This is the final chapter in the 5 day Quail Week FloridaHillbilly How-To. We’ve covered my setup and my brooder live video feed, We’ve talked about my incubator, how I built it and the incubation process. We then moved on to brooders, feeders, the importance of water, and how to make a self waterer. And yesterday, we talked about quail housing. We’ve gone over most of the basics you deal with in raising quail, other than getting the live quail into the freezer. Today we talk processing.
And like just about every other aspect of these birds, the process is short and simple. However, I must preface inform you of a few things not so simple.
- Due to their small size, it takes several to equal a normals person’s table portion, plan accordingly.
- Since they are so small, their skin is rather fragile, so we normally skin them. This means you get no tasty crisped skin on your plate.
- The wings have no meat worth harvesting, in my opinion. They are like the legs on blue crabs, they ARE they, and DO have flavor, but aren’t really worth the effort.
That’s it. Those are the “downfalls” from my standpoint. Small size, no skin, and no wings. But they taste wonderful, they are economically and nutritionally a good return on your efforts, and all done in record time. Again, from egg into the incubator to harvest day is roughly 60 days. Most vegetable take longer than that!
On to the process.
You will need a pair of kitchen shears and possibly a sharp knife, along with a bowl. Having running waiter available is also handy.
Hold the bird in your off hand with the wings folded against its body.- With your dominant hand, stretch the birds neck out, then, with a sharp pair of kitchen shears or large scissors, cut the birds head off at the base of the skull. It seems cruel, but it is swift and the pain only last for a second or two.
Hold the bird firmly until the spasms stop. Be sure to hold on to the bird as it thrashes about. Also have the neck pointed away from you, as blood will be draining out.- Once the bird has ceased moving, cut off the feet at the feather line.
Remove the wings at the point where they meet the breast. Again, not enough meat to make it worth while. Keep a few to try them out if you’d like.- Flip the bird breast side up in your cupped hands.
- Place both thumbs against each other on the breast. Pushing down firmly, spread your thumbs apart. This will split the skin open.
- Peel the skin off the entire carcass.
Flip the bird spine side up, holding it in your off hand.- Take the shears or large scissors, and insert the lower point into the vent area and cut along the spine.
- Repeat this process for the other side.
- Grab the rump and pull the spine out, along with the lungs and other tidbits that stick to it.
- Using a finger, pull out the remaining entrails, saving whatever you see fit, gizzard, heart, etc. I normally throw these bits to the dog, her treat for protecting the other animals.
- Rinse.
- Place in a bowl.
- Repeat until you have enough for a meal, or you run out of birds.
Total time, once you get used to the routine is around 3 to 5 minutes or so.
Here is a video run through. Don’t worry, no bird was harmed in the making of this video.
That’s it! From Egg to Meat, the whole process of raising quail. I hope you learned something, and even more so, I hope you decide to give them a try. They offer all of the fun that a chicken provides, plus come in a more streamlined package, and take less time, energy and food in getting there.
Peace,
db
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Just wanted to take a minute to tell you that I have really enjoyed your recent posts on quail. I used to think they were too small to be worth the trouble, but you have me rethinking that. I have a question about taking the shears and cutting along either side of the spine. Are you cutting through the ribs? It’s hard for me to imagine, since I have never butchered an animal myself. Thanks for all of the great info on your website.
Thanks for the kind words 🙂
I’m starting to believe that quail are the city dwellers best alternative to chickens. You can raise them in a back bedroom without anyone ever knowing what you were doing. (You would have to smuggle feed in at night though, I suppose.) I am probably getting rid of my dusk and chickens and concentrating on the quail and rabbits, they are simply more time, space, and cost efficient for me and meet my needs completely.
Yes, you take the point of the shears and pierce the vent area, cutting the backbone completely out. This means you will be cutting through the ribs on both sides. In about 4 weeks time, I’ll have adults ready to process, and at that time, I’ll do another video, this time will be the read thing.
And thank you for taking the time to comment, it lets me know someone actually reads this stuff 🙂 And while I do make a little money here and there with the site, the things I most want out of it is for folks to improve their lives a bit because of it, and on a more basic level, knowing that someone is actually reading what I write.
Ha! I’ll have to comment more often in that case – usually I am very shy 🙂 I’ve been reading your blog for 4 or 5 months now but usually don’t have any questions. I did nearly comment on the rabbit milk post – for your patience in milking if nothing else. It never entered my mind that it was a prank. The picture of the upside down bunny with a turkey baster was very convincing.
I will very likely be procuring some quail in the near future, as our little family will be moving to an apartment. Did you buy a specific strain? Also, do you happen to know at what age a hen slows down in egg production? Finally, will you be breeding for any specific traits?
“Coturnix” quail are the ones I raise.
They slow down egg production after a couple years, much like chickens….try to harvest the breeders and replace them by 18 months, and you should be fine.
Probably no specific traits, though if I did it would be larger eggs and larger adults, just like every other Coturnix quail breeder. Backyardchickens.com has a quail breeding program, loosely organized that is shooting for those two things.
Love the step by step. I’ve almost finished building my cage and have been on the fence about buying adults to start a flock, or building a brooder and trying from scratch. The local breeders I’ve found on Craigslist have had absolutely horrible breeding environments, which makes me doubt their genetics of live birds or their eggs. And only one local feed store carries quail, and they don’t stock until early summer due to local temps. I assumed large commercial breeders were the only other real option. Hadn’t considered ebay. Thanks!
Glad I could help….another good source (for me at least) was backyardchickens.com..look here for Quail” listings:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch/?search=quail&output=all&containingforum%5B0%5D=34&type=all&advanced=1
Peace,
db
DB,
Still some things I’m a little unsure of: Do you/can you keep your brooder and incubator outside? Can you keep the adults in the shade or do they need more direct light? How hot does it get in your area? If I keep them in my backyard it gets up to 117, over 100 for 60 days a year. I might end up with baked eggs?! Did you infer that if you don’t keep males that the females will still produce eggs? Because if my wife thinks she is eating fertilized eggs she would flip out. How do you sex them after the brooder? Is that when you harvest the extra males or do you separate the males and have like a bachelor cage until they are adult size? Can you keep them outside still in the winter? I would assume you cant use the light to keep the adults warm in the winter because they wouldnt sleep with the light.
I think I have enough questions for almost another blog post, maybe this will get you out of thinking of a topic one day!
-Drew aka Phorz in the rabbit hole horde!
See all these questions answered here:
http://floridahillbilly.com/free-books-quail-qa-and-other-tidbits-from-floridahillbilly/
I did quail last year for the first time ever, didnt know they matured so quickly but decided when they stopped growing and started fighting it was time for them to be butchered(hindsight: should have kept a few for breeding but their fights were vicious!!) anyways i just did the field dressing version for cleaning them, after a quick beheading just stand in their wings and pull on their feet, the whole breast will rip out, just have to scoop out the innard bits and remove the feet. Anyone else do this? Easy peasy but maybe not as good as other methods..?
Sounds like the same method we use for doves. I find it a bit wasteful on the quail though…but a bit faster.
Here is a another writeup on processing quail that I did, and includes a video of me going through it.
http://floridahillbilly.com/harvesting-quail/
Thanks for the comments!
db
I came across your site by way of wannabehomesteader. Thank you for all the detailed info on raising chickens, ducks, rabbits, and quail.
I am determined to homestead on my .9 acre lot in a covenanted community in Southern CO that does allow livestock. You have helped me broaden my choices (I was only planning on chickens and rabbits) but am definitely going to add quail.
I am using this fall and winter to get everything planned out, and supplies built for spring. Thank you also for incubator instructions – I think I will go that route for both chickens and quail.
Once again, thank you for both your generosity in sharing, and your wonderfully articulated teaching style.
I will be returning to read the wealth of information you have provided in your archived posts.
Thanks for that. I”ve been busy with other aspects of my life recently, so haven’t written anything is quite a while. I need to fix that.
Drop me a line to tell me how it goes out there…
Peace,
db