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

[SimonGrow]

Thanks for your support Bill. I'm glad there
are still people with Tatanka birds out there.

Tom8301, if your birds slowed down drastically around 4 weeks, there may be some factor at play. In my case, extreme heat slowed down the rate of growth of my birds, perhaps the cold is slowing down your birds? Are you using 28-30% protein food? Thanks for posting your numbers.

Simon

 

[tom8301]

Thank you Simon. I use 28% game bird starter. I guess the heat slow it down, but not 100% sure. I live in Massachusetts which is cold. I also had another hatch, they are 2 weeks old, I will watch their grow as well.

 

[MobyQuail]

The PURINA GBS 30% is the gold standard to me. I've tried FRM and Dumors 28% and Purina is superior, their fastest growth is weeks 3-6 imho and they can gain ounces per week during that phase. Everyday they gain a percentage of their weight. The bigger they are, the more they gain.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

The PURINA GBS 30% is the gold standard to me. I've tried FRM and Dumors 28% and Purina is superior, their fastest growth is weeks 3-6 imho and they can gain ounces per week during that phase. Everyday they gain a percentage of their weight. The bigger they are, the more they gain.

Totally agree. I found it somewhat locally several months ago and wow what a difference in growth. I grind it into powder the first week for the tiny chicks, and they grow like crazy. I just get a couple 50 pound bags at a time, and vacuum seal 5 pound bags, toss in freezer. When I get down to the last 20 pounds, go get more!

 

[tom8301]

I used Dumors 24% before and it made the quail poop mushy and very smelly, I heard Dumors is made by Purina, so I never think of using Purina for my quail. Over last 6 months I only used Poulin Grain 28%, it seems doing very well for the first few months, the quail poop is getting much better, but my adults quail start to lay less eggs in the winter. It may be too cold for quail to lay everyday. My 30 hens lay about 22-24 eggs now, it was 29-30 eggs before. The new hatched quail is doing well.

I think it's time for me to use a different feed for my quail. I heard lots of good things about blue seal, but no stores carry 28% or better feed in my area, so I have to drive 35 miles for the blue seal multi-flock 28%, just bought 8 50lbs bags, it probably last about 2 months.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I used Dumors 24% before and it made the quail poop mushy and very smelly, I heard Dumors is made by Purina, so I never think of using Purina for my quail. Over last 6 months I only used Poulin Grain 28%, it seems doing very well for the first few months, the quail poop is getting much better, but my adults quail start to lay less eggs in the winter. It may be too cold for quail to lay everyday. My 30 hens lay about 22-24 eggs now, it was 29-30 eggs before. The new hatched quail is doing well.

I think it's time for me to use a different feed for my quail. I heard lots of good things about blue seal, but no stores carry 28% or better feed in my area, so I have to drive 35 miles for the blue seal multi-flock 28%, just bought 8 50lbs bags, it probably last about 2 months.

Quail slow in laying with daylight hours being shorter. Some folks use artificial lighting to encourage laying year around. If you want them to lay they just need a full spectrum lighting at least 12 hours a day, 14 is better. Since our primary reason is meat birds, I plan to add artificial light this coming year.
Its about 32 miles for me to get the PGBS at the nearest feed store. I have a few freezers with space, so I freeze up what I won't use in 2 weeks. Air and warmth can degrade nutrients in the food, so I vac seal and freeze it. Come spring I will have a lot more breeding quail and I will go through a lot more feed. I only keep 4 breeding quads in the winter. We usually have a fresh group of hogs, a steer, turkey etc in the freezers by late fall and no more room for a lot of smaller poultry etc. I give them a short break and resume hatching in February. Normally start rotating out breeders in May, again in November. I really need another freezer, DH just smiles. He loves to make quail nuggets and smoked quail. We have a large family so meat products are our biggest expense if we don't raise and process it ourselves.

 

[marvelbirds]

I would like some advice on the average weight of quail eggs that can hatch if put in an incubator

 

[tom8301]

My Texas A&M quail have slow grown after 4 weeks, at week 8-9 they are about 12-13 oz, which is 1 oz less then their parents on average. I think it's most likely the cold slow them down.

 

[tom8301]

I would like some advice on the average weight of quail eggs that can hatch if put in an incubator

You can hatch quail eggs in any weight, however the extra large double yolk eggs will not hatch. I try hatch double yolk quail eggs few times, never work out. My Texas A&M quail eggs weight 14-16g, jumbo brown eggs weight 15-17g, the double yolk eggs are over 20g, the biggest one weight 25.5g. I do have 18g single yolk egg hatched without problem. From my experience, the unusual looking eggs had much lower hatching rate.

 

[LocalYokel]

The PURINA GBS 30% is the gold standard to me. I've tried FRM and Dumors 28% and Purina is superior, their fastest growth is weeks 3-6 imho and they can gain ounces per week during that phase. Everyday they gain a percentage of their weight. The bigger they are, the more they gain.

What about Manna Pro GBSB 30

I tried the 24 dumor and I couldnt figure out why the poo was so nasty and mushy all of a sudden.

The birds did not grow like they should either.

It is worth the extry 2 dollars for the goodstuff.

I just found this thread.

I started last year , off the White Buffalo website.


I dont know what F1 and all this other stuff is

Can someone fill me in.

Im getting over 13G eggs ATM and I keep pushing.

I just bred the largest and only set the largest eggs.

I want in on the breeding knowledge.

I dont even know the terms.