the Russell Crowe of self-sufficiency....

I have raised quail now for 7 years. I have at any given time about 60 quail. I have 11 consistent buyers for the eggs and barter & trade at farmers' Markets the meat for almost 100% of my fruits and veggie that I don't grow myself. After the cost of feed, the eggs & meat generate cash of about $200 and more fruit and veggies than the wife, and I can eat. It's fun as well. I produce this in a Shed that is 15X15; I have eight cages combined. I pickle the eggs, and I sit and watch your videos while cracking eggs for scrambling throughout the week. You are good at your math for Quail. Great job. enjoy the Authenticity.

I just noticed I've been reading comments with an Australian accent.

Russell quail

You gotta keep the hens serviced!

i like how quails just boop when they walk. just boop forward. if i had to put a sound to their movement it would be "boop...boop...boop"

The positive thing about quail is that they are small, require less room and there is a demand for both the eggs and the birds for meat. In my area the eggs can be sold at farmer's markets or from a roadside stand. The birds can be sold live and the buyer instructed on how to dress them. This eliminates issues with the pure foods laws.

"Mark, quail, question mark?" - Mark

Thinking along the lines of 35 eggs per week, and ending up with 3 meals, if you took the eggs each week and incubated (3 incubators on the go) you could put each hatchlings into a pen until ready to eat, and once you’ve had your first 3 meals you’d only have to wait another week for 3 more meals. This would work if you had enough pens, alternatively you could incubate eggs every other week and have half the amount of pens. If you incubated each week and processed each week you would, in theory, have 12x6 (72) quails all growing, plus the original 7........That’s a lot of quail and a lot of feed but a very sustainable way of feeding your family 3 days per week 😊

Good to hear from a quail-afield person on the subject

I appreciate all your info and I am amazed at the amount if knowledge you give freely to others. I hope you get as much back with KZfaq supporters!

You give some of the clearest explanations I’ve come across on You tubers. I love your channel .

Excellent video, Mark! My husband was asking about this very subject just the other day, and you provided the answers to all his questions. Thanks!

You one of the best gardening KZfaqrs. You have a positive and abundant mindset rather than a negative and lacking mindset You’ll make a video on “10 good reasons to do ____” and won’t make “10 good reasons to not do ____” 👍🏽

I love all your content. But I really enjoy the Mini Zoo contents. Call it repetitive but it’s always fascinating just watching the quail and the habitat, it’s just satisfying. Please continue. Cheers.

I realize this video is 5 years old and you may not be answering questions from the comments, but the video was quite helpful to me, and I have a question about your keeping your birds in a large outdoor enclosure versus i small cages indoors. 1. Do you find that you have more rodent problems, 2. Do you have any trouble with contamination from wild birds (especially now with all the bird flu), mites, etc. 3. How do you tell your breeding stock from the new birds you are raising out, and 4. Do you have any difficulty with the older birds accepting the newer ones? Thank you!

I've just discovered your gardening videos and thought I'd look into quail. I clicked on this without reading the title and was like "Oh hey, it's this guy" and then I subscribed 🥰😁

All your videos are awesome Mark, always teach me something new in every episode, keep up the good work brother 👍👍👍

Hell, years ago when I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment my wife and I raised quail in a spare bedroom. 3 trio's and I had a still air incubator= lots of pickled eggs and roasters.

I like the quail and gardening videos. You give unique information a lot of other gardening youtubers don't.

It’s not often a video with all the information your looking for is found. Thank you

Really informative video. Thanks for taking the time to explain all about quails.

Great vid man I’ve been really looking into these birds because I hear they’re quiet, easy to raise and are really delicious.

Thank you very much! I want to really emphasize why though, Your presentation, discussion, and points were all laid out in a completely comprehensible fashion!

Thanks. It was very informative. It's a shame that they only live 2-3 years.

Thanks for all the numbers and the great explanations what they mean, that of course really helps people with no experience but who are still interested in getting started.

Love this dudes content. I started a veggie patch and am looking into getting chooks because of him!

Great video Mark, thank you. I used to keep quail just to clean up the aviaries my parrots lived in, they did a great job.

That was an awesome video. I love how you explain things. You are such a knowledgeable man. Im learning so much from you. Love the watering fixture for them. I’m assuming it was gravity fed from the tank on the blocks. I will go back and watch some of the other videos also. I didn’t know you had all these animals. Thank you so much..!! Have a fantastic day Mark..!!

Hello from Oklahoma, just started raising quail and I found your information very helpful since I know nothing about them at this point. Newly subscribed to your channel and look forward to watching your past videos.

Very practical calculation and nice explaination. Thank you.

i love the natural way you are keeping them,greetings from Kenya where quails still clean themselves with soil in their natural habitat

G'day Mark! Love quail, I've kept them for years, my fav. Little poultry, they have always called the wild ones in, really funny when we lived in town..lol.cheers! Blessings.

You've got the best channel mate. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. The wife and I have 57 acres up in FNQ on the Atherton Tablelands, and we're looking to live off the land and become self sufficient and your video's are invaluable. We keep chickens, and I just started processing them for the first time last week. I've also been thinking about quail, so knew exactly where to look for some good info. I know this is an old video, so not sure if you'll see the comment, but thanks again.

Good explanation Mark

Your an amazing person. Thank you so much for making great videos! Thank you for being awesome and cheerful!

Thank you for the interesting video. It's nice to see that your quails have plenty of exercise. Up until now I have unfortunately only seen videos with quails in battery cages very often. I was wondering if this is the standard in other countries. I am glad that this is not the case. I myself live in Germany and have been keeping quails for 3 years. best regards

I love how this guy explained guinea pig poop with an exact number of poops. That is 100% the way I garden-math. Lol

Hi! I came across you while searching how to grow out large numbers of quail at a time. Great Video, Im glad I found your channel. Nice To Meet You!

Grilled or deep fried quail is very popular in SE Asia. Each quail could run for $1.5 to $2 depending on what size they get. Cheers Mark from Minnesota!

Have been watching almost every single video you put out. Also on your secondary channel... I´m crazy, yet... We just got the news we are upgrading to a farm with 4 acres. Tree´s and healthy soil, everything. So happy! Now I can do this all for real. I have chickens, rabbits, dogs and lots of experience. Time to expend. Gonna be awesome. Thanks for all the knowledge.

Thanks Mark for the very good information you gave and in the short period of time. I think you are a very good teacher and you make it so simple to understand of what you are getting across to us. I appreciate you giving your time into this presentation of the Quail. I do love these little birds. I have Button Quail in my house in very large fish tanks to enjoy. Again Thank so much Robin

3:34 "But then you'll know for sure that at least those 5 females are getting serviced." Hahaha...

Thank you sooo much for this informative video!! I really appreciate the detail you put into answering the question! I have been considering keeping quail…and you have answered most of my questions!! Thank you…from Nova Scotia, Canada

Your life is amazing, one of your subscribers in Los Angeles.

What a great instructional video! Thanks mate!

Years ago your videos inspired me to refurbish my smallholding into a little more self sufficient place. After nearly 3 years my first two groups of layer type quails finally started to slow down with production and die off. Often I told myself that quail are not worth the effort and cost of their feed, that I'm better off with just chickens and geese outside. But the fewer birds I had left and fewer eggs I got, the more I started to miss them, even if for their absolutely "head empty" kinds of antics. So this year I got eggs from mixbreed quails from various dual purpose and meat breeds. Went back to this video and realised just how much has changed because I stumbled upon your channel and got inspired to get off my butt to do something useful. Many thanks.

Thank you ! For such informative videos! Your my go to guy for so many Homestead questions! :)

I would just like to say this is a smashing channel and hope you keep going =)

Thank you for this video! It was super helpful! I'm getting my first batch of quail this year

Thanks for this video, i used to have 4 female one male ratio on my backyard but only 2 years being productive for eggs and will need to incubated and butcher the rest

Thanks so much for laying down these calculations!

I love both types of videos mate keep it up.Gardeing and Quail keeping.

Thank you for posting; very informative.

It's also amazing to see the greater health benefits that quail meat and eggs provide, over that of chicken! Thanks so much for sharing the video!

This is a great video! Good info! Thanks!

Very informative video, earned you a subscriber! Greetings from Hungary.

Thank you for the video. I found it very helpful and I'm very interested in raising Coturnix. I have Button quail (their eggs are teeny tiny and only really good as a garnish) and i have four chicken hens. The chickens are my favorite because they're friendly but they are older and don't lay much. I'm incubating some eggs from my sister's flock for new layers at the moment but would like to have a self contained type of bird to reproduce when needed. Quail are a great option for suburban settings compared to chickens because you can keep a breeding flock. Many places won't allow roosters (like where I live), so you have to rely on outside sources to replenish your flock if you need to.

Be sure to use a cookie dough roller, and mash all feed on a smooth surface, or counter top, to be sure your feed is very fine, for baby quail for the first week of life, as some babies may choke on the feed, so this stop choking on the feed if not flattened with a Cookie Dough Roller, and this story comes from the Chicken Tractor seller. on Craigslist, Jackson Mississippi, in the U.S.A. As this man once lost babies choking on the feed, . . and also give the chicks some boiled egg yellows, for the first week of age for quail, . the yellow ONLY, this is mild protein.

Favorite channel. Love it!

Great video Very informative, watching here in London England 👍 Thanks!

Very informative! Thanks!

Very cool. Thank for coming up with this

First seeing hope you have continued to post. Love the accent!

Super informative video - thanks!

Great video. I'm getting 3 more next Monday.

Love this video! Best I have seen..

Some info from a Professional Quail Breeder: 2, 3 or 4 "typical" quails a sitting is more reasonable. But of course it depends on the appetite of the individual and the quail's weight. There are jumbo quail which are larger, thus less would be needed. But 1 quail a person is very very little. A ration of 1 male for 3 females is a very good ratio. But note that male quails eat and don’t lay eggs, thus it’s common for some breeders to have a ratio of 1:4 or 1:5 The more females to male ratio the less the fertility potential (it could make a difference or it might not, depending on the male quail you have) A 1 male for 3 females is the best ratio, if you have a higher male to female ration is actually counterproductive due to more fighting. This unless you keep your male quails separate with their females. A typical quail egg is the equivalent of 1 chicken egg. Quails lay around 1 egg a day, and this is normally where they excel, eating the quail itself is not as much cost effective as eating their eggs. Quails come in a variety of subspecies (not exactly called this way but it’s easier to understand if this term is used), some are best for meat(they grow larger in size at a faster rate), others for eggs, others as a general purpose. I hope the info helps!

Love your channel. Cheers from the states...and thank you for your military service.

Excellent information Thnaks

HS algebra teachers should pose these problems to their students so when they ask what they need to learn this for they know that the lowly farmer is really pretty fucing cool

Hello, I'm Jukli, a quail breeder from Indonesia. Nice to meet you

Did really enjoy watching your Vlogs ..wish the best

thanks...great explanation

Thanks for taking the time to make this I love eating quail and i saw a man selling them live by the side of the road today so i have bought 3 females and one male and hopefully i can breed them to eat. going to check out your other videos now

you are awesome. thanks for sharing your knowledge!

So I'm researching quails because our Mexican tenants needed a plumber and there were what looked like two chickens in a cage in their apt. Turns out it's probably quails, as they have a nice chirp. No wonder she's been vacuuming a lot lately. This is in a city so they don't go out. But we are hoping they are ok.

Yes enjoyed your video/lecture , thumbs up .

I've been watching your videos the past two days - learning about quail raising and I think I have have now gained the confidence to start incubation later next week. I probably only know about 10% of what I need to know, but if I dont act now I'll learn TOO much that I convince myself not to do it. I guess the rest Ill learn by doing :) Thank you so much!

I watch your stuff so dont beat yourself up. I have a house now. And always wanted to garden.im subbed to you.

As soon as he said people trolling him, I clicked Like and Subcribed

This is very informative! I plan to hatch some quails for pets but also for food!

Very informative

Thanks Mark

Thanks for sharing

Thank you sir. Very helpful.

Thanks make very nice video . I learn lot from you . I use to have 100 birds .

Hi Mark - firstly, loving your videos - very much appreciated! We have just bought a 52ha property in SW Western Australia - it's got quite a bit already going on (olives, hazelnuts, figs etc) however no real animals. We are keen to keep quail, for eggs and meat. However, sourcing either live mating pairs or fertile eggs over here is proving a challenge. Any advice on how we can source our stock? Thanks! Cyn

Great video

Very good video!

Thanks very much for information

Awesome video. Answered my questions. We are just building a quail area. Hoping to have them breed naturally by sitting on their eggs rather than us incubating. Works ok for our ducks. We are making the area rat-proof as neighbours have had baby quail taken by rats. Using same wire I see on your enclosure (10mmx10mm). I think we'll aim for 10 female and say three males as we are only a small household.

Thanks Sir great video cheers!

I lost seven quail out of two dozen in just two days. I'm pretty sure that was just the shock of moving them, because they were bought rather than raised, but I'm not sure.

Thanks mate.

Great video thanks! Only just subscribed to your channel a few days ago, so now I have to go find the rest of your quail vids - lol. Well timed too, as I got quail a few months ago. Where I am, the local council makes it basically impossible to keep a couple chickens in town, but no problem with quail, so that's the way I went. Loving the eggs, but now I have to get up the nerve to chop the heads off the extra boys (yes, I'm a wuss - lol),and figure out how to clean/prep them for cooking. What do you think is the best way to go in terms of butchering - all at once at the prime time and put them in the freezer, or is it viable to just knock one or two off as you want them, like my great-grandparents used to do with chickens? I have found that if I keep the extra males separate from the hens, they don't fight - they were only fighting when there were hens in the cage. Cheers.

do you recommend a particular incubator? thanks for all your inspiring videos.

Excellent information. I agree with everything except the egg ratio, but that's because I've kept chickens before. In my experience 1 egg producing bird to one person eating said eggs is overkill, but my chicken keeping experience is probably not the rule. Having extra room for a hen positively impacts laying, as does diet. A secret thing that greatly increases egg laying in any chickens is woodlice. (aka springtails. aka pillbugs, rollipolly, and a whole bunch of other common names) The name woodlice is the wrong imagery. Land Crustaceans is more accurate. They provide a big protein and calcium boost specifically for birds which are things your hens need specifically while producing. They're easy-ish to make small habitats for but might be a little difficult to farm as a type of hen fodder. Reptile keepers do like to keep them though for reptiles.

Great video! Thanks!

First off, Best youtube channel ive found in my 12 years of watching videos. 2nd, can you let your quail out to roam free like you would with chickens?