Fianlly processed some quail

[chefchick]

Well- I have been saying I was gonna do it, and finally did this weekend. We processed all 14 of the A&M's, and all but three jumbo brown males, so 25 in all. It was our first time, so it took awhile- about 3 hours from starting outside to the end of clean up in the kitchen. I didn't think that was too bad though. Handsome Hub did the killing, but I helped with the rest. We followed the advice on here and took the wings off, and plucked. I found the plucking to be super easy except for a couple of spots on the breasts under the wing area. We ended up skinng only four of them because of badly ripped skin. Cleaning them was super easy. They are resting in the fridge now, but I think the rigor has relaxed (they fell softer after 1 1/2 days rest), so they can go in the freezer tonight. I weighed them all after processing, and they average 8 oz. with wings removed and skin on. the smallest was 5 oz and the largest was 10 oz., but most were right at 8 oz. Is that a decent size? We can't get gamebird starter in our area, so all I have ever fed mine was poultry starter, with ground kitten food added unti lthey were about 8 weeks. Since then just grower crumbles. How big should they be?

 

[loves2hatch]

I have no idea how much they should weigh, but I was wondering how old they were and do you happen to know what their live weight was before you butchered?

 

[chefchick]

The were almost 5 mos old...we procrastinated. But they haven't really grown that I can tell since about 8 weeks. I didn't think to weigh them before butchering.

 

[loves2hatch]

Ok I was wondering about the 6 week old males I have if it was to early and what they would weigh proccessed if they only weighed 6 ounces now what I would end up with after butchering.

 

[chefchick]

What kind of quail are they? 6 oz live would be pretty tiny processed. I think cotournix are mature at 8 weeks. Not sure about other breeds. Mine were pretty tasty by the way.

 

[loves2hatch]

They are coturnix. These are the smaller males, althought the others that I'm keeping aren't much bigger yet like only a 1/2 ounce. The females just started laying their first eggs. I got 3 yesterday out of 6 hens. The eggs weighed about 8-9 grams each.

Don't mean to take over your thread, I was just curious as to what yours weighed beforehand and what they weighed after to see how much of my little guys would be left if I had them butchered already. Looks like probably not much.

Can anyone answer chefchicks orignal question?

I just found there is a meat etc section under the advanced search. Maybe we should be posting these question in there to get a better answer? I'm gonna do a search see what comes up.