While culling usually means to slaughter, many homesteaders also use it’s other meaning—“to select from a group”. As in, to remove a quail from a breeding covey and do something else with it.

Culling can also mean selling the quail, giving the quail a “new job” such as brooding chicks, or allowing the quail to live its life unbothered.


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🍂 How long do quail live?

In the wild, quail usually live to about 2-3 years of age due to being eaten! In captivity, quail can live longer if given time to rest between egg laying, typically in the winter, instead of excessive lighting. Happy quail can live to be about 5-7 years old, but overworked and sickly quail can die after only 1 year of age.


➖ Culling Roosters

When breeding you’ll end up with a surplus of roosters no matter what. You may only want to own 6 breeding roosters and 30 breeding hens at a time, but your hens are the ones who will decide the gender of their eggs.

You’ll need to come up with a plan for what to do with an excess of quail roos.


➖ Culling Hens

You won’t be breeding every hen you hatch, since you’ll only want the best hens possible going into your breeding pens. You can add them to a hens-only pen that only produces eggs, but what happens when they stop?

Hens have a finite amount of eggs (like humans). After year 1, egg laying drops off quite a bit. You’ll need to come up with a plan for what to do with hens who can no longer lay eggs.