We are working on being a breeder of TRUE Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail. Meaning we take the time to weigh and cull our birds, whether those birds are for our own breeders or to sell to another family. We have been breeding JB Quail for over a year know, mostly building up our quail flock and enjoying the daily quail eggs. We have had some amazing yet small meals, and have sold a few breeding sets across the Willamette Valley. It is our hope to share how we do this with all of you here. We get lots of questions, and hope to get the info all laid out here. Stay tuned as I figure out this website idea, and get all our quail breeding info uploaded.
edited 4/2/15
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When we found out about coturnix quail we were pretty excited about finally finding a way to raise our own meat and being able to replenish our stock, without an outside source. It was a pretty easy decision for us to get involved with them. We are excited to be our own quality control. Luckily we found decent stock to start with are are going up from there. Many people sell what they call "jumbo coturnix" as chicks, but sadly taking them home leaves you disappointing in a few weeks when they range around 7 ounces and not the 1lb birds that you thought.
Our last hatch most birds were 12-13 ounces at 8wks. When we started we were excited to get a few over 10 ounces, so it is a big improvement for us. The improvement even in our culls, because of course our largest are kept for breeding, have been evidence of our success.
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Coturnix Quail like chickens lay well, basically an egg a day, for the first couple years if kept on lights. The eggs get larger as they get older, though eggs are not continuously the larger size. Unlike chickens our JB birds start laying around 7wks. We know at 2-3 weeks which are hens and which are roos, and that is about when we can turn off the heat in the brooder. We weigh and choose our keepers at 8 wks. Some chicks are larger then others at 3 weeks, but we have found that is not necessarily an indication on who is going to be the largest at 8wks. So even though we have weighed more often in the past, we no longer weigh at any other point then 8 weeks. 8 wks is when we want to process, so the genetics we wish to use for breeding are those that are the largest at that point.
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Housing quail is very simple and can look very different for each of us. We have used rabbit cages, rabbit hutches, chicken coops, and a small aviary on the ground. Housing needs to be pest proof as they toss food about and attract rats and mice. And completely enclosed as they will not return home if they get out. We loved keeping them in a mini chicken coop, but the raised house was a waste and made it difficult to collect the eggs or catch the birds that were underneath. So all though the other options are less romantic they are much more practical.
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Incubating quail eggs takes 14 days and we have used the same temp and humidity as chicken eggs. For our set up they are normally on heat for a couple weeks after hatching, and at that same time that I turn that off I take an estimate on my roo vs hen ratio. With that info I make plans to butcher all unnecassary boys soon after the 8 wk mark when I will take weights for project info. If I have more nice sized hens then I can incorporate into our flock I will post them for sale normally in small breeder groups. My favorite part is I can see at 3 wks if I have hatched enough hens for my purpose or if I should go ahead and set another batch of eggs.
~~~
Coturnix Quail are naturally around 6 ounces full grown. To have JUMBO quail a breeder must WEIGH & CULL! So far we have gotten stock from a few different people and we ask questions when ever we come across a breeder, and have not yet found anyone except our original breeder who knows their stock. The birds we have picked up hoping to add to our flock have all been much smaller then our originals. I think out of 3 sets from other breeders we have kept two hens just because we really needed a few more hens to help the project and they weren't terrible weights. I think they were both over 9 ounces. Since then our cull wieght has gone up a lot, this last time every bird under 12 ounces was culled. We hope to get some new birds this summer from our original source and boost our weights or at least our numbers.
edited 4/2/15
~~~
When we found out about coturnix quail we were pretty excited about finally finding a way to raise our own meat and being able to replenish our stock, without an outside source. It was a pretty easy decision for us to get involved with them. We are excited to be our own quality control. Luckily we found decent stock to start with are are going up from there. Many people sell what they call "jumbo coturnix" as chicks, but sadly taking them home leaves you disappointing in a few weeks when they range around 7 ounces and not the 1lb birds that you thought.
Our last hatch most birds were 12-13 ounces at 8wks. When we started we were excited to get a few over 10 ounces, so it is a big improvement for us. The improvement even in our culls, because of course our largest are kept for breeding, have been evidence of our success.
~~~
Coturnix Quail like chickens lay well, basically an egg a day, for the first couple years if kept on lights. The eggs get larger as they get older, though eggs are not continuously the larger size. Unlike chickens our JB birds start laying around 7wks. We know at 2-3 weeks which are hens and which are roos, and that is about when we can turn off the heat in the brooder. We weigh and choose our keepers at 8 wks. Some chicks are larger then others at 3 weeks, but we have found that is not necessarily an indication on who is going to be the largest at 8wks. So even though we have weighed more often in the past, we no longer weigh at any other point then 8 weeks. 8 wks is when we want to process, so the genetics we wish to use for breeding are those that are the largest at that point.
~~~
Housing quail is very simple and can look very different for each of us. We have used rabbit cages, rabbit hutches, chicken coops, and a small aviary on the ground. Housing needs to be pest proof as they toss food about and attract rats and mice. And completely enclosed as they will not return home if they get out. We loved keeping them in a mini chicken coop, but the raised house was a waste and made it difficult to collect the eggs or catch the birds that were underneath. So all though the other options are less romantic they are much more practical.
~~~
Incubating quail eggs takes 14 days and we have used the same temp and humidity as chicken eggs. For our set up they are normally on heat for a couple weeks after hatching, and at that same time that I turn that off I take an estimate on my roo vs hen ratio. With that info I make plans to butcher all unnecassary boys soon after the 8 wk mark when I will take weights for project info. If I have more nice sized hens then I can incorporate into our flock I will post them for sale normally in small breeder groups. My favorite part is I can see at 3 wks if I have hatched enough hens for my purpose or if I should go ahead and set another batch of eggs.
~~~
Coturnix Quail are naturally around 6 ounces full grown. To have JUMBO quail a breeder must WEIGH & CULL! So far we have gotten stock from a few different people and we ask questions when ever we come across a breeder, and have not yet found anyone except our original breeder who knows their stock. The birds we have picked up hoping to add to our flock have all been much smaller then our originals. I think out of 3 sets from other breeders we have kept two hens just because we really needed a few more hens to help the project and they weren't terrible weights. I think they were both over 9 ounces. Since then our cull wieght has gone up a lot, this last time every bird under 12 ounces was culled. We hope to get some new birds this summer from our original source and boost our weights or at least our numbers.