Quail won’t stop CROWING.

[TeePants]

It’s 4AM, and our ridiculous male (no idea which one) won’t stop CROWING. I’m about to go out in my PJs and throw them into a bin for now in the house so that their ridiculousness doesn’t wake the neighbors. We were trying to wait so that they were a bit bigger before processing them, but this is too much noise in too small an area!

Every website I had read insisted they had a “gentle and soft crow”, and indeed normally it’s not too bad, but this morning it is incessant.

I feel awful, I know it’s got to be driving the neighbors nuts! Is this normal? Should we just get rid of all the boys now (we had hoped to keep one or two)?

 

[muddy75]

The more males you have, the louder the crowing. What age are they???? You can start processing extra males at 6-8 weeks. Waiting past that does not give you much change in yield compared to feed cost.

 

[TeePants]

The more males you have, the louder the crowing. What age are they???? You can start processing extra males at 6-8 weeks. Waiting past that does not give you much change in yield compared to feed cost.

Almost 5 weeks - they hatched around 5/5.

I pulled two out that I know are males and one more that I am pretty sure I saw crow (I managed to get a conjunctival abrasion yesterday which is a fancy word that means I scratched my eyeball so it’s hard to see properly LOL).

There was at least one other one crowing while I was dealing with those three, but they’re being awfully quiet now. I know one of the two creamy colored ones is a boy, but those are the kid’s favorites and I’m hoping with the other three out he’ll settle down.

I should add, while they do occasionally crow (and one night at 1am one of them went off about something, I suspect a cat) they’ve never gone on for half an hour almost non stop like this.

I’m afraid the ones I pulled are tragically not going to make it to 6 weeks. I don’t DO 4am. Not for anything. I’m sure the neighbors don’t either. I just ordered some poultry shears I saw recommended elsewhere and they’ll be here this afternoon. I’m hoping 1 week won’t make much difference here or there, we’re going to skin and spatchcock them anyway because I’ve only ever cleaned fish and even that was a very long time ago.

 

[NY Coturnix]

Every website I had read insisted they had a “gentle and soft crow”, and indeed normally it’s not too bad, but this morning it is incessant.

LOL....Mine are that way until I have my head perfectly in front of the pen with my ear in the blast zone.

 

[Nabiki]

It definitely sounds like it's time for those shears. My Easter hatch was about 3/4 boys, and it got loud. I took a Saturday to process 21 of them, and it was amazing how quiet Sunday morning was.

 

[FloorCandy]

Almost 5 weeks - they hatched around 5/5.

I pulled two out that I know are males and one more that I am pretty sure I saw crow (I managed to get a conjunctival abrasion yesterday which is a fancy word that means I scratched my eyeball so it’s hard to see properly LOL).

There was at least one other one crowing while I was dealing with those three, but they’re being awfully quiet now. I know one of the two creamy colored ones is a boy, but those are the kid’s favorites and I’m hoping with the other three out he’ll settle down.

I should add, while they do occasionally crow (and one night at 1am one of them went off about something, I suspect a cat) they’ve never gone on for half an hour almost non stop like this.

I’m afraid the ones I pulled are tragically not going to make it to 6 weeks. I don’t DO 4am. Not for anything. I’m sure the neighbors don’t either. I just ordered some poultry shears I saw recommended elsewhere and they’ll be here this afternoon. I’m hoping 1 week won’t make much difference here or there, we’re going to skin and spatchcock them anyway because I’ve only ever cleaned fish and even that was a very long time ago.

My grow out has been relatively quiet, but I only had 2 boys in male jail, and I put a bunch of branches in front of the pen so they can’t see out well and that helped. Yesterday I did a vent check in the grow out, and added 4 boys to jail, it’s very loud out there now. I have some hungry snakes lined up for them next week lol.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Just wanna add, my adult males who are around 8 months old very rarely (if ever) crow anymore. I don't know if this is just my experience, but it shouldn't be that much of an issue to keep a couple.

 

[NY Coturnix]

Just wanna add, my adult males who are around 8 months old very rarely (if ever) crow anymore. I don't know if this is just my experience, but it shouldn't be that much of an issue to keep a couple.

I have 6 pens as well with 1 male with his group of hens and mine are pretty quiet as well. I think once a roo has an established harem he doesn't feel the need to make so much noise.

 

[2020Chickadee]

Almost 5 weeks - they hatched around 5/5.

I pulled two out that I know are males and one more that I am pretty sure I saw crow (I managed to get a conjunctival abrasion yesterday which is a fancy word that means I scratched my eyeball so it’s hard to see properly LOL).

There was at least one other one crowing while I was dealing with those three, but they’re being awfully quiet now. I know one of the two creamy colored ones is a boy, but those are the kid’s favorites and I’m hoping with the other three out he’ll settle down.

I should add, while they do occasionally crow (and one night at 1am one of them went off about something, I suspect a cat) they’ve never gone on for half an hour almost non stop like this.

I’m afraid the ones I pulled are tragically not going to make it to 6 weeks. I don’t DO 4am. Not for anything. I’m sure the neighbors don’t either. I just ordered some poultry shears I saw recommended elsewhere and they’ll be here this afternoon. I’m hoping 1 week won’t make much difference here or there, we’re going to skin and spatchcock them anyway because I’ve only ever cleaned fish and even that was a very long time ago.

Besides vent checking, one way I found that was easy to see if I had a male or not was to put it in a kennel (or whatever container) and then keep it inside with me where I could hear it. They will eventually crow looking for friends. If they don't crow after 30 minutes, pretty good chance it's a female. I don't know how big your flock is, but just a tip in case you have some you're not sure on.

 

[TeePants]

Besides vent checking, one way I found that was easy to see if I had a male or not was to put it in a kennel (or whatever container) and then keep it inside with me where I could hear it. They will eventually crow looking for friends. If they don't crow after 30 minutes, pretty good chance it's a female. I don't know how big your flock is, but just a tip in case you have some you're not sure on.

Thanks for this, I DO have some I’m not sure about, and I also have a small kennel that would work well. I haven’t heard a crow since the ruckus this morning thankfully.