➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[igorsMistress]

24 so far. 7 eggs left in the incubator.

PS there's at least 1 yellow in there. Our egg hatched before I was awake so no idea which it is.

 

[BReeder!]

I made the 5 quail for dinner yesterday. I cooked them on the grill and made some vegetable and mushroom risotto to go with them. I didn't take pics of the risotto, but I doubt you care as much about that anyway. The quail were excellent.
I found that plucking them is the way to go for grilling/roasting. The skin held in the moisture and I put a heaping tsp of garlic and herb butter inside each.
The spachcocked quail were tasty, and would have been better with a glaze to keep them moist while cooking. I just seasoned them with salt, pepper, herbs, and garlic. The legs dried out a little bit, but the breasts were still moist.
Overall, they were delicious!
Something I found interesting is that it seemed like salt crystallized on the skin of the whole quails while they cooked. I did not salt the outside nor did I had salt to the garlic herb butter I put inside. The butter contained some salt, but I think the pores of the skin released the salt I was seeing. It was tiny white circles on the crispy skin that I could easily rub off, and the skin certainly tasted a bit salty, although still delicious.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

I made the 5 quail for dinner yesterday. I cooked them on the grill and made some vegetable and mushroom risotto to go with them. I didn't take pics of the risotto, but I doubt you care as much about that anyway. The quail were excellent.
I found that plucking them is the way to go for grilling/roasting. The skin held in the moisture and I put a heaping tsp of garlic and herb butter inside each.
The spachcocked quail were tasty, and would have been better with a glaze to keep them moist while cooking. I just seasoned them with salt, pepper, herbs, and garlic. The legs dried out a little bit, but the breasts were still moist.
Overall, they were delicious!
Something I found interesting is that it seemed like salt crystallized on the skin of the whole quails while they cooked. I did not salt the outside nor did I had salt to the garlic herb butter I put inside. The butter contained some salt, but I think the pores of the skin released the salt I was seeing. It was tiny white circles on the crispy skin that I could easily rub off, and the skin certainly tasted a bit salty, although still delicious.
View attachment 1707047 View attachment 1707048

Yes! Team plucking for the win!

It is so much work but oh so worth it.

 

[igorsMistress]

I made the 5 quail for dinner yesterday. I cooked them on the grill and made some vegetable and mushroom risotto to go with them. I didn't take pics of the risotto, but I doubt you care as much about that anyway. The quail were excellent.
I found that plucking them is the way to go for grilling/roasting. The skin held in the moisture and I put a heaping tsp of garlic and herb butter inside each.
The spachcocked quail were tasty, and would have been better with a glaze to keep them moist while cooking. I just seasoned them with salt, pepper, herbs, and garlic. The legs dried out a little bit, but the breasts were still moist.
Overall, they were delicious!
Something I found interesting is that it seemed like salt crystallized on the skin of the whole quails while they cooked. I did not salt the outside nor did I had salt to the garlic herb butter I put inside. The butter contained some salt, but I think the pores of the skin released the salt I was seeing. It was tiny white circles on the crispy skin that I could easily rub off, and the skin certainly tasted a bit salty, although still delicious.
View attachment 1707047 View attachment 1707048

 

[Sara L]

Yes! Team plucking for the win!

It is so much work but oh so worth it.

I was given a quail plucker for Christmas, still figuring out the best way to use it. If you leave the lower legs and wings on, the tumbling action breaks them and they don't look nice. But if you take them off, it's harder to scald them. I'm thinking I need some sort of wire cup to dunk them with, so it's easy to then drop into the machine. It's also harder to gut the bird when plucking vs spatchcocking.

 

[BReeder!]

I was given a quail plucker for Christmas, still figuring out the best way to use it. If you leave the lower legs and wings on, the tumbling action breaks them and they don't look nice. But if you take them off, it's harder to scald them. I'm thinking I need some sort of wire cup to dunk them with, so it's easy to then drop into the machine. It's also harder to gut the bird when plucking vs spatchcocking.

It certainly is harder to gut the bird when plucking. I started by separating the windpipe from the neck and using one index finger to loosen the upper organs (lungs, heart etc). I then cut around the vent, tail and preen glands with two cuts like this () . From there I can loosen the lower organs (carefully so as not to break them and get bile on the meat) and everything pulls out in one piece through the rear end of the bird. The lungs like to detach, but can easily be scoop out with a finger or a rinse of cold water.

GRAPHIC CONTENT!!! You've been warned.

 

[Kiki]

It certainly is harder to gut the bird when plucking. I started by separating the windpipe from the neck and using one index finger to loosen the upper organs (lungs, heart etc). I then cut around the vent, tail and preen glands with two cuts like this () . From there I can loosen the lower organs (carefully so as not to break them and get bile on the meat) and everything pulls out in one piece through the rear end of the bird. The lungs like to detach, but can easily be scoop out with a finger or a rinse of cold water.

GRAPHIC CONTENT!!! You've been warned.


















View attachment 1707287

Did you see a lot of testicles?
Or ovaries?

 

[Shortchick]

Baby is still all alone. Nothing more yet on pip #2, finally saw the third egg wiggle this afternoon so I have some hope for it.
Moved the baby out to the brooder this afternoon because he kept pecking at the humidity dish & my nine year old kept freaking out that he was hungry. Now he’s scampering all over the brooder crying constantly, totally uninterested in the food and water, and my son is freaking out even more. Should I put him back in the incubator for now, or just cross my fingers he doesn’t freeze to death in his lonely panic?

 

[Kiki]

Baby is still all alone. Nothing more yet on pip #2, finally saw the third egg wiggle this afternoon so I have some hope for it.
Moved the baby out to the brooder this afternoon because he kept pecking at the humidity dish & my nine year old kept freaking out that he was hungry. Now he’s scampering all over the brooder crying constantly, totally uninterested in the food and water, and my son is freaking out even more. Should I put him back in the incubator for now, or just cross my fingers he doesn’t freeze to death in his lonely panic?

Have you double or triple checked to make sure none of the eggs in the bator have pipped on the bottom/underneath side of the egg?

How long ago did he hatch?

 

[muddy75]

@Texas Kiki.....you can update my feb hatch to 19 (i think they will be sprung from “quail jail” this evening. hopefully safe to add 13 for 3/18 hatch. the other 7 look to be late quitters.