Urban Egger Co-Operative (Jumbo Coturnix Quail with Jumbo Eggs)

[chefedwardmac]

Really? I wonder what's wrong, we don't count layer eggs until we pack them, but the 17 hens in my breeder house produce 119 eggs per week.

I'm switching them over now so I'll know more in the coming months. Right now they are 50/50 duckweed/sprouts and commercial chick feed. They seem to like it more than the commercial feed though. They eat a lot more of it than I expected though.

I found out they dont like chia sprouts or buckwheat sprouts. Kale and alfalfa sprouts seem to be favorites.

I have 14 (mostly very young) hens and get about 70 eggs per week. Your 40-for-100 does seem off like QJ said. In fact, if QJ is any guide, my ratio is a little low.

I'm not sure how many hens he has, He has roosters too, and I gave him 15 quails that are are too young to lay right now, but he's pretty serious about raising the quails, and I am looking forward to introducing quails to others in my city

 

[Quail Jailer]

I'm switching them over now so I'll know more in the coming months. Right now they are 50/50 duckweed/sprouts and commercial chick feed. They seem to like it more than the commercial feed though. They eat a lot more of it than I expected though.

I found out they dont like chia sprouts or buckwheat sprouts. Kale and alfalfa sprouts seem to be favorites.

I have 14 (mostly very young) hens and get about 70 eggs per week. Your 40-for-100 does seem off like QJ said. In fact, if QJ is any guide, my ratio is a little low.

Street your birds will come along, they're young yet. As long as good diets are maintained.

With 14 healthy hens you should be gathering 98 eggs/week. and I'm satisfied you will.

(unless 4 of your hens are roo's, in which case you've topped out at 70)

 

[chefedwardmac]

We Just Got NPIP Certification!!! California Participant #93-430
​

We had to update our standards to reflect the state of our breeding project. We noticed that some of the larger eggs (16+ grams) had poor hatch rates so we reduced the standard to 13 grams and are having much better hatch rates and a greater amount of chicks to select from.

We now weigh the birds twice at 14 and 42 days instead of four times.

This is the new Standard of Jumbo Coturnix Quail (Coturnix japonica) aka "Urban Egger" updated (01/09/15) ​

We started with 100 eggs from James Marie Farms and 27 assorted week old quail from J.K.L.E.

• 50 eggs from the XL Meat Class, James Marie Pharaoh D-line (Desired Genetic Traits: Large Eggs)
• 50 eggs from the XL Meat Class, Texas A&M D-line (Desired Genetic Traits: Fast Growing and Heavy)
• 27 assorted week old quail from J.K.L.E. (Desired Genetic Traits: Genetic Diversity)

"Urban Egger" Selective Breeding Project:
We are selectively breeding the fastest growing and heaviest roosters with heaviest hens.

• All chicks male and female must weigh 0.18 lbs by 14 days.
• All birds male and female must weigh 0.63 lbs by 42 days.

WEIGHTS:
14 days about 0.18 lbs
42 days must be 0.63 lbs+

Color is irrelevant.

ROOSTER SELECTION: Males that bully, roll or bloody the hens are out
HENS LAYING EGGS: greater than > 13 grams.

For hatching eggs to make the next generation of jumbos I take my biggest males by weight, put them with my females laying the biggest eggs.

SET EGGS: greater than > 13 grams.

Genetic Diversity:
Will integrate quails from a NPIP provider as needed to provide genetic diversity for the breeding flock.

Will Update This Standard as Needed...

-Edward

 

[Camp Julsby]

Hello,
I just came across your thread. I am in the San Bernardino Mountains with similar goals, but I also have included different color varieties that I find interesting and am working towards improving overall size egg included and consistency in these "rare" varieties. I do raise my quail organically on corn and soy free diets.

I am glad to see you adjusted you egg weight. I prefer to incubate 14g and larger eggs. I do allow for the occasional 13g egg for incubation to increase genetic diversity. I also will incubate smaller eggs on occasion to maintain specific color varieties.

My primary goal is to provide eggs and meat for my family. My secondary goal is that of education. I would like to help people who cannot keep chickens due to local restrictions learn there are options available to them. A few square foot footprint can yield a family dozens of eggs and plenty of meat with proper planning and good animal husbandry. My third goal is to raise pretty and unusual birds.

I wish you luck in your endeavor and may be interested in trading eggs with you in the future.

Take care, Julie

 

[ekalf33]

Mac,

I applaud you for what you are doing. I am not sure if you would be interested in seeing another person's research on the subject, (or maybe that is what has inspired this research, I dunno) but these individuals has done a lot of work on the subject and have done some really neat things.

I think where they went wrong was announcing that they were giving away free eggs. It made people go crazy and they eventually had to stop posting because people were messaging them A LOT and requesting the free eggs. Any way like I said I enjoy seeing people do this and in fact I am going to breed my own in a short little while, (as soon as I can afford buying JMF eggs) and have my own breeding program going on.

I know that sometimes people, especially those that put their heart into their work (which it sounds like you do) don't want any outside influences to compromise their results, and I understand that. So if you don't read through it then just beware of giving eggs away on this forum because you won't be able to keep up with the demand and then you will have no choice but to desolve your work on this forum, and no one wants to see that!. Thank you for doing what you are doing and I look forward to seeing your progress!

Here's the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...t-with-history-discussion-pictures-and-videos


Edited due to my stupidity

 

[Dewolf]

We Just Got NPIP Certification!!! California Participant #93-430
​

We had to update our standards to reflect the state of our breeding project. We noticed that some of the larger eggs (16+ grams) had poor hatch rates so we reduced the standard to 13 grams and are having much better hatch rates and a greater amount of chicks to select from.

We now weigh the birds twice at 14 and 42 days instead of four times.

This is the new Standard of Jumbo Coturnix Quail (Coturnix japonica) aka "Urban Egger" updated (01/09/15) ​

We started with 100 eggs from James Marie Farms and 27 assorted week old quail from J.K.L.E.

• 50 eggs from the XL Meat Class, James Marie Pharaoh D-line (Desired Genetic Traits: Large Eggs)
• 50 eggs from the XL Meat Class, Texas A&M D-line (Desired Genetic Traits: Fast Growing and Heavy)
• 27 assorted week old quail from J.K.L.E. (Desired Genetic Traits: Genetic Diversity)

"Urban Egger" Selective Breeding Project:
We are selectively breeding the fastest growing and heaviest roosters with heaviest hens.

• All chicks male and female must weigh 0.18 lbs by 14 days.
• All birds male and female must weigh 0.63 lbs by 42 days.

WEIGHTS:
14 days about 0.18 lbs
42 days must be 0.63 lbs+

Color is irrelevant.

ROOSTER SELECTION: Males that bully, roll or bloody the hens are out
HENS LAYING EGGS: greater than > 13 grams.

For hatching eggs to make the next generation of jumbos I take my biggest males by weight, put them with my females laying the biggest eggs.

SET EGGS: greater than > 13 grams.

Genetic Diversity:
Will integrate quails from a NPIP provider as needed to provide genetic diversity for the breeding flock.

Will Update This Standard as Needed...

-Edward

I know this post is old but I can’t find any info for contact on chefedward
We to live in SoCal and would love to get more info on your quail. [email protected]

 

[Nabiki]

I know this post is old but I can’t find any info for contact on chefedward
We to live in SoCal and would love to get more info on your quail. [email protected]

@chefedwardmac hasn't been online since 2017.