Golden Boys

Introducing my 2 Golden Jumbo Japanese Quail - Fred & George they are now 9 weeks old and weigh 9 3/8oz - 272g being fed on normal protein chick crumb & grower pellets.

Lovely!

hi Suz,

They are a nice pair of quails you got there. I was intrested to see the weight of them, from what I've read they seem a bit underweight for Jumbo's?.I was lead to belive, Golden Jumbo quail reach 16oz buy 9 weeks old.

As you know, I'm after Jumbo's, but no one can give me the informationn I require.

I would of thought, if you are producing quails for the table, you would only breed from the biggest birds you have. But every one I've asked, says they never weight the birds and don't keep records.Maybe it's only me that weighs quails weekly and records the results.Derek.

you have yourself some reallyy nice birds suz

I like to weigh my youngsters weekly until they go outside then I weigh 4 or 5 birds out of each pen every alternative week to to check on any weight loss, I would expect that like when I bred fancy rats the first signs of illness would be in their weight.

As for this pair being underweight, I'll pass - they have kept this weight steady for over 2 weeks and as you can see are in beautiful condition.

I read that the Jumbo Coturnix will only reach the potential 16oz by feeding them on a high protein feed such as turkey crumb/pellets and not naturally. As I don't intend to eat my birds or sell their eggs to other breeders I don't see the point of beefing them up and risk losing them prematurely by adding stress on their internal organs associated with obesity. I'm happy with beauty rather than brawn

I only breed from the largest birds, I dont keep records I just do it by looking for the largest. Cock birds are generally smaller than hens in the Jumbos and mine only reach 12oz or so. Its the hens that pack the weight on their breasts.

Dean