food for thought or quail for thought

[njduck]

this is my first year with quail, I have become addicted. I started off with what I was told were A&M quail chicks. They started laying around 7 weeks. I then ordered some off ebay. To my dismay when they hatched I had new A&M's with brown patches on their backs and wings. So I believe these are crossed and are god know what. They are being culled, all of them.

I then ordered coutornix from GQF. I placed those eggs and eggs from my A&M in the incubator at the same time. So I could get a comparison. When they hatched all were about the same size. I am now almost 3 weeks from hatch. My A&M's are growing at a rate alot faster then the coutornix.
My question is. Did I get lucky and my original batch of A&M's really A&M's, or are they English quail?
If they are English, are English that much bigger or grow that much faster?

Last but not least, did I just get lucky and get my original batch by accident and someone else has done a good job with their breeding?

 

[WallTenters]

A&Ms are only A&Ms if they came from the Texas A&M University - they shut their program down years ago so what you have are just Jumbo Whites. A&M was breeding for all white meat, white skinned, white feathered (with brown dot on head) birds that are up to meat size very quickly (like 5 weeks).

If you cross your males from your other hatch onto your jumbo white females you will increase the size. You can breed them all up to that size in a few generations. BUT I think jumbo browns would be better - since they are so easy to sex.

 

[Fat Daddy]

There is so much urban legend passed about Texas A&M quail its mind boggling. Its my feeling that its mostly due to some selling eggs over the years promoting "white meat" coturnix. The fact is a Dr Thornberry with Texas A&M worked on coturnix quail to improve their size. He worked with BROWN birds... His work went thru 6 generations of birds. He did increase their size. Then a Dr Cartwright, also with Texas A&M, worked to make a bird that was marketable. He took Thornberry's birds and bred them to English whites in the hopes of a lighter fleshed bird, more attractive to the public. The "White meat coturnix" was never realized, but a larger white bird was. It had a black dot on the its head.... There are many threads with info on this subject on this site and others.... Google "Texas A&M Quail Dr Thornberry" and you'll find all you want to read on the subject.... In this publication by Thornberry himself, he writes on how to raise coturnix, he speaks of a "light fleshed" bird, not white meat....

http://university.uog.edu/cals/people/PUBS/Quail/L-5215.pdf

Welcome to the quail addiction.

 

[SiTran]

Thank you Daddy,

I was looking for something like this myself. My Texas AMs are hatching right now!

 

[speedy2020]

Does the wild coturnix quail have white feather wings? I have couple that way so wonder if they are cross A&M.

 

[Fat Daddy]

I think the white wing tips would be a indication of "dirty heritage"... Some call these mutations "sports"... One can breed sports to sports and continue the trait. We've seen the white wing tip birds in the past too. There is almost no such thing as a "pure coturnix".

 

[Belinda's Funny Farm]

Thank you Daddy,

I was looking for something like this myself. My Texas AMs are hatching right now!

Hi SiTran,

How did your hatch go? My James Marie Pharaoh and Texas A&M are in lock down now and should be hatching any day. Still waiting for the first pip though. I have seen some of the eggs rocking. Out of the 100 shipped eggs I ended up with 70 for lock down (33 Pharaoh and 37 A&M's). They were the ones that were dark inside when I candled. I am sure some of them were not fully developed but I didn't want to take a chance that they were still good and remove them. Crossing my fingers at least most of the 70 make it......

Belinda

 

[SSTupperware]

Good luck, still waitin on mine, they got lost in the mail, so they are shipping more out, but with the storm last week and the holiday yesterday, not sure when. I know I am ready to get started...

 

[njduck]

my whites have the spot on their head, some other eggs I bought have big brown patches on their bodies and nothing on their head.
The article about them was a good read. it is just amazing how much faster they are growing then my brown coutornix. I will keep both for awhile and cull as needed to see what grows and reproduces faster and larger.

 

[Belinda's Funny Farm]

Good luck, still waitin on mine, they got lost in the mail, so they are shipping more out, but with the storm last week and the holiday yesterday, not sure when. I know I am ready to get started...

Thanks! That's a bummer that they got lost! My eggs road around all day with the mail lady the day they were supposed to arrive and then she didn't even come up the driveway to deliver them. She just left a note in the mailbox and said to pick up the next AM at the PO. I was so mad I took the note into the PO and said I was sitting at home all day waiting for her to deliver them when they were clearly marked Fragile and Hatching Eggs on them and they didn't need to be riding around in her hot truck all day. Anyways, not much they could do but they said they would call me when she got back to the PO with them and I could come pick them up. So another 15 minute trip to PO to pick them up a few hours later but they were safe. No eggs were even broken they were packed so well by James Marie Farm. They did have some pretty lose air pockets so I let them sit 24 hours and then didn't turn on the turner for another 3 days after I first set them. I am sure that is why I lost some of them but I am really hoping the rest will make it.

Let me know how your's turn out once you get them.