you can use them in any recipe that calls for eggs. But I use 3 quail eggs per chicken egg in recipe (quail eggs are smaller). They sell well at the farmer’s market too.
Dealing with “bird stink” . This is real. Quail have the potential to be stinky because they have a high ammonia content in their waste. If you manage them well, this is not an issue. In our colony coop, I use shredded paper as bedding. It is free. It composted beautifully! On our sustainable farm we run a commercial scale redworm farm as the backbone of our operation. Anyone can do worm composting on a small scale though, in a bin (indoors or out), or a lump on the ground. It is worth it. We just put the bedding matter from the coop on one end of the worm beds. Any bird poo is a hot manure. This is why we put it at one end of the wormcomposting beds. This allows the worms to move into the Quail “stuff’, once it has mellowed, and they quickly begin converting it to worm castings, which are gardener’s gold.
Why tell you this? Because we run a sustainable farm. Everything is connected in some way (it would take a while to explain it all). But the worm castings the worms create are rendered completely clean due to the gut action of the worms. We take the worm castings and add them to the water we grow the azolla in. Worm castings are higher in plant available nutrients than any other manure, compost or fertilizer. Plus worm castings are organic, and safe. By adding the worm castings into the kiddie pools we grow the azolla in, we produce a feed crop for our livestock (including the quail and rabbits) that has top protein and nutrient array content. You can add animal manures to the water the azolla is grown in. It is done all around the world this way (it is just in N. America azolla is not well known as a feed source). But Worm castings are a cleaner plant nutrient source, and leaves out any possibility of contamination of feed for livestock
One word of wisdom for those who wish to go down this sustainable feeds road like we have. We actually DO keep commercial feeds on hand. We do this because if we have to leave, we cannot expect the person we hire to farm sit, to be able to harvest out azolla,moringa, comfrey etc and insects, etc to feed our livestock. And we do keep a minimum of this commercial feed in the animal diet, so there is not a rejection of it, or an intestinal upset while we are away.
Do we raise meat rabbits? Yes. And we will keep raising them, using sustainable feeds. Rabbits are also excellent productive and profitable .
I hope this information has been helpful for those who were interested in this information. Have a great day! -Deanne – De Converse
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Backyard.Meat.Rabbits/permalink/1361468693977060/