Coturnix Quail Selection Points

What makes a quality coturnix quail breeder? In this episode of the Poultry Nerds Podcast, Jennifer Bryant of Bryant's Roost and Carey Blackmon discuss practical quail selection methods that breeders can use to improve their flocks generation after generation.

Whether you are raising coturnix quail for eggs, meat production, hatching eggs, homesteading, or developing your own breeding program, understanding how to properly evaluate birds is one of the most important skills you can learn.

Topics covered include:

• How to select breeding quail for long-term flock improvement
• Evaluating body structure and conformation in coturnix quail
• Selecting for egg production and egg size
• Choosing meat-type quail and growth traits
• Fertility and hatchability considerations
• Temperament and behavior in breeding stock
• Common mistakes quail breeders make when selecting birds
• Genetic considerations for coturnix breeding programs
• How to identify birds that should be retained versus culled
• Selection strategies for homesteaders and commercial breeders

If you've ever wondered how experienced breeders evaluate coturnix quail, this episode provides practical insights that can help improve productivity, consistency, and overall flock quality.

Whether you raise jumbo coturnix quail, celadon quail, feather-sexable quail, meat quail, egg-laying quail, or mixed breeding projects, the principles discussed in this episode can help you make more informed breeding decisions.

Learn how proper quail selection affects:

✔ Egg production
✔ Fertility rates
✔ Hatchability
✔ Growth rate
✔ Feed efficiency
✔ Carcass quality
✔ Bird health and vigor
✔ Genetic progress
✔ Long-term flock performance

Resources Mentioned:

🌐 Bryant's Roost: Bryant's Roost

🌐 Poultry Nerds Podcast: Poultry Nerds Podcast

🌐 Beyond the Egg: Beyond the Egg

Keywords: coturnix quail, quail breeding, quail selection, selecting breeding quail, quail genetics, coturnix breeder, jumbo coturnix quail, quail egg production, meat quail, quail hatchability, quail fertility, quail farming, backyard quail, homestead quail, raising quail, quail breeder tips, quail conformation, poultry breeding, poultry genetics, celadon quail, feather sexable quail, quail husbandry, quail management, quail flock improvement, poultry nerds podcast, Bryant's Roost.

#CoturnixQuail #QuailBreeding #QuailSelection #RaisingQuail #Homesteading #BackyardPoultry #PoultryNerdsPodcast #BryantsRoost #QuailEggs #MeatQuail #QuailFarm #PoultryBreeding #QuailGenetics #CeladonQuail #JumboCoturnixQuail

Valley Hatchery is a proud sponsor of Poultry Nerds, find more at ValleyHatchery.com

Transcript

Carey 0:00

Because what's out in the cage is great, but if you can't duplicate it in the brooder, then you're not breeding, you're hatching.

Jennifer 0:38

So Jennifer, I see that we have been getting a lot of questions about how to pick out and select quail. Believe it or not, this is another listener request. Yep. We're getting lots of those. And I like it. I do, 'cause it's what people need and, instead of us just rambling up here sometimes, we wanna give people what they need to know.

Carey 1:01

Yeah. So everybody's gonna assess their stuff differently, so I think it- it's a very subjective topic, and we will give the information that we do, and then put that together with what other breeders may say, and find what works for you. Yeah, I think for some people, they're gonna be more tender-hearted than others. 'Cause, everybody wants to keep the cute little things, but- you gotta remember a couple of things. I try to remember that I run a breeding program, not a hospital, and with that, I'm always looking for something better than what I have. So that's part of my selection. I want better everything So the slides I think are not in any necessarily order. Those are j- these are just 10 things to look at. fertility, that is going to be important. So right now I have a project going on, it's part of the study that I'm working on, and it's also part of, the new line that I'm developing for fall. And right now I am down to tracking fertility. And with that- Wait, you got a new release coming out in fall? I do. I do. Can you tell us what it is? It's a quail. Sweet. I can tell you the email subscribers will get first dibs on being able to order it, Okay, that, that's something. Yeah. always the email- Go to brownceruse.com and subscribe always the email subscribers get it first. so right now I have the line getting pretty close to where I want, and so I'm checking fertility. And it's not just It's not just fertile eggs, but are the chicks actually hatching and are they vigorous? So we wanna, we want that information because you don't wanna be getting 50% hatch rates off of your own eggs. That would not be cool. and that... I'm down to checking that. And so fertility is something that you need to track, and you need to check it pen to pen or breeding group to breeding group and see if it's different. And then also you have to know how old these birds are. So for example, Saturday I set two trays and one was the parents to the next generation of breeders, and I'm gonna run that side by side and see if the fertility is different on the older birds, which I know it will be, and what the hatch rate is, dead in shell, fertility rate, vigorous rate, how many die in brooder. That, all that information is necessary to move a line forward. That's one of the reasons why it's really important when you're doing this to number your eggs, number your cages- your sets. However you've got it done, make sure you do that, and set everything. a lot of times people are iffy about different things, but to me, when I wanna get a good grasp on what it's like, I will collect everything that comes out for a week, and I will set everything that comes out for a week. And I make notes of what's what looks how. And if the eggs aren't beautiful but the chicks are amazing, I might let that slide But I wanna look at all of them side by side. And don't forget, now you know I'm a fan of the painter's tape, don't forget to write on the painter's tape why you are setting those particular eggs. Because three weeks passes and you have forgotten what the purpose of that is. So- on the painter's tape I write down what cage they came out of, their set date, their hatch date, and then I write a little check mark, check fertility against whatever. You cannot write too much down, but you can underwrite under- information. So make sure you write everything down that you could possibly need to know later, and don't rely on your memory. That- Because that goes out the window. That'll go out the window quick. So hatchability, we want these chicks popping out, vigorous. We want them coming out ready to go. We want them coming out on time. So this is going to be where we are kinda, where you tell me I'm ruthless, because the early ones I'm not concerned about, and I don't allow late hatches. So I want them to come out on time. Those are the ones that I want to grow up, the ones that listen to me and do what I tell them to do and on the time schedule- That's right I want them to do it. that is ex- teenagers take note here. That is exactly right. Yes. And then, I get a lot of people who like to criticize, my brooder setup and I know that you like the bigger brooders. But the little brooders that I use, 'cause I use those tubs if you haven't seen them, and, what are they, 18 inches by 12 or something along those lines. And I only put one kinda bird in each one, and then the painter's tape follows the birds. But by brooding them separately, that allows more feeder space, it allows, less competition for food and water and heat and living space, but it also allows me to run the brooder side by side so I can get a more- like I can compare them better Yeah, it's a e- more even playing ground. when I'm getting nerdy and scientific, I really like the small brooders. With a small brooder, it allows you to look and see, You can just put a few here and compare apples to apples. To where as if you, let's say you're working with feeds and you got two different cages. you put a few from this cage here, a few from this cage in the one next to it, and you can literally stand there in one spot and look at cage A and look at cage B's birds, chicks that hatch off, and it lets you see what you got. Because what's out in the cage is great, but if you can't duplicate it in the brooder, then you're not breeding, you're hatching. Okay, so now we're gonna assess the chick quality. And I'm gonna say this, and people will probably turn me off as soon as I say this, but don't medicate them, don't hospitalize them, don't hobble them, don't put 'em in shot glasses. Now, one caveat to that. If you are just getting started and these are your starter birds and you need that bird to make a full set, okay, do what you need to do to get started. Yep. But once you're started, don't do it anymore. Let the weak go. Put 'em in the freezer. Make 'em snake food. put 'em in the woods. Make 'em critter food. Dog food. Dead. Don't let 'em suffer. so you don't want those birds in your breeding program. So the culling starts in the hatching basket. Yeah. You want birds that are on time and are vigorous, and everything else has to go. End of the conversation. Yeah. That is how you get lines that stand up to time. And that's how you get lines that you know good and you could ship some birds, some eggs all the way across the country, and somebody could play soccer with them on their way over there, and you're still gonna have a decent hatch. Because you, you have strong, vigorous birds. Yeah. That carries all the way through the egg. You don't wanna save any splay legs. Those are out. cross beak is out. anybody that looks not right is out. you just have to do it. And it... to make a strong line, that's what you have to do. Because your genetics will only be as strong as your weakest bird. And if you- You know, everybody talks about they, they wanna find ways to save money on feed. Don't be afraid to cull the weak. Exactly. If you're not feeding them, they're not on your feed bill. you wanna make sure they're not knock-kneed. I let, this is a stock picture, but I liked it because the legs are straight. that's what you want to see. You wanna see a nice wide, straight bird. And we've talked about selection with the breasts in the other chickens and such. But the same principle applies here. It does. You want a nice wide, sturdy, balanced bird from the get-go. This is actually my bird. temperament and handling. This bird just laid in my hand while I was spreading its wings from underneath, and that's what you want. You want a bird that can be handled. It is no fun for you or anybody else or the bird for that matter to be in a constant state of fright or flight or fear or- Whatever it is. Yeah. it's not a good situation for anybody because- you won't enjoy dealing with them, and you don't wanna be snapped at or bit at or, I don't know. I don't even like to be pooped on. No, that's not good either. I don't like it either. So for me, if I am moving birds from the grow out pen to the breeders, if I can't even handle them in such a way that I can hold them and analyze, what they look like, how much they weigh, if they're straight, if... Whatever we're looking at, which we're gonna get to here in a minute, but if I can't even handle them, I'm done with them. I- I've very short attention span on that. So- I've b- I've been sorting birds and going through and making selections, and the ones that just, act psychotic and jump around like a spaz, if... I have this thing, if you jump out of my hands and act like a doof, then if a pig gets you, the pig gets you. 'Cause, I d- I don't want somebody to be like, "Oh, I got birds from Carey and they're a bunch of spazzes." I don't want that, you're gonna always have the oddball. yeah. So when you are... When you buy eggs from me or from you or from anybody, you're not looking and go, "Okay. there's one out of 50 that's a spaz, so their line sucks." You don't wanna do that. You're looking at the line overall because if every bird that came out was perfect, then we need to charge more for eggs. That's right. But there's culls in every batch, so go back and listen to the selection podcast that we've done before. if you can get 10%, 20% t- is good enough to go into a breeder pen, Now, that's on chickens, so you might get a little bit more on quail. But- you're doing really good, and that's why we raise them for meat and eggs is because you've gotta have a place for those culls. If you're not culling, you're not breeding. You're just reproducing, because there's no standard that you're putting forth. Yeah. and temperament is one of those inheritable traits. You've gotta be able to handle the birds in order to assess them. longevity in the breeder selection. this is in here, but that's a hard one, because that's really gonna be dependent, I think, on how you keep the birds. I think- people who may keep them aviary style and don't light their birds, they're gonna get longer lifespans out of them, but less usefulness per se. They're gonna be more pets. You're gonna feed 'em and water 'em half of the year and not get any eggs out of them. So if you keep them in cages like we do, then yes, we're running them a little bit harder, but it's a business. We're trying... it's a catch-22. So we're running 'em a little bit harder. we just are. It's a fact. And we light them, we feed them, we give them airflow, ventilation, but we also know that we're not gonna get four years out of a bird. In general, when they start looking kinda rough, I usually cull them out, because they don't look like they're They don't look like I want them to look. but they no long- like, they aren't happy and I don't wanna prolong that- if that makes sense. Yeah. Okay. when they start losing a whole lot of feathers and- looking kinda rough, that, that's not a happy life. that's when I start looking for the replacements as well. And so when we cull out, which, I do cull out a lot because I pr- you know, I feed my dogs. and so it's not always the younger roosters. it's, a lot of the times I'm constantly replenishing my breeders just because I know I'm not gonna get a year or 18 months out of them, and I don't want to prolong any uncomfortableness on their behalf if- Yeah I hope that makes sense to somebody. So depending on your needs and why you're raising the birds and how you're raising the birds and what you're willing to, what's the word? Accept. Yeah, accept. As in, as their quality of life, that is how their lifespan is gonna go. I pulled one, a hen out y- yesterday as a matter of fact. she's not old. She's maybe 12 weeks, but the cage was already starting to wear on her joints, so she's in a cull pen because she's not going to be comfortable for a length of time. And- Are her parents in there too? No. Her brother, her cousins. I m- you've to, you've gotta be conscious of those things, their quality of life at the same time. So longevity and breeder selection could or could not be important depending on your purposes for raising them. Okay. Egg production consistency. This is easier to gauge the less birds that you have. so in the egg roll-out trays, if you've got 15 hens, say, per level, or peak season, there's 15 hens in there, then you're getting 13 eggs per day, I think you're doing okay. I would not pay much attention to what's going on in that cage. But if you have 15 hens, and it's your older ones, and you're getting six eggs a day, then I will get down and, really dig around in that cage and see what's going on in that cage. is somebody hobbling? Is somebody, being picked on? Is... Are they aging out? Is... what's going on in there? pick up everybody and see who's losing weight. that's usually a really good indicator. the older birds will get pretty light, 'cause they, I don't know, they start laying down more, and they quit eating or whatnot. so you can usually, even though I have so many of them out there, I can just put my hand in there and just pick up each one, and I can tell you who's not thriving anymore, or producing or eating or anything. I mean- Yeah you know what a healthy bird feels like or should feel like, and if they're n- if they don't feel like that, then it's time to remove them from the breeding program, because they're not laying, and they're eating, and they're taking up space. Yeah at the end of the day, for my purpose and your purpose, the birds are business, but they also feed my animals, and I ship the hatching eggs. So I have to balance that I have to balance that against everything. and I do my best. It's easier in June than it is in March- for sure. Definitely. But it's always a concern of, what's going on in, in each cage. And right now I am downsizing the birds for the summer. So when you're shipping eggs, the number of birds you have ebbs and flows with the season. And so we've hit peak and we're coming off of that now, and so I'm culling out the old breeders is what I'm doing right now, the ones who aren't thriving anymore. And- Making some dog food. Yeah, exactly. I make dog food. And we still have the same number of cages, so what I'm doing is I'm coming all the way down to where there's, five birds per level, so they have a lot more space. everybody has more airflow in the heat of the summer and, I don't have to clean as much poop trays or feed as often or whatnot. That's what it's really about. Yeah. And so ev- I'm not downsizing the number of cages, I'm downsizing the number of birds in the cages. So they can stay cooler, they can have a little bit more space and then it'll... I'll start back up in the fall and fill them back up again, and that's how it goes. So egg production is, depending on your setup, if you have an aviary setup, it's gonna be really hard to see who's laying and who's not. You'll have to pick up each bird and see how they feel and go from there. And then, but at the same time you also have to know, are they cutting down because of light or because you changed their food or for molt or... So this is really gonna be setup dependent. Yep. It will. and takes a lot of, education, but also observation All right, I don't really wanna talk about this for too long because we did an entire podcast on egg, selection. And so this picture is actually from that podcast, so you can go back and watch that one, and we went through each and every egg, chicken and quail, and why or why not we would select those. but at the end of the day, you want properly shaped eggs, properly sized eggs, good shell thickness. But again, that's gonna be dependent on bird age. you don't wanna set double yolkers. You don't wanna set first eggs. You don't wanna set pointy eggs or torpedo eggs or round golf balls or... So there's a lot of things- None of that crap yeah, there's a lot of things going on in there. these ones are all misshapen, yucky eggs that would go out in the... I just throw them out the barn door at this point. But there's so many different things that'll eat them, I know. and I think everything on my property is pretty much sick of eggs. We have them everywhere. So growth rate assessment. you wanna weigh your birds. I don't... I'm gonna be honest and say I don't weigh every single bird. I can- After you've done it quite a bit- Yeah you just kinda know, this one feels light. This one feels light. Oh, this one's good. Let me see what it actually is. And, you'll put it and be like, "Oh, wow, that's bigger than I thought." But doing that, you also adjust what you're thinking, so you get the feel of what it actually is when you do that, and it makes it to where you can know within an ounce or so of what they weigh just when you're moving it from one cage to another Yes. And but there's more to it than just their weight. You want to... And again, this is gonna be dependent on your purposes. So for this new line that I have coming out, this is a meat line. And so I'm not only weighing them, but when I pick them up, it's almost like I'm picking up a breast. I'm analyzing them the same way. the one thing that's different is on a chicken, when the tail comes up, the back shortens. And on a quail, it's called roach back. And so yesterday I would've looked funny to somebody who didn't know what I was doing, but I was just literally reaching in there to some, I think they're about 10 or 12 weeks old, and I was just reaching in there and grabbing onto their backs, and I wanted to feel their spine as they were aging, and make sure their spine was staying straight if they were gonna stay in the breeding program. Because they may have looked fine when I put them in there, but you were here and I told you, I was like, "There's a couple in there that I don't like." And so I pulled those two out, but then while I was in there, I went ahead and touched each one, and then I found another one. You can feel the It's almost like a crick in their back And sometimes their feathers can add a lot. It's like a crick in their back, and so they got pulled out. And, you're... Y- you can't... When you're selecting to what can go. I used to... When I first started, me and you had a conversation a few years ago becau- and it was on the Orpingtons, that I was trying to select the best ones and pull them out and leave the rest. And I couldn't. I couldn't do it. Yeah. And so you suggested pulling out the bad ones and see what was left, and so that's what I do. I apply that to the quail too. So I put them whoever makes it into the breeding program, but then I'm constantly pulling them out. "Oh, you, I don't like you. Oh, you didn't... you're kinda too narrow. You're narrower than I remember you being. How'd you get in there? Did I... Was I on the phone and put you in the wrong cage at the, that day or..." So- Or something changed. Yeah. you could... We- if you sort birds at five, six weeks, and then you wait another six weeks, that's a lot of time. Things change. And that's one of the ways that you really can fine-tune quirks in your genetics, is by, periodically, once a month or every month and a half, check 'em. Look at 'em. Pay attention. Yeah. You'll wind up with better birds, better quality. Yep. And that's the name of the game, whether it's... Whether you're trying to make money off hatching eggs, whether you're trying to feed your animals or your family, it's all about having better and doing what's good for the animal This particular picture here, that's wh- I have three sc- scales out in the barn. This particular picture here was, somebody had questioned whether my Celadons were jumbos, and this is a seven-week-old bird right here. And so I, when I move birds, it is at point of lay. so as soon as I start seeing eggs in the grout pens, that's when I sort them to breeders. Yeah. So the Celadons would lay a little earlier, but this heavier meat line that I'm working on, they're not laying until about nine weeks. But that's to be expected because they're heavier. Yeah. They're a bigger bird. There's more to mature. Now, this is an AI picture, but what I wanted to show here was the straight legs. the wider the bird, the more structure that it has to have. And so when you're looking at them straight on right here, that you need to see that balance. No knock-kneed or pigeon-toed or splay legged or, curling toe. And just like with a chicken, if it's gonna... if it's something that'll disqualify the chicken from a show- then, as a quail, it should disqualify it from your breeding program as well. Yep. There's a reason why those are standards. and it's across the board. so quail is the same way. You need it to be able to support itself, so you don't want a 20-ounce bird on twigs. You want it on some structure there. And when you look at it head-on like this, you want it to be balanced. And if you're looking at it from the side, it should also be balanced. You don't want it to have been... You don't want it standing up like a penguin because its legs are set too far back or too far forward, and, its butt drags the ground or something. so Yeah. it's gotta be some balance to it. And the vent should be pointed out, not down. I've seen that on some pictures from people. And now the males, yeah, they're gonna have a little bit more slope to them, but the females, that vent should be straight out. and again, like the back, like I said, it needs to be a nice, Balance to it, not... That one I found yesterday had a point in the spine and it came up like that, and I pulled her out. so anything that, if it looks off, pull it out. You don't wanna keep it. Yeah. you only keep what you wanna breed forward. if you look at the birds and say, "Why do I wanna feed you?" You know- Yeah they look for reasons why. Because if they can give you reasons why to feed them, then feed them. If they can't, it's part of your selection. But you can close yourself into a corner, so be careful with that too. You've gotta keep enough birds to move forward. I like that bird. I know. But also look at their heads. there wasn't as really a slide for heads, and so make sure their head makes sense. we can talk about size and width and, make all these things, crow face or tiny eyed or, I don't know, skinny heads or whatever. the head needs to make sense to the bird. Yeah. and if you're growing a meat line or a heavier line, or you're trying to make your birds jumbo, say you've... Like I started my Pharaohs, started as standards, and I worked them up to jumbos, then the head width plays into that. so you need to look at things y- from end to end and make sure that they make sense. now, the purpose of this slide is for what are you doing. if you're making a meat line, then the bird needs to be heavier and sturdier and wider and more roly-poly looking. And you know going into it that you're gonna cull out most of them because that's the purpose of them. You're gonna keep the best for breeders, but really at the end- Mm-hmm of the day, you wanna eat 90% of them. that's the name of the game. And so when people buy, meat birds, for whatever reason, I guess they're thinking that, and I'm talking Cornish here, but you're gonna get, if you buy 100 Cornish, you're gonna get 100 perfectly shaped six pound birds, like the ideal. Two. You're not going to. No, you're gonna- You're gonna get- You'll get 100 weirdos. And I mean- You might get 50 perfect ones anomalies And then you're gonna get 20 dead ones, and you're gonna get 20 small ones and 20 giants, because that's how genetics falls. And so when we are, when I'm creating the meat line, yes, I want, in an ideal world, to create consistency. That would be fantastic. But at the end of the day, the purpose of them is to eat 90% of them. So- you gotta get them there and get them to where you want them to be before you can worry about consistency. 'Cause if- Well- if you want a 20 ounce bird, but you can't get there You know, consistency is not a thing. But once you get to where you're hitting that, that mark, hitting the goals that you've got for your program, that's when you need to fine-tune the consistency and make it where it's regular. and and I was really working towards that. But then one day I sat down and I was like, you know what? if Ross and Cobb and VanGress, and they throw billions of dollars a year at these birds, and they can't get them 100% consistent- Yeah then, I'm not gonna get it in my little neck of the woods, I can aim for it, and I can work towards it. But then that's called breeding, and that's what we're doing. Yep. we're eating our heads. You work towards it, but you gotta accept that they're not all perfect. And yeah, the point is to eat good. If that's what you're doing, and you're improving your line at the same time, that's a win-win. And so this is the same concept as the breasts. and that's how I'm looking at the birds. Now, if you are creating a fun line, like a pretty color line or a pet line, then your, your direction is going to be probably more temperament and color. you may not want jumbos because they eat more. you want a little bit more handleable... Is that right? Handleable? Say that three times fast. you want... You're probably gonna want standards if you just want pets because- Yeah you don't need to feed a jumbo meat bird if the, if you just want pets. True. Or if you just want eggs, you can breed towards egg size. You can have a small bird and breed towards egg size. and then you don't have to feed a big bird to get a big egg. And just because it's a big bird doesn't mean it's gonna lay a big egg. my biggest bird up until now laid the smallest egg. Go figure. Yeah. so there's... You've got all of your reasons for growing the birds that you're growing, so you need to be realistic in your purposes. And there's no real wrong answer. If you are after gathering all of the colors, then, and you don't wanna feed meat birds, then don't do that. Have fun with it. Yeah. So select for what is driving your passion, basically. So that, I guess I got ahead of myself. That was select intentionally. yeah. So select towards what you're after. This is a Groufie. He's one of my, he was one of my biggest birds un- until I went in the direction I'm going. but yeah, they were big birds, and they eat a lot. But guess what? Nobody wanted to buy them 'cause they're not feather sexable. So they're leaving. Actually, I'm getting rid of them. But it was a big bird. Beautiful birds, actually. I really liked them, but I guess I was the only one that liked them. So there's something for that too and that's back to running a business, You have to make business decisions. I don't need that bird because, any bird, they all look the same with the skin off, so it doesn't matter what color it is to me. the color has never been something that has driven my quail journey, actually. Except for the Sparkleifie. That's what this is right here. That's Sparkleifie. Let's go back and look at that one. Except for that. I've always... I've been working on Sparkleifie for a couple years, and I had to go... I hit a dead end on the first time, and so I had to go all the way back to step one. Actually, I went back even, negative one and came forward again. And but I have them out there now. They're laying now. And so I'm actually in process of checking fertility and making sure they're breeding true, and there's no recessives still hidden in there and all that good stuff. So they're still there. Still working on them. But yeah, that's what that is. And that's Groufie. They look similar, actually So anyway, so select intentionally for what your purposes are. But if you don't understand, what-- if we use all the big words and you don't understand them like roach back or crow face or crow head or, sparrow beak or tiny eye or narrow body or narrow shallow chest. If that doesn't make any sense to you, then just look at the bird for balance and does it look right? And that is a good place to start. And then the other stuff will start coming together after that. So and then if you're selecting for egg size, make sure egg... How do I say this? Egg size can be determined by your feed. So if you feed a high protein feed, it can, enlarge the eggs, not genetically, just falsely large the eggs. age of the bird, the eggs will get a little bit bigger. the shells will get a little bit thinner. So if you are breeding for egg size, you need to keep in mind all of the other, influences and try to, select forward as best you can, knowing that you're not inflating the size through protein or egg, or hen age, and you're selecting, if you're selecting at twelve weeks, then the next generation you select at twelve weeks. So you got to track that pretty good. and then if the last thing on egg size selection is if a hen prolapses, get rid of it. don't put sugar on it or try to push it back in or whatnot. Now, a quail does Look like it's partially prolapsing a little bit when it lays the egg. It's not like a chicken. So don't, like, freak out if you see something red come out with the egg and then it pops right back in. Th- that's sor- sorta normal. But if it comes out and stays out or is bulging, that's a prolapse. That's a problem. Yeah, and you just need to cull that bird because that is an inheritable genetic trait, and you don't want to, breed that forward. So keep that in mind as you select for larger eggs. And it... And selecting for larger eggs is a very, very slow process. Yep. You... It will be generations and years before you really start noticing any difference, on that. So just, you have to just keep at that, hammering at that. And be patient. Yep. All right. That's all I got. I hope everybody enjoyed it. I hope they were able to learn a little bit about how we select and the things we look for, all that good stuff. And yeah, we will see you next time. All right, bye.