Shinto Dragon Jumbo Coturnix Project

[Sill]

Thanks for the information Sill, I'll be sure to compost it before using. I dug a big hole in the ground and I'm dumping all the droppings into the hole along with leaf litter and I plan on composting it about 3-6 months before using. I also threw in compost from bags and also some mycohhrizal fungi and beneficial bacteria to get things started.

Simon

You will need to turn your compost weekly especially if it is in the ground or it will go anaerobic, smell bad and basically stop decomposing. It will need oxygen to heat up and break down into usable compost.

 

[SimonGrow]

You mean it Can smell worse than it already is lol! Thanks for the additional info, I love this forum. Some animal has been turning it over the last couple nights, I'm suspecting raccoons or skunks.

The quail are getting huge now but I find it getting more difficult to weigh the birds as they don't like sitting still in their weighing buckets.

Simon

 

[Sill]

You mean it Can smell worse than it already is lol! Thanks for the additional info, I love this forum. Some animal has been turning it over the last couple nights, I'm suspecting raccoons or skunks.

The quail are getting huge now but I find it getting more difficult to weigh the birds as they don't like sitting still in their weighing buckets.

Simon

Oh yes, much worse. Been there done that. But if you do it right you will end up with the best black, sweet smelling compost for your garden. The key is turning often and add enough brown materiel to the manure and litter, at least 50/50.
Free workers to turn the compost? Priceless. I have mine in the chicken's run so the girls help turn at least the top layer of materiel.



I was using a covered basket made of a soft materiel to weigh quail when I was keeping track. They get quiet in the dark interior and the lid keeps them put so you can get a steady reading, plus the weave of the basket allows fresh air though they were never in it very long.

 

[SimonGrow]

Sill, your birds look beautiful and the soil in their run looks so black. I'll make sure to turn my pile. I bet my plants are going to love the compost when it's ready. Thanks for the pic!

Simon

 

[Sill]

Actually that is one of my compost bins the girls are in, not their run, though the bins are inside their run. There are three bins at various stages of decomp. That one has almost finished compost, but I will let it age several months before using it.

 

[nwfl]

I bought colorful melon zip ties from Lowe's to leg band my birds. I have seen others do it with clear, black, yellow and red. That might be a good solution for you too. I would prefer subtler colors but the neon colors fade and it is incredibly easy to spot each bird's leg band.

 

[SimonGrow]

Thanks for the tip nwfl, I was wondering how I was going to band my birds. My birds will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and I started to hear a male or two crowing a couple days ago. I hope I get a good large male to use as a breeder.

Simon

 

[SimonGrow]

Here is a week 4 update. This has been a bad week for my quail as we got several days of extreme heat where I live. We got to around 103F for the last two days and my quail were not eating as much as normal. My goal was to get birds around 200g at 4 weeks but my average is only 172g. My largest bird is 196g and my smallest bird is 159g.

 

[SimonGrow]

Boy have I been busy with the quail. I've still been weighing the quail weekly but they are not growing as fast anymore. They started to lay eggs at 5 and a half weeks and the makes are crowing like crazy and they were also fighting and mating a lot. Here are the weights for the last couple weeks.

 

[SimonGrow]

I think the multiple days of 100+ degree weather really stalled the growth of my quail but now that it's cooling down, I think they will gain some weight if I don't force them to lay eggs with artificial light.

I'm thinking that if I want larger birds, I should give them more darkness so that they don't spend energy laying eggs. Instead, the energy should go into growth which will allow my birds to lay larger eggs. The larger the single yolk eggs, the larger the resulting bird assuming you did everything else correct and have good genetics in your birds.

On a side note, I switched to Ace High Turkey/game bird krackle with 28% Protein because they carry it at the feed shop here. I also noticed that my quails poop smells dramatically better when they get wheatgrass juice in their water.

I've selected two large males as my breeders and have several females that are really good size.

If anyone else is working on breeding Jumbo Quail, I would love to hear any advice you may have and I would also love to purchase any Tatanka or any other well documented lines of Jumbo quail. Thanks in advance!
Simon