Shinto Dragon Jumbo Coturnix Project

[SimonGrow]

I just finished butchering my first set of male quail. I wanted to keep the skin on because that's where the flavor is and it will help to hold in the moisture.

I performed a dry pluck on the first bird but found it difficult to remove the thin hair like feathers. The rest of the birds were dipped into scalding water and the feathers came off easily. I saved the heart, Liver, gizzard and the male eggs. I did a quick sautée on the organs and they were absolutely delicious.

The birds are currently in a marinade and i plan on frying them up tomorrow. This hobby is extremely rewarding.

 

[mikeh53]

Could you please post or send a link or URL for " Robbie at James Marie Farm" I would like try to buy some eggs to add to my bloodline.

 

[mikeh53]

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

 

[mikeh53]

Could you please post or send a link or URL for " Robbie at James Marie Farm" I would like try to buy some eggs to add to my bloodline

 

[SimonGrow]

Hello Mike,

Here you go: http://www.jamesmariefarms.com

Simon

 

[SimonGrow]

This is the reason I leave the skin on, you can't make this stuff up. Absolutely delicious!

 

[mikeh53]

SIMON... Thank you

 

[SimonGrow]

Just wanted to update everyone on my progress so far. ive learned a lot about raising quail in the last 4 months.

I tried to select good stock starting with James Marie Farms meat makers but I didn't ask Robbie about this lines history, first mistake. I do not know if this line is good for meat because it shows hybrid vigor or if it was bred for fast maturity or if it was bred for largest size?

I have one batch of offspring from JMF meat maker stock and they are all brown so far so I don't think it was bred for hybrid vigor. Also, my original JMF birds are are approximately 4 months old now and my 11 remaining birds only average 10 oz each with the largest being 11oz and the smallest being 9 oz.

I switched my feed from 30% protein to 28% protein and my birds have a constant supply of food. One mistake I made was that I put a light on their cage for 16 hours a day ever since they were hatched so they immediately went into egg laying mode. They started laying eggs at approx 7-8 weeks and have consistently laid approx 1 egg per hen since that time.

By forcing them to lay eggs, much energy went into egg production instead of putting on weight. This does not however explain why my two remaining males are only 10 oz each. I was really hoping my birds at 4 months would be closer to 12-14 oz.

I will be contacting g Robbie again to ask him for his breed that has the greatest potential for the heaviest weights. I will also inquire about his specific lines within his breeds. If anyone has a line of jumbo quails that is very large, I would greatly appreciate it if you contact me as I would be very interested in purchasing eggs from you.

Simon

 

[awscwi]

thanks for the info!! please keep it coming! Im looking to get started raising birds for eggs and meat very soon, your posts are very helpful!

 

[SimonGrow]

Awscwi, I'm glad you find this thread helpful.

I just got more information from Robby and it appears my biggest issue was likely the heat. My birds experienced very hot weather of 100F+ that was on and off for approx two weeks during the critical growth period. I did notice that my birds ate a lot less and they were visibly very hot, as if they were panting.

I can't say enough good things about James Marie Farm and Robby. Robby didn't have to troubleshoot what I did wrong but he obviously has a passion for quail and for helping people. I have more eggs coming from James Marie Farm and I know I will get much better results with the tips I received from Robbie. I can't wait to see the results of my next set of eggs. I'll update with more details when I restart this breeding project with my new line of JMF jumbo birds with Canadian bloodlines mixed in. I believe Robbie said he is 6 generations in with this line and that he is very satisfied with the stability of the line so far but he is continuing to work with the line to continually improve upon it.

I will also be getting a delayed maturity line that should get to a nice large size because of the delayed onset of sexual maturity. I can only imagine how much extra weight my birds will gain if instead of laying a 15 gram egg everyday, that weight went to skeletal muscle. That's about an ounce extra weight for every two days a bird is not laying eggs. I'll keep everyone updated!

Simon