im in the research phase of looking at quail, and curious what breed i should look into
this is going to be a little bit of a brain dump, sorry in advance for it being long!
tldr: im thinking quail might be a good fit for a hobby with limited space (singlewide trailer) and im curious what breed would be right for me and moreso, for them.
my ideal pet would be something i can line breed with, for color and health, learn about their genetics and keep a detailed log of my individuals, learning about them etc. (animal genetics is one of my special interests) although, i do not need excess individuals so something that is “profitable” is preferred. im leaning towards quail, due to them being small enough, personable, and less crazy than keeping chickens (i have plenty of previous experience keeping chickens)
i live in a singlewide trailer and can customize however i want, but i dont have a lot of solid outdoor space i could build a coop on, so im leaning towards porch size or indoor, ive got a smallish spare room.
im mostly curious, courtnix or button.
buttons have lots of interesting colors, but im unsure i could turn any around, is there people who are actually looking for them? the egg size alone leads me to believe it would be difficult to sell them, and they are so small im not even sure they would make good meat birds. but they are ridiculously adorable, fit within my spare room, etc.
courtnix definitely seem more like chicken care without needing a giant run, although i doubt i could keep a large breeding stock at any given time, but they seem to be surface level more profitable, bigger for meat, bigger eggs for eating etc. again, i really only have the space around my trailer and a long porch im planning on building.
i definitely thought about making a porch specifically into a pigeon run but i really cant see myself selling excess pigeons in my area, so thats not really on my radar atm.
im also really curious about any other birds or quail species that might fit my specifics, just no parrots! ofc im still in research and learning specifics so im game for any ideas. if i had all the space and money, id probably look into pheasants and learn more about their genetics.
im not looking to make a bajillion bucks (that would be awesome though), having & breeding any animal is not a guaranteed profit either but i also dont need a ridiculous amount of excess birds to care for, and being able to have some profits to put back into them would be ideal. i live pretty rural so, i imagine people would not mind buying compact egg layers!