micah wotring
True BYH Addict
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Hi and welcome from Texas! I'm going to throw this idea out there just because... Coturnix Quail. They are easy to raise. They are mature by 8 weeks and either laying eggs for you, or ready to hop in the freezer and as an added bonus - you can process one in about 5 minutes. I had them for a long time, decided to focus on chickens and now have decided to go back in that direction.
The ONLY drawback is that they do not go broody and hatch their own eggs so an incubator or a small broody hen is necessary. Oh, and a bacon wrapped breast is an absolute treat!
I'm definitely no expert on the matter however I have researched extensively and have learned plenty. Still no match for experience but I still might be able to help people on BYH and BYC. Same with chickens, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, etc. Anyway, coturnix quail can and often do go broody if kept in a large enough pen on the ground because it feels like a more natural environment. Look up pavlovefowl, rabbitry girl, and dirtpatchheavan on youtube and you'll see each of them have/had their quail on the ground in a relatively big pen and had at least one go broody. Now, you will PROBABLY need an incubator or small broody hen because you can't count on them to brood frequently. However I think it's possible for them to go broody.
I think it would be cool to have somebody(me?) breed for broodiness in coturnix quail. Right now I'm just trying to get 'm to lay eggs but as soon as I can figure out how to get eggs constantly I'm gonna try and breed for color and then maybe for broodiness.
Just thought I should thro that out there. You are right however that they don't usualy go broody.
MW