What too do with all the eggs

[graham]

Hi,I have 6 quail 5 hens and a cock that I hatched out last year.They are Jap type and they started laying about a week ago.
I wasn't realy expecting so many eggs,I have got dozzens of them,my question is what an I do with them all.
I keep large amounts of chickens and am used to having lots of hens eggs,but I got the quail as pretty little pets and I havan't realy thought through what I was going to do with all these eggs.I would hate to waist them.
I wish some of my chickens would lay like this.


Thanks Graham.

 

[Marigold]

HibGraham, glad to hear your quail are laying so well. Do you sell your chicken eggs? If you have an outlet you can add quail eggs as they are regarded as a delicacy, especially in summer when they're so pretty hardboiled and cut open in salads and starters. If you look at prices in the supermarket you'll be surprised at what they sell for. Just buy some quail egg plastic boxes and they will at least pay for their feed.
Quail eggs are more nutritious than hens eggs as they have a greater proportion of yolk to white (one reason they look so good in salads) and also more Omega 3 than hens eggs. So you could just eat them yourself, and if you don't want the fiddle of peeling them, use them in scrambled eggs or omelettes or cakes etc (about 5-6 quail eggs =1 hens egg) and then you'll have extra energy and more hens eggs to sell! Lastly, since quail need a high-protein diet you could blend any spare eggs, she'll and all, scramble in microwave, and feed back to the quails as a boost for them.

 

[graham]

Hi,thanks for the Ideas,I do sell my chicken and duck eggs.People realy apreciate them for there taste especily nown they are on an all grain diet.
I guss it hard to sell some thing you don't understand how to appreciate yourself.

Graham.

 

[JR Poultry and Game]

hi graham, one of my friends gets 30 quail eggs a day and has got another 20 coming into POL and he sells all the quail eggs to a caterer for £2:40 a dozen!!!

 

[Marigold]

Those will be Coturnix eggs JR, as I'm sure you know. They are fiddly enough to peel at 10-12 grams, so you need 5-6 to be the equivalent of a good- sized hens egg. I agree they are profitable if you can find an outlet but to make money you need Coturnix rather than CPQs, preferably Giant Italians. I have one giant Italian who is just the same as the others only a bit bigger, not enormous, and she lays eggs half as big again as the others, often double-yolkers. And of course if you breed giant Coturnix there is the possibility of selling the boys to a caterer so they turn out to be some use, as they have been bred for their bigger breasts. My friend breeds hundreds every year and has a lucrative contract with an Indian restaurant for the spare boys. But it is quite a big jump between having a small group as pets and going into it commercially, because larger numbers are quite labour-intensive and you need to invest in lots more housing, also their food is quite expensive in relation to the volume of eggs they produce. And there are management problems at the stage where the boys are reaching maturity and either start to fight or to damage the girls with aggressive mating before you have been able to work out which are the girls and remove them to safety!