Comparing quail sizes

[Reedgirl20]

I've decided to keep a bit of a log of my quail sizes to not only help choose my breeding stock but to also possibly help other decide where to purchase their next stock from. I originally got my first brown coturnix quail from a random person on eBay advertising jumbo quail. I have had this stock for over a year now but have become frustrated that even with choosing the biggest eggs and feeding Gamebird feed with 30% protein my birds are only 6.5- 7ounces at six to seven weeks old.

I now have hatched 40 chicks from JamesMarie farm, 45 chicks from another source in California claiming to have jumbos, and a dozen chicks from my own stock for direct comparison under the same conditions. I hope to make weekly weigh ins on the chicks and choose the best for my new breeders. The JMF chicks are now three weeks old and have had the first two weigh ins and the other two sets have just been born the last two days.

I was happy with the first results:

JMF 2wk hens range (69-110 grams) average: 84.55gram
JMF 2 wk Roos range (69-91 grams average: 83.11gram

JMF 3 wk hens range (116-172) average: 138.71gram
JMF 3 wk roo range (117-148) average: 137.82

This makes them on average close to 5 ounces at three weeks. Hopefully this comparison once complete will help me make some good choices in my breeders and maybe help some others out there too.

 

[Momhunter]

I always skin them, it is so fast and easy. Then I vaccume pack them in bags of 8 for my family.
I have some chickens I need to process this weekend and freeze, I will have to get a scolding pot out and pluck them. This will be my first chickens to process since I was a teenager. Then I have some turkeys I've raised for this fall to process. The big birds are much more daunting than the little quail, and a much bigger mess I'm sure.
Do you usually pluck your quail? How do you cook yours?
I have only fried mine and grilled them with bacon wrapped around it like we do dove here in Texas. Next time I'm going to put a wedge of jalapeño in the cavity, wrap with thin bacon, then grill in a basket that I have. In the basket you can place 8 quail then put it on your grill, the meet doesn't stick to the grill and pull away every time you turn your birds. You just spray the inside of the basket to prevent sticking and then turn the whole basket over for flipping the meat. Yum!

 

[James Marie]

Still here...
Phone # and e-mail on website...
Phone calls are best way to reach me...
Orders are by phone call only...
No longer answer IM's due to spammers
Robby
JMF

 

[dt1958]

Can't go wrong with JMF stock !!! Some of the best birds there are !!!

 

[Momhunter]

how did they turn out? I have some on the way. James was saying these birds lay really large eggs, so just looking for your feedback as to what your experience was with bird size and egg size on the James Marie Pharaoh birds.
thanks!

I really like the JMF birds. I only kept 12 hens and 4 Roos out of my 120ish that hatched. The Roos were over 260 grams and the hens over 300 for keepers at 8 weeks. Culled the smallest 1/2 of the males at 6 weeks, then culled again at 8 weeks and hens at 8 weeks. Then over wintered those birds. Just turned my lights on 3 weeks ago to jump start egg production. Getting over an egg a day per hen now and have my first 50 in the bator.
These are so much bigger then my mixed cortunix I had last year. Their eggs are huge, with the only problem being a frequent double yoke. If the egg is over 19 grams it usually has a double yoke, so we just eat those.
Much bigger table birds and will only breed these from now on.

 

[Reedgirl20]

Yes, I have talked to Robbie a few times and he set me up with the James Marie jumbo brown 'C' line. I try to do the JMF weigh ins on Monday nights and will be doing the other jumbos on Sundays due to the day of the week they were born.

I'm afraid my weight gains may not be as good this week because some varmint came last night and terrorized them all and managed to get one of my last two old hens. None of the jumbos got eaten because they are in double layer wire cage (two layer of wire on the bottom) but the poor things were exhausted and out of water this a.m., They jumped around so much they spilt 2 1/2 gallons of water in one night. I spent all afternoon beefing up security under my cages and have five live traps set around the property tonight. Have new automatic nipple waterers set up in one set of breeder cages and will be working on the grow out cage tomorrow so they won't ever be able to spill all the water again.

 

[Momhunter]

Just finished a phone call with Robbie from JMF, very nice guy and I learned a lot. Very excited about getting my 200 James Marie Pharaoh hatching eggs end of Sept.

 

[Reedgirl20]

Today was first weigh in for chicks from my own set. As expected they were much smaller. I have one chick from the California line that was a late hatcher growing up with this crew. He is not included in the averages but was a nice 91 gram chick, in line with what was see with his earlier hatched cohorts. I will call this line standard browns (SB)

JMF 2wk hens range (69-110 grams) average: 84.55gram
JMF 2 wk Roos range (69-91 grams average: 83.11gram

CL 2 wk hens range (65-101 grams) average 87.4 gram
CL 2 wk roo range (68-106 grams) average 89.1 gram


SB 2 wk hens range (59-87) average 72 gram
SB 2 wk roo range (57-78) average 72.4 gram.


It is pretty obvious the size difference between this line versus the true jumbos even at this young stage, especially since they are raised under identical circumstances. I only have 5 hens and 5 roos in this sample group but I think it is still a valid comparison.

 

[James the Bald]

I had two hens that I suspected were males, until one day, I got 6 eggs instead of 4, and that was week 10.
James

 

[Momhunter]

My incubator now has 207 JMF XL line C eggs in it. I was amazed how big the eggs were. I took a picture with three of the XL eggs with three from my current birds.
So now I have 5 weeks to process my 30 breeders and 55 chicks that are currently 5 weeks old. Plan on having all cages empty when this group is ready to come out of my brooder. Hoping to have 150 chicks out of the 207, but you never know from shipped eggs. Robbie definitely packs them better than any other eggs I've gotten before, love his egg foam.