Comparing quail sizes

[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.

 

[Alaskan]

When you process that many birds, do you pluck, or skin?

 

[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!

 

[Momhunter]

About a month ago, in one afternoon, with the help of my son (14yrs) and my father in law we processed 98 8 week old quail. That's the most I've done in one day. I usually will catch 30 at a time and process, clean up and get them in the freezer then go for another round. If it is just my son and I it takes around 90-110 minutes to do 30-35 birds. But a fair amount of that time is catching and de-heading because I have large grow out pens that I have to net them out of.

 

[Reedgirl20]

I usually hatch in batches of 45-60 and always end up selling some of the chicks so my average butchering is 15-25 at a time. I have a smaller grow out cage then it sounds like you have so catching them is no trouble and I can process 20-25 in 45 minutes when I just skin them. This last batch I scalded and used the quail plucker attachment for a drill that I bought off eBay. It worked really well but did take a little longer to process.

To cook them I either deep fry in batter or more commonly flour and pan fry. I have also marinated and grilled them and baked a few. The baked ones were a bit dry on the skinned ones so next time I want to try with the plucked birds or I will wrap in bacon first.

Mom hunter- hope your hatch goes well. I now have three of my JMF birds who have layed eggs and they are decent size for first eggs, between 12-13grams.

 

[freeflyin]

I may have missed this, but where did you get the quail from California?

 

[Momhunter]

When we are talking about JMF that is James Marie Farms, a large quail breeder and research facility in Louisiana. CL is the California line of jumbos that are sold from a California breeder. I've seen them on EBay, or you can order straight from the guy, he brags about true 16 oz jumbos. Robby at JMF is most likely the most knowledgable person about coturnix quail in the US, and supper nice guy. He is breeding true jumbos, and tries to stay away from the 16-18 oz birds due to leg and feet problems.
I personally want larger birds for the table and don't want any leg issues so I went with the JMF eggs. Hoping to be able to raise birds that are 12-14 oz for 8 week old slaughter.

 

[Reedgirl20]

As momhunter said I got the CL birds from eBay, guy from West Covine I believe. I'm from the west coast so these eggs had a much easier trip and got much better hatch rate but I do agree Robbie from JMF is very knowledgeable. I have not yet seen the leg problem in the CL but will be watching closely as they age.

 

[Reedgirl20]

I've gotten the CL birds weights done for the week. I'm very happy with these birds and their outstanding weights. My hens average at only six week is 9.1 ounces with the JMF birds at the same age being 7.7 ounces. I also am seeing a lot more crowing from the CL birds then I have from the JMF birds....perhaps maturing sexually faster? I am still following 19 hens and 27 roosters from the CL. I do have the boys slated for freezer camp more crowded then the JMF boys were at this time and I think that is why their weights are lagging slightly. Will probably be butchering next weekend at seven weeks old.

I am finally seeing some consistent egg laying from the JMF birds at nine weeks. I'm am now getting 10-11 eggs a day from the 16 hens for the last four days. Am pleased with egg size, none under 12 gram so far and most between 13-14 gram. I am also seeing the first breeding behaviors done by the boys....hopefully some fertile eggs soon.

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.

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

CL 3 wk hens range (112-164) average: 143.4 gram
CL 3 wk roo range (116-170) average: 143.1 gram

SB 3 wk hen range (122-136) average 129gram
SB 3wk roo range (97-134) average 116gram

JMF 4 wk hens range (155-216) average: 179 gram
JMF 4 wk roo range (157-190) average: 177.3 gram

CL 4 wk hen range (160-225) average: 188.2 gram
CL 4 wk roo range (172-214) average: 187.5 gram

JMF 5 wk hen range (179-236) average: 201.3 gram
JMF 5 wk roo range (185-223) average: 201.5 gram

CL 5 wk hen range (199-246) average: 226.6 gram
CL 5 wk roo range (199-270) average: 224 gram

SB 5 wk hen range (190-215) average: 202.5
SB 5 wk roo range (175-209) average: 185.4

JMF 6 wk hen range (190-255) average: 218.6 gram
JMF 6 wk roo range (197-246) average: 220.2 gram

CL 6 week hen range (216-296) average: 256.3 gram
CL 6 week roo range (213-292) average: 245.6 gram

JMF 8 wk hen range (259-305) average: 279.3 gram
JMF 8 wk roo range (285-303) average: 292 gram

 

[Momhunter]

I am eager to see the eight week comparisons, then to see if there are any leg issues as they get older. It sounds like for pure meat birds the CL is winning, bigger birds earlier for processing. Just wondering if will have to slaughter breeders more often and rotate new birds in to prevent leg issues as they age? How long were you keeping the same set of breeders and how many breeders do you keep in production?