I got quail, do you have quail?

[bingrancher]

Hello everyone, . I've been researching cot's for awhile now and was hoping someone had some adults to sell and wouldn't mind shipping to nebraska, I hope to get some advice from people that are in similar enviroments as me to share ideas for cages and shelter during colder months

 

[MobyQuail]

Hello everyone, . I've been researching cot's for awhile now and was hoping someone had some adults to sell and wouldn't mind shipping to nebraska, I hope to get some advice from people that are in similar enviroments as me to share ideas for cages and shelter during colder months

hey there bingrancher, nebraska huh, I know some folks in kansas, oklahoma and colorado with coturnix.
they will be along, bfrancis is from ok, he is your man for info in your area.
have you though of hatching your own, to propagate your covey you will most likely have to hatch from your own stock.
6-7 weeks and they are laying, get ya some eggs from someone close by, or two or three people close by, throw em in a bator and have at it. its a long journey once you get started you are on the right track, good luck. TD

 

[bfrancis]

Mochicken is actually in Northwest, MO near St.Joseph. I'll try to get a hold of him and you can send him a PM..bet he is the closest to you. There are several folks from Kansas, but think they live more central or Southeast.

Shipping live cots might be a little iffy, but perhaps you'all could meet half way or something...you guys can work out the details.

Good luck and

and to this thread! Feel free to post here anytime and ask anything!

 

[bfrancis]

Great thread! Thanks for starting it! It will be nice to have somewhere other than the internet at large, and a few books, to go to for good, solid, practical information.

And, It will keep me from having to lurk in the old posts, too! LOL

Well, I'm not a big quail farmer, and I have other things too, but my quaill are Jumbo Brown Corturnix, and A & M (jumbo) whites. I've been having to try to get new breeding stock off ebay, but woudl LOVE some good connectioins for NICE BIG quail. I have about 80 birds (breeders, and some feeding up). I have 30 more Jumbos in the bator, and am expecting 25 (supposedly big) white A & M eggs this week. I hope, anyway.... Going into lockdown in 5 days for the fist 30.

I sell live quail and some eggs, locally. I am fortunate to have a few acres on a histric property that has never gotten rid of its farm fowl in 135, so the city accepts them on a grandfather clause, or rather grandmother, in my case. IF they didn't, I'd still sneak them. They are in a room with concrete floor and 2 windows, in the corner of a garage. Sometimes I spread into the barn, but usually just in summer and fall.

Thanks for the cool thread, bfrancis. I'll be a regular visitor, hoping to glean wisdom. I daresay I havn't near as much experience nor time into it as many others, and your collective knowledge will be a gift to the BYC community. (I'm allready thinking about an earlier posts suggestion on different material that composts better than shavings)

You're welcome and welcome to this thread!

How long have you had your quail? How big are your jumbos? Do you have pics? Pics are ALWAYS welcome here...I find seeing something will give others great ideas or things to think about...if nothing more than to say, "congrats" on set-ups and birds.

Since this is a discovery thread...you have brought up Texas A&M jumbo whites. I'm going to look up the info again and post the link, but did you know that Texas A&M didn't create a white quail? They used some English Whites in their Jumbo brown ( or wild) colors hoping to create a lighter skinned meat bird that could even have white meat on it, which didn't happen. So there are bigger whites out there, but not from A&M.

As the urban legend still prevails to include hatcheries, White coturnix have been given the label "Texas A&M", but are nothing more than English Whites. Dr Fred Thornberry was the lead professor on this project.

I know I will get tons of feedback both directions on this one...please be civil, and if somebody can post proof positive before I go through my file again, please do.

 

[mochicken]

Hello everyone, . I've been researching cot's for awhile now and was hoping someone had some adults to sell and wouldn't mind shipping to nebraska, I hope to get some advice from people that are in similar enviroments as me to share ideas for cages and shelter during colder months

What part of Nebraska are you located? I am in Northwest Missouri, it would be hard on birds to ship if we are close enough to meet that would be best, I do have quite a few that are just beginning to lay eggs

 

[MobyQuail]

You're welcome and welcome to this thread!

How long have you had your quail? How big are your jumbos? Do you have pics? Pics are ALWAYS welcome here...I find seeing something will give others great ideas or things to think about...if nothing more than to say, "congrats" on set-ups and birds.

Since this is a discovery thread...you have brought up Texas A&M jumbo whites. I'm going to look up the info again and post the link, but did you know that Texas A&M didn't create a white quail? They used some English Whites in their Jumbo brown ( or wild) colors hoping to create a lighter skinned meat bird that could even have white meat on it, which didn't happen. So there are bigger whites out there, but not from A&M.

As the urban legend still prevails to include hatcheries, White coturnix have been given the label "Texas A&M", but are nothing more than English Whites. Dr Fred Thornberry was the lead professor on this project.

I know I will get tons of feedback both directions on this one...please be civil, and if somebody can post proof positive before I go through my file again, please do.

well, this is a start. take it with a grain of quail salt, been done before around here.

http://agnewsarchive.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/POSC/Mar0905a.htm

March 9, 2005

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=006600]Gourmet Quail Business Taking Wing[/COLOR][/FONT]

Writer: Edith A. Chenault, (979) 845-2886,[email protected]
Contact: Dr. Lee Cartwright, (979) 845-4319,[email protected]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][COLOR=006600]Photos and Graphics[/COLOR][/FONT]
Click for larger images​

BANDERA – The soft "churtle" of quail can be heard when you pull into the driveway of the Diamond H Ranch in this Hill Country town. That's the sound of money to Tom and Polly Herrington. Advice from Texas Cooperative Extension has helped their business soar.
"We were in the game bird – bobwhite – business," Herrington said. "It started out as a hobby, and the first year I sold every bird I had. I raised twice as many the next year and sold all of those. Pretty soon it wasn't a hobby any more."
Herrington had been seeking bird health and nutritional advice from Dr. Fred Thornberry, now professor emeritus with the department of poultry science at Texas A&M University. About nine years ago, Thornberry told the Herringtons he thought there was a niche coming for the meat bird, and that he had a nice, big healthy bird in College Station that he'd like to see them raise.
"We did a little market research, and sure enough, it looked like he was right," Herrington said.
That bird carried the Texas A&M Coturnix quail blood lines that Thornberry had been genetically selecting to improve the poultry industry. The Herringtons received eggs from Extension and began experimenting with blood lines.
Thornberry was so right that last year Diamond H Ranch sold more than 550,000 meat birds across the United States under their registered trademark of Texas Gourmet Quail. This year they are expecting to sell even more. Tom and his son, Jim, operate the grow-out facilities and state-inspected processing plant that employ 18 workers. Polly operates a bed and breakfast at the farm.
"It's going great ... we've expanded every year. We happened to be at the right place at the right time," said Herrington. "We're about the only sizeable meat bird place in Texas."
Thornberry began developing a bloodline of heavier meat birds from the Coturnix – also known as Japanese or Pharoah – quail lines about 15 years ago as an Extension poultry specialist.
"Through (A&M's) support of the game bird industry, we have cultivated the industry and provided information to the industry for a number of years," said Dr. Lee Cartwright, Extension poultry science specialist in College Station.
When Thornberry began his work, the Coturnix was the only quail grown for the gourmet dining market. The smaller bobwhite quail were hunted and eaten, but are too small to be effectively raised for meat.
Thornberry had the opportunity to get many eggs from a Coturnix producer, who had birds of all sizes. For two years and six generations, the birds were crossbred to eliminate carcass abnormalities and for uniform size.
"During the course of my work, I was able to improve the breast musculature on the birds and maintain optimum egg production," to get a bird that was highly desirable for the gourmet industry, Thornberry said.
Then, as an Extension specialist, he began supplying gamebird hatcheries with the eggs to distribute the strain he called the Texas Gourmet Quail.
"Today, the Texas Gourmet Quail is in about a dozen countries and is widely produced for the gourmet gamebird market," Thornberry said.
When Cartwright began working for Extension, he further improved the quail line by crossing the meat line back to produce a white quail with most of the carcass characteristics of the larger brown bird.
"I believe the brown bird is still a superior bird," Thornberry said, "but most people prefer the white bird because they feel it has cleaner picking characteristics and an absence of dark melanin pigmentation in its feather follicles, the inner abdominal lining and its hock joints."
Both types of birds are raised for the gourmet market.
Chef Jon Bonnell of Bonnell's in Fort Worth said the Texas Gourmet Quail has been the centerpiece on every menu he has had in the three years the restaurant has been open.
"Other brands of quail that I have tried have darker meat and a 'gamier' taste," Bonnell said. "But the Texas Gourmet Quail is the meatiest and tastiest quail I've ever used. In fact, it is the only brand I'll ever use."
Bonnell sold about 3,500 quail in his restaurant last year. He featured quail on the menu last year when he was invited to the James Beard Foundation forum in New York – which is like "Carnegie Hall for chefs," he said.
The Texas Gourmet Quail is extremely hardy in comparison to bobwhite quail, Thornberry said. The birds reach slaughter weight at 6 to 7 weeks of age and realize 50 percent egg production at 8 weeks with no detrimental effects because of early maturity.
"These birds also have a meat coloration that very closely approximates that of the bobwhite quail. The flesh and carcass appearance of the bird is very appealing to the gourmet consumer," he said.
A "dressed" Texas Gourmet Quail weighs between 6.5 and 7.5 ounces, while a bobwhite quail weighs about 4.5 ounces, he said.
"The Coturnix will eat more in six weeks than a bobwhite in 18 weeks," Herrington said. "He has to, he puts on more weight. The meat bird is a fast grower. You can almost watch it grow from day to day."
The Herringtons process their birds at 7 weeks of age and market them from Florida to California. Whole quail or quail legs or breasts can be purchased at the farm, at the Herrington's Web site at http://www.texasgourmetquail.com or by telephone. The quail are shipped frozen or fresh.
"Word of mouth has been really good to us," Herrington said. "And the product is selling itself. It's a good product. And if you prepare it and package it nice, it's awful hard to compare it to anything else."
Not only did Cartwright help the Herringtons "answer a bunch of questions," but former Extension poultry specialist Dr. Sarah Birkhold helped them set up their processing facility. That facility is the only state-inspected quail processing plant in Texas.
"A lot of the other (meat quail) companies are trying to duplicate some of the (Herringtons') products and also trying to improve their quality," Cartwright said.
"Things are going to grow and improve even further. We estimate that the gamebird industry has been growing at approximately 20 percent per year for the last 10 years."
According to a survey conducted by the North American Gamebird Association, gamebird production (pheasants, quail and partridge) have a $5 billion economic impact nationally, Cartwright said.
"The gamebird industry will be expanding for many years to come, and the Diamond H Ranch and the Texas Gourmet Quail will continue to expand with the trend."

 

[Marty1876]

Wow, I didn't know the deal about the A & M quail. My first white quail eggs were purchased as A & M's, and it seems to me that my white have lighter meat. I will take a pic side by side next time I dress, and see if i can see any difference then. Very interesting. They certainly seem bigger than pure English Whites.

I started raising quail about 8 years ago. I've often hatched eggs, raised them spring thru fall, with the last hatching started in early Sept., and then dressing them all out before the dead of winter. In spring, I order more eggs. I've had some of my current brown line for almost 3 years now. They aren't quite 10 ozs before I dress. I wish I had the big ones that supposedly get to 12 ozs, but I've never actually seen any that big. My dress weight is about 5 to 6 ozs tops.

I've been trying to buy eggs from larger browns to improve my size overall. Whats sizes are you all getting from your Jumbo Browns before dressing?

Thanks for the informative article.

 

[millebantam]

I consistantly process my jumbos at 10 weeks and 12 to 13oz. If let them go a little longer, many of them hover in the 13 to 15 oz range. I have a couple of older birds teetering on 16oz.

Wow, I didn't know the deal about the A & M quail. My first white quail eggs were purchased as A & M's, and it seems to me that my white have lighter meat. I will take a pic side by side next time I dress, and see if i can see any difference then. Very interesting. They certainly seem bigger than pure English Whites.

I started raising quail about 8 years ago. I've often hatched eggs, raised them spring thru fall, with the last hatching started in early Sept., and then dressing them all out before the dead of winter. In spring, I order more eggs. I've had some of my current brown line for almost 3 years now. They aren't quite 10 ozs before I dress. I wish I had the big ones that supposedly get to 12 ozs, but I've never actually seen any that big. My dress weight is about 5 to 6 ozs tops.

I've been trying to buy eggs from larger browns to improve my size overall. Whats sizes are you all getting from your Jumbo Browns before dressing?

Thanks for the informative article.

 

[bfrancis]

Marty, I believe there is a jumbo variety of the whites, I have a pen full of the pure white English whites and 4 whites in there with some of the wild color displaying in patches that look huge in comparison...(they came from two different sources) one of these days I need to get out the scales and check the true size by weight difference.

Other than selling adults and eggs, we also raise some for our own specifically for "freezer camp", other than the taste they are healthier than over the counter meats, but IMO, when we've dressed out a white or pharaoh, or even dark range birds...when skinned, they look a like.

Want to take a minute and thanking everyone for their contributions to this thread...lots of good stuff being said here! Thanks and keep the info pipeline going!

 

[bfrancis]

Quaillady, What is the difference between the glory gold, gold spangle and autumn amber from italians or manchurians? I saw the newer (awesome) pictures on your site and was curious.

Hey Alex, got some insight on this? I'm curious too...I have 3 varieties of the goldens....and would like to know more.