Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and to breeding quail. I am a molecular biologist/researcher with a background in genetics and nutrition and I used to breed Flowerhorn, saltwater clownfish, Discus, Show Guppies, frogs, and lots of other animals. I was one of the largest breeders of domestically bred Flowerhorn and I created the Shinto Dragon line of Flowerhorn which took me about 10 years.
Aside from breeding animals, I also grow tropical fruit trees and use my knowledge to try and push the envelope of what is possible. I live in San Diego California and Mango is very marginal tree here. I try to keep updated on cutting edge technology and always try to think outside the box to overcome obstacles. For example, because Mango is very marginal here, I found a technique that is used in India called Double Stone Grafting which basically creates a tree with two intact root systems. With this technique, I was able to creat a Mango tree that grows at roughly double the rate of a normal tree. My Double rootstock Mango tree is also supposed to increase precocity, withstand drought and high wind conditions better and have roughly double the yield of a normal tree. See this thread: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=16549.0
Well anyways, I have been reading a lot on this forum and the Tatanka thread really grabbed my attention. I love the standards they set and the rigorous documentation they utilized. I like to do a lot of research before starting a project, been researching Coturnix for about a year, and recently ordered my first set of eggs. I know that the Tatanka line is not for sale, it is only gifted to select stewards. So, I decided to purchase my first set of eggs from Robbie at James Marie Farm. Robbie suggested I get his Meat Maker line as i want birds that grow large and mature fast.
I received my eggs on 07/27/15, I ordered 30 eggs and Robbie sent me 66 eggs, it was extremely hot. The postal service roughed up my box and 24 eggs were severely cracked with several eggs leaking. I ended up setting 42 eggs and 25 of those hatched. Two were culled due to leg issues so I have 23 birds remaining. The eggs weighed between 12-17 grams, I didn't weigh them all. I will try to update with weights soon.
I hope to use my previous experiences along with extreme control of diet, especially with organic fruit, veggies, insects and a high protein staple such as Purina Game Bird Startina, 30% Protein. I hope to have a super small flock of stable birds which meets or exceeds Tatanka standards hopefully in 3-5 years.
My current chicks are being fed, Startena as a staple with insects from my garden along with fruit and veggie scraps. I feed them fresh pressed Organic wheatgrass once about every three days, sometimes I use frozen. I also put fresh squeezed sugarcane juice into their watered whenever I juice sugarcane for my family. They also get vitamins and probiotics in their water. The largest birds, only two, about 72 and 76grams and they will be two weeks old on Sunday(09/27/15), in three days which makes them 11 days old today. Most the chicks hatched around 4:30pm.
I hope that size will be increased with each generation, it is JMF stock, and I hope I can improve overall health of the birds by selecting only the most worthy birds to make up a line.
I would love any advice for this fun project, I wonder what the absolute minimum number of birds/pairs is in order to keep a single line going is? Thanks,
Simon
Aside from breeding animals, I also grow tropical fruit trees and use my knowledge to try and push the envelope of what is possible. I live in San Diego California and Mango is very marginal tree here. I try to keep updated on cutting edge technology and always try to think outside the box to overcome obstacles. For example, because Mango is very marginal here, I found a technique that is used in India called Double Stone Grafting which basically creates a tree with two intact root systems. With this technique, I was able to creat a Mango tree that grows at roughly double the rate of a normal tree. My Double rootstock Mango tree is also supposed to increase precocity, withstand drought and high wind conditions better and have roughly double the yield of a normal tree. See this thread: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=16549.0
Well anyways, I have been reading a lot on this forum and the Tatanka thread really grabbed my attention. I love the standards they set and the rigorous documentation they utilized. I like to do a lot of research before starting a project, been researching Coturnix for about a year, and recently ordered my first set of eggs. I know that the Tatanka line is not for sale, it is only gifted to select stewards. So, I decided to purchase my first set of eggs from Robbie at James Marie Farm. Robbie suggested I get his Meat Maker line as i want birds that grow large and mature fast.
I received my eggs on 07/27/15, I ordered 30 eggs and Robbie sent me 66 eggs, it was extremely hot. The postal service roughed up my box and 24 eggs were severely cracked with several eggs leaking. I ended up setting 42 eggs and 25 of those hatched. Two were culled due to leg issues so I have 23 birds remaining. The eggs weighed between 12-17 grams, I didn't weigh them all. I will try to update with weights soon.
I hope to use my previous experiences along with extreme control of diet, especially with organic fruit, veggies, insects and a high protein staple such as Purina Game Bird Startina, 30% Protein. I hope to have a super small flock of stable birds which meets or exceeds Tatanka standards hopefully in 3-5 years.
My current chicks are being fed, Startena as a staple with insects from my garden along with fruit and veggie scraps. I feed them fresh pressed Organic wheatgrass once about every three days, sometimes I use frozen. I also put fresh squeezed sugarcane juice into their watered whenever I juice sugarcane for my family. They also get vitamins and probiotics in their water. The largest birds, only two, about 72 and 76grams and they will be two weeks old on Sunday(09/27/15), in three days which makes them 11 days old today. Most the chicks hatched around 4:30pm.
I hope that size will be increased with each generation, it is JMF stock, and I hope I can improve overall health of the birds by selecting only the most worthy birds to make up a line.
I would love any advice for this fun project, I wonder what the absolute minimum number of birds/pairs is in order to keep a single line going is? Thanks,
Simon
