Meet Cinnamon & Sugar, my baby quail ♥️

[CliftonQuail]

That's an interesting idea. I've had Kiki and Nabiki telling me they weren't jumbos for ages, but maybe they are just smaller in Australia. I've never come across a jumbo quail bigger than 300g here.

It stands to reason that there's probably very little, if any, interbreeding between Australian birds and US birds. I suppose it's possible that we (U.S.A) managed to breed them larger over time and it's probably also possible that someone in Australia could institute a breeding program to get a larger bird.
I found one reference from a US website that indicates jumbos range from 12-14 oz (340 to 396 grams) and standards are 6 - 7 oz, or about half the size of jumbos. I couldn't find any Australian centric sites that gave weights for comparison, but I suspect my hypothesis is correct.

 

[CliftonQuail]

It stands to reason that there's probably very little, if any, interbreeding between Australian birds and US birds. I suppose it's possible that we (U.S.A) managed to breed them larger over time and it's probably also possible that someone in Australia could institute a breeding program to get a larger bird.
I found one reference from a US website that indicates jumbos range from 12-14 oz (340 to 396 grams) and standards are 6 - 7 oz, or about half the size of jumbos. I couldn't find any Australian centric sites that gave weights for comparison, but I suspect my hypothesis is correct.

I did a bit more digging and found this: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249371

It's an article from 2021 that is about raising jumbo quail in South Africa. What I found interesting was this part " According to Mbhele et al. [1],the Jumbo quail is a larger version of the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) that has been recently developed for meat production. This bird weighs up to an average of 250 g at six weeks of age [2] compared to a six-week old Japanese quail that weighs an average of 160 g [3]. "

That tends to support my suggestion that different countries might have different definitions for what constitutes "jumbo" when it comes to coturnix.

 

[Oob Child]

Had to take multiple photos of Sugar again
Day 11

Sugar might actually be 34g, I have a dodgy scale.

They are so cute
Caught Sugar having her first dust bath yesterday in some of the wood shavings I added to their cage. I didn't even know they could do that that early!
They were digging in their food so I decided to give them something else to dig in. I've checked and they don't try to eat them.

 

[Nabiki]

I did a bit more digging and found this: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249371

It's an article from 2021 that is about raising jumbo quail in South Africa. What I found interesting was this part " According to Mbhele et al. [1],the Jumbo quail is a larger version of the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) that has been recently developed for meat production. This bird weighs up to an average of 250 g at six weeks of age [2] compared to a six-week old Japanese quail that weighs an average of 160 g [3]. "

That tends to support my suggestion that different countries might have different definitions for what constitutes "jumbo" when it comes to coturnix.

Not really. 250g is almost 9 oz. The US standard is 10 oz at 10 weeks, which is about 284g. That leaves them time to get to full weight of about 12-15 oz at full adult, which is around 12-14 weeks.

 

[Patiocoturnix]

Had to take multiple photos of Sugar again
Day 11 View attachment 3622185View attachment 3622188Sugar might actually be 34g, I have a dodgy scale.View attachment 3622186View attachment 3622187
They are so cute
Caught Sugar having her first dust bath yesterday in some of the wood shavings I added to their cage. I didn't even know they could do that that early!
They were digging in their food so I decided to give them something else to dig in. I've checked and they don't try to eat them.

Yeah they can dust bathe as soon as they’re born my first batch I had on sand since day 1. Also I don’t think sugar is a pearl but I could be wrong.

 

[Oob Child]

Yeah they can dust bathe as soon as they’re born my first batch I had on sand since day 1. Also I don’t think sugar is a pearl but I could be wrong.

Ik she might be one of those slightly peach colour ones, but I can't remember what those are called.

If I saw a day old baby quail vibrating in some sand I think I'd explode with cuteness

 

[Oob Child]

Day 12

Please ignore the chaotic Chromebook, didn't realize that was there.

 

[Oob Child]

Sugars eyes are still bright blue! Hope they stay that way, I've never seen a quail with bluer eyes.

They are just so cute

 

[Oob Child]

Day 13

Sugar might not actually be this weight, I use a dodgy scale.

 

[Oob Child]

Day 14
This will be the last update I give on Sugar and Cinnamon's weight, my scale has gone berserk. These weights are probably incorrect, the weight changes depending on where they stand in the bowl.

The babies aren't very tame, my last babies were definitely way friendlier. They run away from me! Ant tips? I think it might be because of grabbing and weighing them daily.