I may have misinterpreted this message. But I have a few points.
I think, but I am not certain that Japanese quail are not 'hybrids' but are
domesticated common quail, sometimes people confuse the many 'mutations' with
hybridisation. My uncle also bred Japanese quails about 1975-85 and more
recently for game meat. I also kept them for 10 years or so. There are a few
Japanese quail breeders still in Canberra but commercial breeders are in
Melbourne and Sydney. They have been bred for a long time in captivity and most
have now lost the brooding response, much like chickens, because those birds
that did not become broody were better layers and they can now lay about 80-150
eggs a year. My uncle uses a specially designed incubator to incubate the eggs.
Some strains will sit on their eggs and hatch them. Their lack of broodiness is
probably a reason for them not becoming established in the wild in Australia. I
suspect they would have been released in the past because pheasants were aswell
as other game birds.
Benj Whitworth
-----Original Message-----
From: Geoffrey Dabb
Sent: Sunday, 5 June 2005 3:18 PM
To: Cog line
Subject: 'Quailty Meals'
When I moved to Canberra in early 1980 there was operating near Hall a
business known, as I recall, as the 'Dungannon Pheasantry'. It sold quail
as well as pheasants. Part of this establishment was a large corrugated iron
shed in which were bred the quail, the noise within being deafening.
It was hung with floor to ceiling hessian partitioning sheets, partly to deaden
the noise and partly to prevent Armageddon-like civil war breaking out among
the quail population. When I asked, shouting over the ear-piercing
'what'll-we-dos', what kind of quail they were, I was told that they were
'hybrid Japanese Quail'. This, I understand, is a variety of 'Common Quail'
Coturnix coturnix. Apparently this successful species has never been
established, either deliberately or accidentally, as a breeding species in
Australia, although it has in other parts of the world.
I recall also that the 'Pheasantry' handed out recipe sheets, including one
which featured quail in a butter-and-sherry sauce with whole small grapes.
Should you have a mind to try this or any other quail dish, remember to allow
two hybrid Japanese Quail per person.
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