What are good weights for jumbo coturnix hen and roo?

[srsmith69]

Sounds good to me rarebreed. Where did your birds come from. The earliest I've weighed mine is 6 weeks so I don't have a comparison for you. But I'd be happy with those weights too

 

[srsmith69]

Jjmr794, how big are your birds?

 

[saddina]

Mine are steady at 11-13oz live.

I use one of those small animal totes from the pet store (holds maybe 10 cups, it's designed to hold a hampster or 2 while you clean the cage). Zero the scale with the cage, then weigh with the quails. My hens are 12-13 avg. The roos 9-12. Largest win the right to breed, smallest are stuffed with cheese and roasted with a bacon wrap.

 

[srsmith69]

Here I was happy with a 10 oz roo. That was short lived. Now I need a 12 oz roo to keep up with Saddina. Hopefully my roo still has some growing to do at 7 weeks of age

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Mine came from BJ's. From the condition of the eggs when I got them, I was thrilled to hatch 25 of 96 eggs (15% were broken). Two were tiny. One of them had a severly crossed beak/deformed skull. I culled that one at a few days old and the other died a few days later. The others are fat, strong and seem very hardy. We also will cull for size.

 

[srsmith69]

I've got some a&ms and some jumbo browns from bj that I think are around the same age as rarebreeds. I'll have to get the scale out again

 

[srsmith69]

I weighed my 5 week old quail from bj's birds last night. Out of 24 a&m and 24 jumbo brown eggs, 11 a&m and 12 browns made it to 5 weeks. I had 3 break their little necks. And one just died. The browns weighed from 7.1 oz up to 9.5. A&ms weighed from 8.9 to 9.6 oz. The same weight range as my last batch of jumbos from my own birds at 6 weeks. I'll weigh them again next week.

 

[Tammy N]

Hi all I have a thought that some of the Size issues can be fixed with genetic diversity

meaning the more inbred or line bred the quail you have are already the babies will also be inbred and line bred and there for making them smaller in size

Just some thought that maybe if some of you are slose enough to when you do breed your big roo to your big hens maybe an egg swap and keep some of the offspring for yourself out of your stock and cross with a roo or hen from someone elses line take a hen from that and breed it to another line your origional line can be rebred after 2 or 3 out crosses with out messing up on size .

a lot of this is based on trust and Gaining in the Gene Pool /.

i just got my jumbo eggs and was nto so impressed so i will be getting some from a breeder here when they tell me i can :LOL.

right now they are new as am to Quail .
But i am not new to genetics .

Just my 2 cents keep me posted as i will be looking for out crosses

 

[dc3085]

While coturnix can reach 16 oz live weight, you will need to spend some time and effort getting there and probably feed a few weeks past the grow cycle ( 14 is as close as i personally have come with an average of 12.5 for the whole group but that 14 was kind of a mongoloid) the heavier the bird the longer past the optimum grow cycle you probably are however.. Cull heavily and only breed for size and you can see birds that make 12-13 oz on the regular. This is live weight. Stellar game birds does have stock that will reach close one pound and they have pictures of.a 1 lb on a scale to prove it (i hope to add some of their stock for breeding this year as my average size is dipping lower after my last bbq). Feed and forage also are important in growing your birds. A bird with great genetics still wont grow out fully with the wrong food or environment.

For weighing them live a small disposable tupperware with holes in the lid seems easiest for me and doesn't compress the bird at all.

 

[adorable]

I am new to quail.. how long should you feed the starter to them ? Mine is 30 percent. what age do they stop growing at ?And what should you be feeding them .. The layers should be switched to layer feed.