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Welcome to Crow River Quail Farm! We specialize in jumbo Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) and offer hatching eggs, chicks, and adult quail for sale as well as home hatching rental kits. You can scroll down if you'd like to know more about us, otherwise hopefully we can answer any other questions you might have in either our resources or Frequently Asked Questions pages.
I was researching dual-purpose (meat and egg) poultry options a few years back and decided coturnix quail were the way to go because they don’t need a lot of space, they grow fast and start producing eggs as early as six weeks after hatching. I had also been experiencing some gastrointestinal issues with chicken eggs and had read some articles about the health benefits of quail eggs.
So in the spring of 2020, I purchased an incubator and my first coturnix hatching eggs from somebody on Craigslist. The hatch rate on these quail was ok but most didn’t get very big (hens about 10-12 ounces) and the eggs were small (averaged around 12 grams). I eventually learned that there are standard and jumbo quail that come in a variety of colors. Most local sellers keep all their quail mixed together in groups regardless of size or color so you never really know what you’re going to get and the genes of smaller quail tend to overrule the genes of larger quail unfortunately.
I've tried a few different suppliers but now get hatching eggs each fall from one or more of the quail breeders recommended by Terry on the Coturnix Corner YouTube channel. I hatch these shipped eggs and also a batch of eggs from my own breeders and then pair my hens with their roosters or my roosters with their hens. This helps ensure our quail are healthy and have good genetic diversity. Lastly, only jumbo size quail are kept in our breeding program so we have the biggest jumbo quail that lay the largest eggs around.
My wife and I sold a few quail eggs and chicks ourselves on Craigslist over the last couple years and it was so much fun meeting everyone and talking about raising quail that we decided to go a little more formal with a website and Facebook business page. We’re a very, very small operation but hope to provide quality quail products and share what we’ve learned about these fascinating little birds with anyone interested in raising their own quail. We’re also excited to offer home hatching rental kits and have already had a couple homeschool families successfully go through the program. We look forward to meeting you too!
Shane Smeby, Owner
Crow River Quail Farm
(612) 590-6562 (call or text)
crowriverquail@gmail.com
