How to Process Quail Meat

Here is a process on how to Butcher and Process Quail Meat

Quail have been considered a delicacy in many restaurants.   Able to try quail meat, you have to go to the fancy restaurant.

As a backyard farmer or homesteader, raising a quail for your meat has been a great way to have easy access to the good quail of meat. 

 Also knowing where your food comes from ensuring the safety of your family from harmful pesticides.

Coturnix Quail Meat Vs Bobwhite Quail Meat

There are many benefits raising a quail over other poultry such as chickens, ducks, or geese, especially people with limited space to set up the cage.  

Coturnix quail are perfect for the first-time grower and it has so much better nutrition value than Chicken. 

Coturnix quail is low in LDL cholesterol and saturated fat; high in niacin, and vitamins B and C.  Also meat is darker in color which flavor with high protein percentage.

The other choice of a homesteader is bobwhite quail.  They are also a great source of protein with rich vitamin meat.

Rapid Maturity of Quail

The most of quail mature within eight weeks and  I recommend to fatten out for another two weeks before processing for the meat. 

Based on my experiences, 9 weeks quail has the best weight at that time.  

But after 12 weeks of their maturity, the meant becomes very tough and it is better to set aside for the stews.

Self Sufficient with Quail Farm

Among the preppers and homestead community, raising a Japanese Coturnix are the best choices for dual purpose.  They lay large eggs and you can keep your family fed year-around with quail meat.

Baby quail can hatch within 18 days and they grow to lay eggs within eight weeks. 

You can start to harvest the meat within 8 weeks of raising the quail.  

Basically, you can group them into two and rotate the laying eggs and harvesting the meat process an unlimited amount of time.  

It is a great container belt of egg and meat production systems.

Tools for Harvesting Quail?

Tools and Materials

• Kitchen Shears
• Tongs & Kitchen Gloves
• Stove
• Clean Counter
• Sink
• Ice Chest with Ice cubes
• 5-gallon stockpot
• Bowl for intestines
• Thermometer

If you are raising for selling to the public or local restaurants, be sure to check your local regulations for processing the meat. 

They have special regulations and permits to process the food for commercial usage.

How to Harvest Quail

Preparation

1. You need to sanitize the area, tools, stove, sink, counter, and any tools that will be associated with harvesting the quail.
2. You need to boil the pot of water to the 160-degrees-Fahrenheit.  If the water is too cool, it won’t loosen the feather and if the water is too hot, you’ll start to cook the quail.     

How to Harvest

1. The most humane way to harvest, or kill the quail is to cut the head of a quail with kitchen shears. 
2. Hold your quail over a sink, and holding the bird firmly, and using kitchen shears, sever the head.   There will be some temporary movement; however, the quail is not in pain.  It means the nerves of the quail are still intake, they just respond to the action of the bird.
3. Make sure you hold the bird firmly over the sink, because it needs little time to drain the blood from the body, otherwise you may experience some mess around the kitchen.
4. After you remove the head, grab the feet of the quail, and dip it into the 160-degree hot water.  
5. Swirl the quail for about 30 seconds until the feather falls off from the body.  If you have done correctly, the feathers will come off easily.
6. Then rise the bird in the cold water and remove the inside organs using kitchen shears.  
7. Cut the unnecessary body parts such as the tail and tip of the wings. 
8. Cut along the side of the spine up to the neck.  Once you remove the spine from the meat, you can pull the neck, which will take out all the inside organs as one movement. You can use the harvested organs such as heart, gizzard, and lives for soup or stew later.
9. Since the quail with cold running water and place them inside of the ice chest or fridge.

If you are harvesting old birds, add a little salt to the water and leave the birds overnight in the ice chest to tenderize the meat. 

As you can see, it is very simple and humane to process the quail.  

Raising your own poultry is a rewarding experience also not difficult to butcher and process Quail Meat.  

It may take some practices at first, but knowing where your poultry comes from, it is a great feeling to experience the whole process of making a dish out of your backyard.