What is the best quail breed for the backyard?
If you are thinking of raising a quail for your homestead, there are over 140 different species of quail that exist in the world today. But out of 140 species, we are recommending 5 of the most common quail breeds for your homestead or garden.
Each of the different quail serves a different purpose for breeding, so please read on to find out which is the best for you!
The Coturnix Quail: The Best Quail for Profit
If you want to raise Quail for both meat and eggs, this is the bird for you and your homestead.
The Coturnix quail is the most common and popular breed of quail amongst the homesteader.
You can raise them for approximately 9 weeks to process the meat, and the Coturnix can start to lay the eggs at 6 weeks of age.
Compared to the chicken, a quail has a much shorter lifespan than chicken, but this dual-purpose breed can give you almost 250 eggs per year.
Also, it is around 8 ounces of weight to provide a great source of protein for your dinner table.
If you want to sell the meat for a profit, the Coturnix is the best breed of quail.
The Bobwhite Quail: The Best Meat and Egg Quail Breed, and for Sport
Bobwhites are almost the same size as the Coturnix with similar behavior. But it takes a little bit longer to mature and lay less amount of egg then Coturnix.
They only lay 100 to 200 eggs per year. Because of this reason, Bobwhite quail is not popular among the homesteader and not a favorite breed for commercial growers either.
Bobwhite Quail is great for the game birds for hunters. When they fly, they tend to flush better than other quail and they get off the ground faster to challenge the hunter.
The California Quail for Entertainment Purposes for Your Garden
California quail are kept for pleasure and ornamental purposes. They look very adorable with a topknot cartoon-like bird which gives you an exotic aesthetic to your garden and homestead pen.
Compared to other breeds such as Coturnix and Bobwhite, they are very small inside which provides little meat or eggs for your dinner table. If you don’t need to have much meat or eggs, California quails are very choices for entertainment and companionship purposes.
Button Quail is the Cutest Breed in the Quail Family
If you want to raise the cutest quail for your kid, we highly recommend raising the Button Quail.
They are the smallest, quieter, and most behaved quail among the quail family.
So if you are planning to raise them in your apartment, they will not cause any trouble with the neighbors as long as you give them food and water.
Blue Scale Quail for Watching Bird Lover
If we are into bird watching, this quail is for you. Watching quail in their natural environment is very fun and it is exciting to see them foraging for grains and seeds. The Blue Scale Quail is a very exotic looking bird. Unlike the Cotrnix and Bobwhite, they can only be found in the wild and they travel most of the year.
As you can see, there are many different breeds for you to choose from.