No chickens here!
It was either Guinea hens or quail. After reading I went for Coturnix Quail. After raising them for 2 years I think I chose ok.
They poop a lot and stink worse than chickens I feel.
Their eggs are tiny but have a better smell when cooked and nutritional value. They lay eggs at 6-8 weeks old and I’ve found fill out nicely to butcher by week 8-10.
I have found they don’t gain weight between week 7-10 but the chest widens a bit making them easier to clean.
A lot of people struggle to raise them according to the many forums and groups I’m in. However they are fairly hardy after the first 2 days and after a week of life they’re like a whole new bird.
My current pros and cons list looks like:
Pros
- Mature at 6-8 weeks
- Eggs are great pickled
- Less smell when cooking eggs them than chicken eggs
- Richer yolk
- Dark meat
- Butcher setup is very simple
- Easy to vent sex / feathers sex if certain colors
- Very easy to hatch, 15-19 day cycle, depending on heat
- Small foot print for how much floor is needed
- Don’t make much noise unless a male
Cons
- As soon as the weather gets cool eggs become less instantly
- They are very messy eaters
- Poop stinks worse than chickens
- They fly and break their necks frequently
- They don’t return to a coop to roost
- They always need to be in a merged space unless you don’t care if they don’t return
- After 3 weeks their poop goes from meh poop to yea I’ve got to clean that
- Health things appear often and while they can survive a lot they are fragile
