Quail

[LiveBates]

I've thought about buying a bunch of quail from a quail farm up by my cottage and prepping them at home for the freezer. Does anybody have any experience doing this? I was thinking of around 40-50 live quail. I thought it'd be a great experience for my kids to be apart of too if they choose to be apart of it. I've watched quite a few Youtube vids on how to disperse and clean, and think I have that under control. Question is.. how many quail per serving should I vac seal together? I'm thinking 2, but have zero experience with these birds. Thanks .

[smokin'stoegie]

My sons buddy bought a bunch of Coturnix quail eggs for next to nothing from the Mennonites around Waterloo.
Raised them through the summer and what the raccoons didn't get he ate.
Probably 2-3 per person anyways

[johny]

I've done chickens, ducks and geese.
Never quail.
But I have received quail from another "backyard" grower.
Tasty but tiny. Count on two quail per person per meal.
Spatchcock is the easiest way to grill or broil them.

[Fox]

Quail are mature at 5-6 weeks, sometimes less.

Get a pot of water simmering, have it ready to go.

Kill the quail, shears to take the head off works very well and quick. Quick with shears then into a pail until they stop flopping around. Hold it up by the leg and swish it around in the simmering water until the feathers come out easy when pulling with the grain, should be about 15 seconds. Remove all the feathers and set aside, you can continue this for all of them and work on the rest of the processing later. When they are all done you can do 1 of 2 things, you can open them up under the rib cage and pull out the guts but they are small and many people struggle with getting their fingers in to clean them out. The other method that works well is to use the shears and cut up both sides of the back bone to remove it. Open up the bird from the back and get all the guts out, the lungs will be inside the ribs, so running water helps with this. Trim off the legs at the knee joint with your shears and you are done.

They are the easiest bird to pluck, do not skin them if you can help it, you want that little bit of fat on them.

They are delicious, I bought a pile and kept some of the girls and 1 boy to grow the flock I have but the girls killed the boy so looking to expand my quail again.

[finsfurfeathers]

Quail are mature at 5-6 weeks, sometimes less.

Get a pot of water simmering, have it ready to go.

Kill the quail, shears to take the head off works very well and quick. Quick with shears then into a pail until they stop flopping around. Hold it up by the leg and swish it around in the simmering water until the feathers come out easy when pulling with the grain, should be about 15 seconds. Remove all the feathers and set aside, you can continue this for all of them and work on the rest of the processing later. When they are all done you can do 1 of 2 things, you can open them up under the rib cage and pull out the guts but they are small and many people struggle with getting their fingers in to clean them out. The other method that works well is to use the shears and cut up both sides of the back bone to remove it. Open up the bird from the back and get all the guts out, the lungs will be inside the ribs, so running water helps with this. Trim off the legs at the knee joint with your shears and you are done.They are the easiest bird to pluck, do not skin them if you can help it, you want that little bit of fat on them.

They are delicious, I bought a pile and kept some of the girls and 1 boy to grow the flock I have but the girls killed the boy so looking to expand my quail again.

Pretty much what I do except prefer to cut the knee at the joint with a knife. Although takes a moment longer I find the rounded joint makes it easier to handle especially if you vacuum pack them.

[hollywood]

You cannot buy and raise bobwhite quail unless you have a game farm license....your only choice would be japanese quail ( Coturnix ). Also consider chuckars...no game farm license is needed.

[Fox]

You cannot buy and raise bobwhite quail unless you have a game farm license....your only choice would be japanese quail ( Coturnix ). Also consider chuckars...no game farm license is needed.

Getting a license is not a big deal, lots of people raise wild turkey and bobwhite quail, you used to need a license for ring neck pheasants and well but I think they pulled back that requirement on small numbers of birds.

[Fox]

Pretty much what I do except prefer to cut the knee at the joint with a knife. Although takes a moment longer I find the rounded joint makes it easier to handle especially if you vacuum pack them.

I cut through the joint, does not leave a sharp edge, a lot faster but I know what you mean.

They are simple birds, easy to clean but somewhat annoying if you want to keep them whole.

[LiveBates]

Right on guys, thanks for the tips. I'm hopefully going to get some next month. Appreciate it

[Fox]

Right on guys, thanks for the tips. I'm hopefully going to get some next month. Appreciate it

$5 for a female, $2-3 for a male, they are not worth more than that. This is for Cortnix quail, that is the type that you normally get for eating, button quail are too small, Bobwhites are smaller and more expensive.