What age to butcher Coturnix?

[brewer12345]

So I separated my excess roosters at 6 weeks because all hell was breaking loose in the hen house. The hens with their sole consort roo are calm, and the bachelor pad is calm as well. We are now a touch over 7 weeks of age and the excess roosters are still hopping around their pen. These guys are destined for the dinner plate, it is just a question of when. Is there a material difference between 8 and 10 weeks as far as attained weight?

 

[lomine]

I grew out two batches last summer. I butchered at different times and weighed them at butcher weight. I posted the numbers in another thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1129425/noise-is-driving-me-crazy-ready-to-butcher/10

Basically, I found no significant difference between 6 weeks and 8 weeks when comparing males only. In the future I will probably just butcher at 6 weeks because it isn't worth that little extra, especially considering the food they ate.

 

[brewer12345]

Much obliged, Iomine. I am a hunter and I shoot dozens of doves a year, so the actual butchering part does not particularly phase me. The technical aspect of when to do what is another story, since the doves pretty much present themselves fully grown. I will not be shy about doing the next batch at 6 weeks, since that is when I had to separate the current bunch of excess roosters for bad behavior.

 

[lomine]

I forgot the mention that my Cots are regular. I think it makes a differences if you have the Jumbo variety.

 

[brewer12345]

Processed my 8 excess roosters today, not very difficult. I plucked them because that is what I do with game birds and the hot water dip made it quick and easy. This bunch were just about 8 weeks and the bone-in dressed birds averaged about 4.5 ounces. Definitely not jumbo.

 

[lomine]

Yeah they are pretty easy to process once you learn what to do. I usually skin mine. I tried plucking one and it took forever. I read that scalding quail like you do chicken will just cook the skin because it is so thin; so I plucked it dry. Did you just use hot water from the tap or did you actually heat it up?

 

[brewer12345]

I normally dry pluck doves, but I had read about the scalding and decided to try it. I found that as long as the water was 150F or higher a 1 minute bath made plucking extremely easy (even the flight feathers on the wings). Then I cut out the backbone, fed the livers to the dogs, pulled the hearts (tasty), and removed the remaining guts. Easy peasy. I was trying to get this done while my squeamish wife was not around, so I did not invest the time to debone the quail entirely, but I will try that as well at some point.

Two went in marinade for lunch tomorrow and I froze the rest.

 

[lomine]

I might have to try that next time. I roasted a skinned and the one with skin-on at the same time and while both were moist the skin-on one was juicer.

I like to use the backbones for stock. You need a lot for one pot but I think it tastes better than chicken stock.

 

[brewer12345]

My experience with wild game birds (dove, pheasant, duck, goose, etc.) is that a lot of the fat and flavor are in the skin, so I usually try hard to preserve it.

Dang, the backbones for stock did not even occur to me. Next time. I try hard to use everything I can from all the game (and now coturnix) I harvest. It is more respectful to the animals.

 

[walkers]

By far the easiest way to remove the feathers is to skin them.