Manchester Farms: Where Quail Is Done Right

This South Carolina quail farm is spread out over 380 acres.

The farm produces 80,000 Pharaoh quails per week.

In a world of mass produced, hormone-riddled products, Manchester Farms in South Carolina is going against the grain, sticking to their guns and doing what they do best: raising quail using old world methods. Brittney Miller and her husband Matt are currently at the helm of the family-owned and operated farm. Miller took over for her father Bill Odom, a former poultry specialist for the Campbell Soup Company who started the farm in the 1970s.

Today, the farm produces 80,000 Pharaoh quails per week spread out over 380 acres of farmland. The owners are deeply committed to producing high quality quail with absolutely no antibiotics where the flock is fed an all-natural diet of soybeans and corn with an additional probiotic put into the feed. “We put in our feed what’s good for our children, which is also what’s good for our quail,” Miller told us during a recent visit. “We don’t rush them or cause them to grow faster either.”

The quails are raised on the property in barns instead of being raised free range in an effort to protect the quail from predators including snakes and rodents, as well as natural disasters and floods. The quails are instead raised in large barns where there are no restrictions on height or space for the animals, explained Miller. Read on