Quail weight-gain over time and related questions...

[Stubbshouse317]

Hello all,

I've been recording the mean (average) weight of my flock of 13 Texas A&M quail sinse the day after hatching. They are now two weeks old. I try to remember to weigh them every two days. Here are the numbers so far:

Days old--------weight (g)------ Increase (g)
1-------------------10.4---------------0
3-------------------13-----------------2.6
5-------------------18-----------------5
7-------------------20-----------------2
9-------------------25.8--------------5.8
12-----------------37.8--------------12
14-----------------54.4--------------16.6

I am interested in how this compares to the weight gain others experience. Also, what is your target killing weight?

Thanks all.

 

[Stubbshouse317]

I have another weeks worth of weight data:

Days old--------weight (g)

17-----------------78.4
19-----------------88.7
21-----------------108.2

 

[TonysChickens]

Average of 20 pharoah browns at 47.25g after 7 to 9 days. Low was 39g, high was 58g, groupings of weights at 41g, 45g, and 54g.
3 italians came out with 30, 35, and 38g each.
All were hatched from my own eggs, jumbo sized quails. The italians are not jumbo.

I think I have those clumps of weights because they came from specific pairings. I have 3 males for the browns, in 3 separate pens with 3 females for each male, possibly the sizes clumping is from each specific male. I guess I need to figure out which male that is and keep just the largest one.

 

[TonysChickens]

day 9 to 11, averaging 61.45g for the browns.the italians are 36, 47, 49g

 

[MobyQuail]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApN9sh2vhDvXdEN3VzBRdG9VNUwzc3lZSmhHS01HaWc&output=html

my records

 

[TonysChickens]

Day 11 to 13
average of 73.75g for the 20 brown quails. High was 87, low was 61g.
I've separated them into the larger group and smaller group, cutoff at 70g for large. Ended up with 13 larger and 10 smaller (including the italians).

Italians are 40,60,58.

 

[Anniekins]

Tease!

 

[TonysChickens]

96.5g average of the larger 13. highs were 106, , 105, 101, 104. put all of the under 95g into the smaller group now so i have 9 in the larger group now. days 13 to 15 now.

 

[702Quails]

How do you determine the age of the quail? Is it when they're put into a brooder or when they hatch? I believe it would be more accurate to start recording their weight when they're actually put into a brooder, because it's not like they can gain weight in an incubator. Also, at what times of the day are you recording their weights? If you put them in a brooder in the morning and then record their weights at night, you're essentially giving them an extra half a day to grow. Quail of course grow fast, so this can significantly alter the measurements for the first two weeks.

What were the other factors behind these recordings? Brooder / cage size, substrate / floor, light per day, feed and water. I'm just trying to get an idea what would be the best set-up to get quail to the largest size possible by 6 weeks. For chickens, I've read that they overall grow faster with 18 hours of light. For quail, a forum claimed that 8 hours of light will delay sexual maturity and therefore make them grow faster (no fighting or males trying to mate). These are conflicting, so it would be nice to narrow down what works best.