Louisiana poultry market?

[laquail]

I'm from south Louisiana and wondering how easy/hard are sales from here. I've been raising coturnix for awhile. The most birds I've had was 50-75 at a time. I had them mainly for the pickled eggs and butchered a few here and there to cook and just hatched some to replace. The sales on the pickled eggs go up and down but nothing steady yet. I'm thinking about slowly getting bigger into raising BC I enjoy it so much. Before I start investing time and $$ does anyone have any input on how the market is down here? What breed is easier to sell and more profitable? Also any input with pheasant and chickens also. What's the best way to advertise? Where to look for sales? Looking to sell live and meat birds, eggs, chicks the whole deal. Thanks for any input.

[makesmiles]

I also am in South Louisiana. I have been raising quail on and off since about 1980. The market here is small but you can build it through word of mouth with friends and relatives. You can not legally sell or advertise pickled eggs or meat unless you have a certificate from the Board of Health, which is difficult to get unless you have the big bucks to build a commercial facility. You can advertise fertile or infertile eggs or live birds on Craigslist or in the Louisiana Market Bulletin. Years ago, I raised and kept over 2000 quail (primarily Coturnix). I finally ended up releasing them to the wild. I couldn't eat, sell or give away that many quail. I tried bobwhite, chuker, button and several other species to no avail. If you really like this, my suggestion would be to stay at your current level and build only as sells dictate that you need more stock. However, don't count on much and don't spend any money unless you have to do so. Think of it more as a hobby and not a business. You may end up making enough to pay for feed and maybe some equipment but don't count on much profit. Hope this helps.