6 or 8 week quail culling

[Invision]

@laurens I Will usually leave in the fridge in a Ziploc bag or Tupperware type of thing. Then I will soak them overnight if I'm going to smoke them in a brine my wife just puts them in a chicken dumpling type thing and will eat them that way.

As far as resting I don't think you have to wait very long since they're so small as long as they were not stressed out when you did it they're probably fine right away I've never tried it though after 1000 birds

 

[supersymmetry]

I have 132 coturnix quail i usually have about 8 or 10 had the idea hatch a bunch do a freezer filling. Anyway i usually do the culling at 8 weeks but with this many birds im honsetly just over it. The question is there any significant meat gain in 6 week to 8 week old birds ive read where people cull at 6 weeks but i want the best bang for the buck thanks for your help.

It all depends... your variety of cot, the source and quality of your feed, your rearing setup, time requirement, enjoyment level.... and so much more. It sounds like your setup isn't "dialed-in" to support that number of birds, and I would encourage anyone (and everyone) to raise within their means to keep the animals healthy and the hobby/work enjoyable.

If they were my birds in my setup... no question about it, there is significant 'growth' between 6 and 8 weeks (and beyond). Would I cull the animals at 6 weeks if I wanted to, absolutely.

I actually cull a percentage of birds every week during grow-out. This is beneficial for a number of reasons: 1) It makes processing more manageable (and enjoyable). 2) You can evaluate the birds health, conformity and taste. 3) When creating breeding stock, it promotes rigorous selection 4) It's a good insurance policy against disease, predation and other 'incidents'.

My flock had stopped any significant growth by week 14. If you are processing by skinning, I would encourage the 6-7 week process time (for fast growing jumbos). In my flock, I have found that the skin adheres along the back significantly by week 9.

Good luck!

(edited for clarity.)

 

[dc3085]

Put your thumb nail against the spine and push. If you do it right it will release the skin that sticks to the back of the carcass.

People cull at six weeks for uniform carcass size. The growth curve ends at 8 weeks, by 12 weeks they are done muscling and will pretty much only add fat from there out.