I just put 100 coturnix eggs in a borrowed GQF incubator. Purchased the eggs on ebay for 24.99 plus 15.00 shipping. They sent 108 but 8 were damaged by the mailman. So I got how many I payed for, not bad. The person I got them from said that their quail get up to 13 oz and higher, so they're gonna be big boys. I now have 16 days to finish putting together my set-up. Brooder is already taken care of. I'm gonna build a rack that holds 4, 2' by 8' by 16" pens. I'm copying the set-up that Danny Ertsgaard showed my that he used when he was breeding quail. I then need to build my breeder pen. The four pens will hold about 100 full grown quail so the plan is to incubate 150 eggs every two weeks. I want to make sure that I end up having 100 reach maturity out of each batch. I will stagger it so that every two weeks I'll have 100 8 week old quail. I'll slaughter all quail out of one pen just in time to clean it out for the next hatching batch. That will cover my food needs and then extra that I'll sell to local falconers to cover my food cost. I'll have a few more going to a local breeder for the cost of the Harris I'll get next year.
Life is hard, it's harder when your stupid. - John Wayne
I used to order eggs from GQF. My hatch rate was 40 - 60%. That's not unusual. I started buy eggs from a local hatchery wherethey put one cock bird in with only one hen and my hatch rate increased to about 75%. In general i felt lucky if i got 60% to maturity. Good Luck. I hope you have your brooders far from your house... quail Stink! But they sure are good food for the birds! I kinda like 'em, too
I'm trying to be cautious and not "count them before they hatch". That's why I'm going to incubate 150+ at a time and hope to get 100. I think I should manage 66% hatch rate if I'm collecting my own eggs and not buying them. They are going to be out in my back shed so stink shouldn't be too bad. I'm really trying to go about this the right way not half a$$ it like I did with the rats I was breeding. I stopped doing the rat thing because the damn things would always try to jump out any time I opened their cage and they were biters. To be honest they kinda scared me a bit. Damn biting vermin. I did end up producing enough rats that it was worth my while, they provided alot of food economically, they just were hard to deal with for me with the jumping and biting.
Life is hard, it's harder when your stupid. - John Wayne
Post by HawkingRage on Mar 27, 2008 21:37:43 GMT -5
I have ordered many eggs on ebay. most have a 30-50% hatch rate except for one guy whom i bought from 2 times with 80 and better. His name is allan and he sells tuxedo. they are a little smaller but the hatch rate from them was 98%
Cage hights. i would never go higher than 9 inches. you will kick yourself in the butt for going 16 inches. trust me on that.
I agree with ED on counting eggs before they hatch. Been there done that but once you get your stock breeding it will be amazing!
this may be a little soon, but if you would like to trade some quail to avoid inbreeding let me know.. i am waiting on about 100 to hatch in the few days
Post by sparrowhawk on Aug 29, 2008 19:43:13 GMT -5
Not to burst any bubbles here but in some states quail are considered a game bird and you might have to have a license to have and breed them found out the hard way here in Fl.
Post by dirthawker on Aug 29, 2008 19:59:11 GMT -5
it depends on the breed of quail. but I am not an expert on every state. in AZ the only licence is a hobby lic for gambles, and a sport lic for bobwhites. any other quail is fine as I remember. but the lic is only $5.00
Not to burst any bubbles here but in some states quail are considered a game bird and you might have to have a license to have and breed them found out the hard way here in Fl.
Game Breeder's License - Class A, annual, $10 - required here in IL too.... to keep live quail/pheasants/ducks for personal use (baggies, feeding hawks etc., your own consumption). If you breed to sell, it's Class B, annual, $20.
Post by sparrowhawk on Sept 11, 2008 20:10:17 GMT -5
Man you guy's got it made it's $55 a yr here in FL for a license. My friend now is raising my quail we just put 600 eggs in the incubator.That not counting the 200 or so that just hatched.