Coturnix Weight

[UmbraVulpis]

I was wondering if anyone could give me typical weights for normal coturnix versus jumbo or A and M.

 

[aprophet]

Here is what strombergs seems to think they weigh I t would be interesting to see how different folks birds matched to those weights

http://www.strombergschickens.com/stock/button_quail.php

 

[worldling]

Well, 10+ oz is a big bird to me. Sorry, but little browns/standard/Pharaohs or what ever you call them do not get 10-12 oz. Those would be jumbos in my book. Standard/little brown/etc... Go 8 oz. tops, but lay eggs like mad, and eat less than any color "Jumbo" 10+ oz. bird, and are the best choice for an egg only production model.

"Jumbo" coturnix are IMHO 10+ oz. They are available in a wide variety of colors. A&M's are just jumbo mostly white feathered coturnix that may be exceptionally large, but are nothing more than white feathered jumbo coturnix. Sorry guys!

 

[Bettacreek]

I thought the university had actually managed to produce white meat birds. Actually, someone posted a picture of a brown and an A&M on their dinner plate, and in fact, there was a difference. I've recently started to hear about A&M's mostly being "fake" and not having white meat. I've also heard that with the general public breeding them, most strains were no longer white meat. I suppose it's up to each individual to do some research and decide for themselves what they believe.

 

[bigjohn]

In my opinion, the Texas A&M birds normally have bigger/wider breasts than any of the other jumbos. If they are true A&M's, you can tell an obvious difference when you pick up a live bird and compare to another jumbo coturnix. Even if the A&M is only 10 oz., it will still have a wider and fuller breast than the others. And most of the time, the meat is lighter in color. I never had an A&M over about 11 oz. and it appears to me that if you get them in that weight, you have a truly good bird. I am not sure if the 16 oz birds would be any different than other jumbo birds. (except that there would be more overall meat available). I would rather have a healthy compact white bird with good tasting meat, rather than a large bird that is of less quality. Not knocking other birds, just my preference.

When I raised chickens, I had many different breeds. When I raised some cornish chicks for meat, they were so much different that the regular chickens. They remind me of a true A&M bird. Not better than the rest, just meaty and different.

So weight alone is not all it is cracked up to be. The birds must still keep to the same standards.

Now if there was a much bigger true A&M that matched the wide breast meat and other positives of the regular A&M, then I would certainly like to have a few of them. So far, not seem but random few.

When I cull, I reach in the cages, and it the birds are not wide breasted and heavy, then they go in the freezer. This will help keep the stock increasing in quality birds. If a bird is huge, but does not have the A&M qualities, then it is just a huge jumbo bird and may or may not be worthy of re-breeding.