Q:   How do I get your quail?

A:   We sell our quail through foodservice distributors, retail grocery stores, online retailers, and directly to you through our e-commerce web page.  We prefer for you to buy through our customers, if you cannot get what you need through one of them we will sell you directly but it will cost you more than if you buy through a customer.

Q:   What kind of quail do you raise?

A:    We raise what is commonly referred to as a Pharaoh or Coturnix quail.

Q:    Why raise the Pharaoh instead of more traditional wild birds like the Bob White or Plumed Quail?

A:   There are several reasons, but these are the top 3. First, this species is much more naturally disease resistant than wild bird species allowing us to use no antibiotics. Secondly, they mature much faster allowing us to grow them without the use of growth hormones. Thirdly, our birds are more of an all dark meat bird allowing better moisture content increasing flavor and reducing over cooking.

Q:     Where did the name Manchester Farms come from?

A:      It came from the very early days when Bill and Janet Odom first started growing quail in open flight pens. They bought 2 acres of land across the highway from Manchester State Forrest outside of Sumter, SC.

Q:      Can I buy production birds or eggs for growing and/or hatching?

A:      No. We have spent almost 35 years getting our birds to the size we have and it has been company policy since day 1 to never sell live birds or fertile eggs.  We do sell infertile eggs through our distributor customers for upscale restaurants and caterers. If you are interested in growing your own quail there are plenty of places to order table top incubators, eggs, etc.

Q:      If I grow quail will you process them for me?

A:      No. We only process quail we have strict control over in our grow out system. We are under contract with our growers to grow our quail under very stringent requirements including feed formulation, temperature, etc. At any given time, we have upwards of 650,000 grow out birds (which we process) in the field, in addition to 180,000 breeders (who lay the eggs). If we brought in outside birds we could not guarantee how the birds had been raised.

Q:      How are the Semi Boneless birds deboned?

A:      If we told you we’d have to kill you. They are all hand deboned by our group of experienced ladies that debone roughly 60,000 birds per week.

Q:      Why do you marinate some of your birds?

A:      Even with our birds being all dark meat they are still fairly easy to over cook. Our marinated is what a lot of people consider a basic brine seasoning. It roughly contains water, onion power, garlic powder, salt, sugar, and a little white pepper.  They are tumble marinated under a vacuum.  The tumbling action helps tenderize the meat while the vacuum helps lock the moisture in the meat better than injection (which a lot of large poultry processors do).  This basic flavor makes them delicious straight out of the package but is light enough that you can still add your favorite recipe without interfering with it.  The only recommendation we make is don’t add any additional salt.