Tatanka Breeders Club: Meat Quail project with history, discussion, pictures and videos

[MobyQuail]

Male, version 2.21; 19 days 166 grams

 

[MobyQuail]

day 35 weights look good! some of these will continue to receive free room and board.

 

[icelandicshepherd]

My first post--but I've been reading a lot and studying the threads here. I'm the new steward in the east that Millebantam spoke of, and I just received six dozen eggs on Wednesday from him. They ALL arrived safe and sound, not one even cracked--an amazing job!!! They were set in the incubator on Thursday (yesterday), and we're eagerly awaiting the end of the month, when they should hatch.

I'm working with a school group, and they are being hatched in a Brinsea incubator. Unfortunately two of the eggs were broken when the kids (high school animal science group) were setting them, but we're lucky that Mille sent a whole extra dozen more than we'd asked for, so we're still good.

Once they hatch, we'll be using a spreadsheet I'll make up so the students can weigh them every week to monitor growth. I'm planning to get some leg bands that I hope we'll be able to use after a week or so, so that we can be more sure of individual weight gain. I think that if we can get 6 or 7 colors, we can band one leg and then two legs with one color, then two legs of different colors in differing combos so that we'll be able to get every bird banded and identified. My question here is, where can I get bands small enough for quail chicks?

After they reach 4 or 5 weeks of age, they'll come here to the farm for the finishing of this part of the project, continued weighing, culling extra males and those that don't reach the weight we want, and choosing breeders to continue the next phase of the project with.

Just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to join the project team!

 

[MobyQuail]

My first post--but I've been reading a lot and studying the threads here. I'm the new steward in the east that Millebantam spoke of, and I just received six dozen eggs on Wednesday from him. They ALL arrived safe and sound, not one even cracked--an amazing job!!! They were set in the incubator on Thursday (yesterday), and we're eagerly awaiting the end of the month, when they should hatch.

I'm working with a school group, and they are being hatched in a Brinsea incubator. Unfortunately two of the eggs were broken when the kids (high school animal science group) were setting them, but we're lucky that Mille sent a whole extra dozen more than we'd asked for, so we're still good.

Once they hatch, we'll be using a spreadsheet I'll make up so the students can weigh them every week to monitor growth. I'm planning to get some leg bands that I hope we'll be able to use after a week or so, so that we can be more sure of individual weight gain. I think that if we can get 6 or 7 colors, we can band one leg and then two legs with one color, then two legs of different colors in differing combos so that we'll be able to get every bird banded and identified. My question here is, where can I get bands small enough for quail chicks?

After they reach 4 or 5 weeks of age, they'll come here to the farm for the finishing of this part of the project, continued weighing, culling extra males and those that don't reach the weight we want, and choosing breeders to continue the next phase of the project with.

Just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to join the project team!

I have used smaller zipties, but a new steward "D" in the northwest turned me onto wingbands and Im gonna try those too. like he said, and your thinking, you can use multiple markers.

wingband, ziptie, toe web clipping is like a first, middle and last name.

 

[MobyQuail]

Our largest bird so far has been a v2.18 hen, she was 210 grams at just 21 days, that is 7.5 ounces at exactly 21 days.

I hope and expect her to put on about 4 more ounces before she starts laying ~42 days.

 

[TwoCrows]

My first post--but I've been reading a lot and studying the threads here. I'm the new steward in the east that Millebantam spoke of, and I just received six dozen eggs on Wednesday from him. They ALL arrived safe and sound, not one even cracked--an amazing job!!! They were set in the incubator on Thursday (yesterday), and we're eagerly awaiting the end of the month, when they should hatch.

I'm working with a school group, and they are being hatched in a Brinsea incubator. Unfortunately two of the eggs were broken when the kids (high school animal science group) were setting them, but we're lucky that Mille sent a whole extra dozen more than we'd asked for, so we're still good.

Once they hatch, we'll be using a spreadsheet I'll make up so the students can weigh them every week to monitor growth. I'm planning to get some leg bands that I hope we'll be able to use after a week or so, so that we can be more sure of individual weight gain. I think that if we can get 6 or 7 colors, we can band one leg and then two legs with one color, then two legs of different colors in differing combos so that we'll be able to get every bird banded and identified. My question here is, where can I get bands small enough for quail chicks?

After they reach 4 or 5 weeks of age, they'll come here to the farm for the finishing of this part of the project, continued weighing, culling extra males and those that don't reach the weight we want, and choosing breeders to continue the next phase of the project with.

Just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to join the project team!

and the quail forums! You will find a wealth of information on here and these folks that breed these great birds....MobyQuail, Miilebantam and others are just awesome! They have worked for years to build a great breeding stock and they themselves are full of knowledge!

So welcome aboard! Keep us posted on your classroom projects and enjoy your new quail ventures!

 

[MobyQuail]

39 day old quail hen 300g+

 

[icelandicshepherd]

So this hen is about 10 oz at 39 days and I think you said you expected her to get to 11.5 oz by 42 days--it looks like she may make it. Now, how big are you guessing she'll be by 8 weeks? Not knowing when they put on the fastest gain, I'm curious to know. If we're aiming at reaching that 16 oz mark, when would we be wanting that to happen--by 8 weeks? 10 weeks? Are we looking at freezer camp at 8 weeks or 10 weeks or later? Trying to wrap my head around our ultimate goals and when we want to achieve them. A little early, since our eggs haven't even hatched yet, but I'm looking at planning ahead and need to have my goals clear in my mind. Thanks!

 

[MobyQuail]

sorry, 2 different hens.

today, this afternoon, the one in the video is version 2.7 and 39 days is 10.9 ounces and should make 11 oz in the next few days at the 42 day weighins

I have another hen coming up, version 2.18 makes her 28 days today, weighed her @254g= 9 oz., she has 2 more weeks to grow, should pass 11 oz at 42 days also.

hopefully at 8 wks they are ~350g. The 16oz mark? I'm still a skeptic but if its going to happen, its gonna be a 12+ week old bird, and probably a hen full of eggs.

do I think someone could have a covey of 16 oz breeder coturnix hens, 3-4 months old, I sure do, but at 6, 8 wks... someone is gonna have to send me the eggs that do it before I believe it. and I aint saying the "tatankas" are gonna get there.

lots of claims out there, at this point, I am a skeptic of any claims of 14+ oz birds under 8 weeks old, that is all.


my thought process was to find the biggest I could find and work from there. I scoured the web and this forum and found that buttercup had sent some to fatdaddy that she really believed in and asked him for some of his from her- the co-op jumbos, I knew he hatched a bunch of chicks and culled hard and did it right.

Next, I outcrossed them to my whites and have been getting the best numbers with those "outcrossed" birds since I started recording weights 4 generations ago. we call them the splits- half white, half brown.

when do they grow the fastest? 2-4 weeks. the bigguns will go from 80 grams to 200 grams, almost 10 grams per day.

freezer camp, honestly 8-10+ weeks is gonna be a bigger bird, the older hens that lay smaller eggs that I culled are in the 320-340 range

I like the idea of 6oz of processed Quail at 42 days, which is what we get with a 12 oz bird. so thats one bullet point.

but if a bird continues to grow, cost effectively, thru 8-10-12+ weeks, yes!, let them and send a bigger bird to camp or breed em big as you can get em as fast as you can!

 

[Mek]

Thank you Moby for this thread. I used to just throw all my eggs in the incubator and eat all the small birds and keep the larger ones without any idea of what conformation I was looking for in a bird. I now weigh my eggs before incubating.