Coturnix weights at 4 weeks

[brewer12345]

The kids and I weighed our first batch of birds at the 4 week point today as we cleaned the brooder and switched from a heat lamp to an LED (time to get them to fledge out, the room they are in is ~65F). I have been less than wildly impressed with the stock we got from the local breeder, but these guys ranged from 44 to 131 grams. Average was 102 grams, tossing out a couple runts I get an average of 109 grams. This is pretty far short of Tatanka standards (200 grams at this age), but no worries. Have you guys weighed your birds? Do I just have smaller quail, about average, something else? We also started a batch of eggs in the incubator for the first time today, so if we are successful hatching them I will be able to compare the next batch to this one late next month.

 

[JaeG]

I'd say that's pretty average (though I'm no expert). If you want them for egg laying then it's best to have the non jumbo variety as jumbos can be prone to leg and foot problems long term (being a heavier bird) and often don't lay quite as well due to selection for body size over egg laying ability. Hope you and your kids are enjoying them - my kids love their quail.

 

[geniash]

The weight is definitely half of that used by Tatanka breeders (aka jumbo coturnix). I was in the same boat and got my first quail from a local breeder who advertized them as "jumbo" but in reality they were just normal quail. Unfortunately not a lot of people know what/how to do when it comes to breeding. If your birds are healthy, go with them and see what size of eggs they are laying. If you are not happy, find a licensed breeder or call JMF. Quails I have right now was a referral from JMF, they are much bigger and lay 14g+ eggs.

 

[brewer12345]

Yeah, I cannot say I am too exercised about their weight, per se, just trying to learn as much as I can as we get started. I don't really much worry too much about meat production since I am the only one in the family not squeamish about it. I will cull excess roosters, but that is about it. Eggs are really where it is at for us,so we will weigh eggs and see if there is a big difference between the local birds and the ones that hopefully pop out of the eggs we bought from King's Hatchery in Pennsylvania.