Tatanka Breeders Club: Meat Quail project with history, discussion, pictures and videos

[BayGoose]

This is awesome. Just read the whole thread. Keep up the good work guys

 

[thepyrofish]

Just want to say thanks to everyone involved in this thread. It's been great to gather up all the info you have while raising quail for the first time.

Four weeks ago I bought 15 chicks from a very large brood (1200+) that I was told were regular and jumbo mixed, taking only the wild coloured birds hoping for as many jumbos as possible. Out of the 13 I have left (1 died a day in, another couple weeks later) only 1 is significantly smaller than the rest.

My point though is that I finally go around to weighing some birds accurately today, exactly 28 days after hatching. I weighed 2 roosters and 3 hens at random. All 5 were between 225g and 240g. Looking through the spreadsheet on google docs my birds seem to be right on track with you guys so far!

I had been hoping to get in on this Tatanka thing down the road once I've had the quail for some time and actually know what I'm doing. I'm thrilled that I have a good starting point right here in my first flock. I've currently got 6 males to 7 females (including the small hen) and am planning to cull the 4 smallest plus the tiny hen in a couple weeks from now. I'm going to keep watching your work with these birds to compare against my progress.

Thanks again!

 

[yinepu]

Some of mine are doing great... some gained weight then really leveled off lower than I expected .. I'm feeding 28% gamebird starter (highest protein I can get).. so not sure if that's the problem or not. I try to keep their feeders full.. but I am finding they can empty them out pretty quick!... Do y'all think I should cull the ones that leveled off at the lower weights?

I already culled the lightest birds... just afraid if I cull too many more I won't have enough for a breeding program!

 

[Fat Daddy]

I Dont know about where you live, but its been HOT here. I have found that the heat of the summer is when I had my lightest groups.... I feel you wont get the heaviest birds when brooded in extreme heat, but the genes are there... Pick the biggest/best ones you have for breeders. If they just missed weight, their off-spring likely will make it, in more favorable conditions.... Good luck, Bill

 

[July]

Yeah do as bill says trust me this guy knows what his talking.even if you end up with like 6 birds that will give you some nice birds in the long run.to get tatankas you really have to spend some time breeding. But what do I know im just a knoob lol

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

Some of mine are doing great... some gained weight then really leveled off lower than I expected .. I'm feeding 28% gamebird starter (highest protein I can get).. so not sure if that's the problem or not. I try to keep their feeders full.. but I am finding they can empty them out pretty quick!... Do y'all think I should cull the ones that leveled off at the lower weights?

I already culled the lightest birds... just afraid if I cull too many more I won't have enough for a breeding program!

Who sold you your breeding stock?

 

[yinepu]

Who sold you your breeding stock?

no one SOLD them to me.. the eggs were gifted to me by a member of this board...

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

no one SOLD them to me.. the eggs were gifted to me by a member of this board...

That's cool. I was just curious if you had Tatankas or the eBay strain

 

[MobyQuail]

yinepu was handpicked by me.

saying that, stomp them all that dont make weights or lay 14g eggs and I will send you more when it cools down again.

newest hatch.







I am hatching biggest eggs yet in anticipation of a fall egg swap and hatch-a-long

 

[yinepu]

yinepu was handpicked by me.

saying that, stomp them all that dont make weights or lay 14g eggs and I will send you more when it cools down again.

newest hatch.

Thanks Moby,
I wasn't sure what to do about the smaller birds.. i know you said before to cull hard.. lol.. but I really wanted some nice breeders from these birds!
I do have one nice big male that's a keeper for sure .. he's bigger than most of the hens.. but even the smaller birds put my old ones to shame (which tells ya just how pathetic my old original "ebay" birds were!