Procedure for growing out and harvesting?

[dustingebhardt]

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to manage the growing out and harvesting of roughly 100 quail?

I have an outdoor aviary where my all of my quail older than 2-3 weeks live. I hatch out a batch of roughly 30-35 quail every 3 weeks. So far, my aviary has my original batch from JMF, plus roughly 30-35 each of 3 additional hatchings. This weekend I plan on harvesting most of the adult males. But since everyone is mixed together, I'm concerned that I might overdo it and harvest too many of the breeding males. Should I separate several of the males in a small cage so that I ensure that I leave enough to continue their breeding? Since I plan on keeping roughly 40 adult hens, I suppose that would equate to roughly 7-10 adult roos.

Does anyone have recommendations on how to identify and manage each "generation" of birds? I tried using #4 leg rings, but most of them fell off. I'm thinking of using colored zip ties, but I'm struggling to find more than 3 colors.

What would a good schedule for harvesting be? My initial thoughts are to harvest the males at roughly 10 weeks of age. I would also harvest the newly adult females at the same time, once I have enough layers to keep on producing enough eggs. I'm not sure when the females stop laying, but I could harvest the elderly hens at some point (8 months? 12 months?). I also want to separate the older birds from the younger birds when storing them after hatching. I can then use the older, tougher birds for stews and slow-cooker recipes, and use the younger birds for roasting and such.

So, my aviary population currently looks like this:
Original batch: roughly 10 females and 3 males. (I had already harvested 10 males).
Batch #1: Age 11 weeks. I need to harvest all the males. Roughly 15 each, males and females.
Batch #2: Age 8 weeks. Harvest the males in 3 weeks. Leave the females. Roughly 15 each, males and females.
Batch #3: Age 5 week. Harvest in 5 weeks. Harvest all males and females (or leave roughly 45-50 total adult females).
Batch #4: Age 2 weeks. harvest all males and females in 8 weeks.

Batch #5 is in the incubator now, due to hatch in 4 days.

 

[Sara L]

Maybe try online to get different color zip ties? Amazon or eBay? After you get the zip ties/leg bands I would recommend taking all the birds out and separating by age, then banding them as you put the keepers and grow outs back in the aviary. If you harvest every 3 weeks or so, you could band the newest generation when you are catching the other birds to butcher.
You can butcher any time after 6 weeks, older ones should be a little bigger but might be slightly tougher or have more fat. I try not to keep extra males much beyond 6 weeks because they get too rough with the females.
I would recommend thinking about your long term goals with the birds and coming up with a criteria/rule for determining which birds stay and which are butchered. Friendly/docile birds are better to keep; bigger birds or those who lay bigger eggs should help increase your bird size in the long run.

 

[feedman77]

If you keep coturnix under light they will lay year round.

I give my birds a break in winter and have had hens lay up to 2 years old. Don't know if they would have laid longer I butchered them at that age.

Have never noticed quail getting tougher with age like chickens do.

What are your plans mainly meat or eggs.

40 hens is a lot of eggs. You could set over 250 a week.

What I do now is keep my breeders till I'm done hatching for the year either sell or butcher. Then keep back a new round of breeders for next year out of the last few batches I hatch out.

 

[RosieR]

Maybe zip tie one leg to tell age group and use the other leg to mark your breeder Roos?
I’m on a much smaller scale than you so I just zip tie the Roos I want to keep. I might zip all the new hatches next year so I can keep track of who the seniors are and retire them as appropriate.

 

[Erkenstein]

If it's possible, you can set up separate cages/pens for your breeding groups. Select the biggest, healthiest males and the biggest, healthiest females and keep them minimum 1:4 ratio.

I have the hatching schedule that you do (35 birds every few weeks). Here's what I do:

Weeks 0-2.5 in the brooder
Separate females and males into two growout pens
Weeks 2.5-6 growout/try to sell
Weeks 7-9 finishing quail tractors on grass
Butcher​

I find it works for me not to mix the generations, but I track which pens have which birds on a spreadsheet. I also have breeder pens and layer pens, so I set up those pens with stock from my hatches depending.

 

[lomine]

For colored zip ties check out Amazon. I got a bag with 10 or 12 different colors for less than $10 with free Prime shipping. Can’t remember how many were in the bag though.

For when to butcher I suggest you start weighing your birds. I found that it wasn’t worth the feed cost to let them grow out to 8 weeks. They didn’t get much bigger those last two weeks. I generally butcher at 6 weeks. But mine aren’t Jumbo or anything so it might be different for you.

 

[AlderCreekFarms]

Maybe zip tie one leg to tell age group and use the other leg to mark your breeder Roos?
I’m on a much smaller scale than you so I just zip tie the Roos I want to keep. I might zip all the new hatches next year so I can keep track of who the seniors are and retire them as appropriate.

I like this idea!