Texas A&M questions

[drowe005]

But you can keep them in less light, to increase body weight, by postponing maturity.

Interesting, I hadnt heard that before. Could you elaborate on that some as in what kind of lighting times you mean? It seems if there was no light, they wouldnt be able to eat. Let me know about that, and I might give it a shot as I just had some hatch today. Thanks

 

[James Marie]

Interesting, I hadnt heard that before. Could you elaborate on that some as in what kind of lighting times you mean? It seems if there was no light, they wouldnt be able to eat. Let me know about that, and I might give it a shot as I just had some hatch today. Thanks

We did a research project on lighting last year with disappointing results...I'll find some of the info and post tonight...

 

[yallapilko]

I'm afraid I don't know enough about it, but I've found a quote from Katie Thear's book:

Light restriction: Table quail grow more quickly and sexual development is slowed down if the amount of light to them is restricted. This does not mean that they have to be kept in a twilight zone..... but no artifical light shoudld e made available to them... Some producers, I am afraid , go to absurd lenghts in blocking out the light. I'm against this on humanitarian grounds. Every creature as a right to natural light! The aim is to cut down bright light, while allowing a certain amount of natural light to come in. This suppresses the urge to mate and to lay eggs so that growth continues uninterruptedly. In this way, heavier weights are gained. '

So, I hope this helps. My guess is that as usual, newly hatched quail need 24 hours light in order to be able to feed and grow, then, later (when???) to cut down the light. Maybe someone could help out with when that should be....?

 

[GAQuail]

oops!

 

[GAQuail]

Have you gotten A&M's from this breeder before I assume?

Yes I have.

 

[James Marie]

But you can keep them in less light, to increase body weight, by postponing maturity.

Interesting, I hadnt heard that before. Could you elaborate on that some as in what kind of lighting times you mean? It seems if there was no light, they wouldnt be able to eat. Let me know about that, and I might give it a shot as I just had some hatch today. Thanks


Quote:

On a commerical level in the US one of the pioneers of Coturnix production was Albert Marsh of Marsh Farms...He published several books on large scale Coturnix production....Marsh Farms imported stock into the US and used it to develop his line of Goldens....I was told Mr. Marsh worked with control lighting for enhanced growth development....I found two other studies done on the subject....the method has been used with success in other types of meat production with poultry and swine....so I wanted to do a simple quick project on effects of lighting on growth...


This is what I ended up doing....


Starting a new research project on how lighting effects growth....from 14 day old chicks out of our brooder room to 56 days
will have 4 different groups/time cycles of light to the study...light vs darkness vs growth
1st group of 25 will be exposed to lights 24/7 for the entire study....56 days
2ND group of 25 will be exposed to lights 18 hours/dark 6 hours for the entire study...56 days
3rd group of 25 will be exposed to lights for 2 hrs/then 10 hrs of dark...then...2hrs of light/10 hrs of darkness for 56 days
4Th group of 25 will be exposed to lights for 1 hour/ then 6 hours darkness cycled 4 times for the 56 days....

all will be Texas A&M's and will be weighed at 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days, 35 days, 42 days, 49 days, and 56 days...
each groups weight will be used to compare and figure the growth difference....this will not be a per bird study....but a group comparison by weight....brooders will be used for the entire project....they have been set up in our quarantine building that has no light source other than individual lights in each brooder....all lighting will be 40 watt bulbs..... The quarantine building has no a/c so they will be exposed to the heat.....chicken broilers have been grown in light cycles this way to help promote rapid growth...the theory is the birds eat/drink and then get total rest not to burn off the energy..then cycle again....In my production room now birds get 24/7 light and eat non-stop...but they move around all the time burning off energy....it may not make a big difference but even being able to kill quails 4-5 days earlier means less feed on more profit...



This was the results...

• 
  The results were much different than I expected or was hoping for.....
  I had to close off each area with black plastic for the light to be effective...being mid July it was hot in each and had fans going in each pod....when the lights went off it was dark...the goal....
  the 2nd..3rd..and 4Th group ended up being so freaked out when the lights went on with the timers and would jump and run all over the brooder when I would feed them....they looked like they were in panic mode....the more light they had the more feed they consumed ....the 4Th group ate the least and drank the least....and the result was they weighed on average 22% less....another problem was I lost more birds in group 4 compared to none loss in group 1....the jumping when the lights went on caused some scalped heads....but some healed because the others couldn't see them to pick at them....
  I was waiting for the group 4 to be the best and it was instead group 1....lights 24/7....they were calm...big and fat...and the plumage was nicer....
  I have since found out that Marsh farms would run just a few red lights instead of complete darkness....and bright lights during lighted times....that way the birds were not in total darkness.....
  results were much different than I was waiting for....
  In our production room with lights on 24/7 I can get T A&M's to 3 to 4.5 ounces dressed weight (broilers) in 4.5 to 5 weeks on average .....and to 4.5 to 6 ounces dressed weight (fryers) in 5-6 weeks on average.....
  Was looking for a way to improve on this average.....I don't think lighting is the answer...but I tried....I'm looking now at the temperature we keep the A/C set at and the feed we use....and of course always working to improve the breeding stock....
  always looking to improve any way I can.....

This project was started July 14, 2012

 

[drowe005]

Thanks for that info, very interesting.

 

[yallapilko]

James Marie - that's really informative and interesting.

 

[Reedgirl20]

Wow, thanks for all the info James Marie.