I'm very experienced with raising rare game birds and "hard-to-raise" birds, but have never dealt with "easy-to-raise" birds like Texas A&M. I got a few birds recently for a small food source, and supplement to feed costs through the winter since all the other birds aren't laying this time of year. I've had the birds 5 weeks or so now, and were supposed to be around 4 weeks of age when purchased. My males are averaging 6.5 ounces, and females average 7.7 ounces. Out of all the females, only one has started to lay. One thing I wonder is if the birds were younger than they were supposed to be, and that's why they're smaller and not all laying, or if its because they were mixed with other colors of coturnix and aren't pure resulting in the smaller size. I guess another posiblility would be that all of the ones I thought were female, are actually male. But either way, the one I know for a fact is a female because I have seen her lay an egg, only weighs 7.8 ounces. To my understanding, A&M should average 10-14 ounces, after being dressed out, and that wouldnt be the case with these. Can anyone share weights of their birds at different ages, when the birds will be at the max slaughter weight, dressed weight, and any other useful info. Should I cull these birds? Does anyone have large A&M genetics in which you would have eggs to sell? Lastly, does anyone know about Stellar Game Bird or Strombergs A&M genetics? Thanks in advance.
