Newbie Quail gender questions

I bought 6 Quail from a breeder / dealer for my wife just before Christmas. I got 3 Tuxedo Qail and 3 Coturnix Quail, they where the last 6 she had hence the mix.

Of the Coturnix Quail 1 is light brown and specked while two are dark brown. The Tuxedo Qail are all 3 dark brown with white breasts.
Subsequent research has suggested that hen Coturnix Quail are light brown and speckled which suggestest I have 1 hen and 2 cocks. I've not got round to squeezing the Tuxedo's bottoms to sex them yet.

The Woman I bought them off said they would start laying when the days got lighter and they would live / lay for up to 6 years. The book I have says they live 18 months and my expereice with hens is that though they can go off lay in winter you do get some eggs. I've had these for 3 weeks now and no eggs at all.

So...

Do I have old quail (they are quite big so I don't think they are pre point of lay but they appear to be in good condition)?
or do I have 5 cocks and 1 hen?
or do they go completely off lay in winter?

If I have more than 1 Cock then would you expect the cocks to be fighting or showing the hen a lot more attention than she wants.

And if I get more hens how will the current 6 take to having new quail in their midst.

Thanks

Horaland said:

I bought 6 Quail from a breeder / dealer for my wife just before Christmas. I got 3 Tuxedo Qail and 3 Coturnix Quail, they where the last 6 she had hence the mix.

Of the Coturnix Quail 1 is light brown and specked while two are dark brown. The Tuxedo Qail are all 3 dark brown with white breasts.
Subsequent research has suggested that hen Coturnix Quail are light brown and speckled which suggestest I have 1 hen and 2 cocks. I've not got round to squeezing the Tuxedo's bottoms to sex them yet.

The Woman I bought them off said they would start laying when the days got lighter and they would live / lay for up to 6 years. The book I have says they live 18 months and my expereice with hens is that though they can go off lay in winter you do get some eggs. I've had these for 3 weeks now and no eggs at all.

So...

Do I have old quail (they are quite big so I don't think they are pre point of lay but they appear to be in good condition)?
or do I have 5 cocks and 1 hen?
or do they go completely off lay in winter?

If I have more than 1 Cock then would you expect the cocks to be fighting or showing the hen a lot more attention than she wants.

And if I get more hens how will the current 6 take to having new quail in their midst.

Thanks

Click to expand...

It's hard to say this without sounding rude but you need to do some more research on your quail. Read through these links and you'll be a little farther ahead of the game.

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/japanesequail.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...rchives-important-frequently-requested-topics

All the quail you have are the exact same species they are just different colors. Tuxedos, Texas A&Ms, PHaraoh, golden, rosetta, tibetan, manchurian, etc. are just names of colors of japanese quail. You can breed them all freely regardless of color, just some colors wont pass on with certain pairings.

WHen there are less than 14-16 hours of light in the day your quail won't lay eggs. This means they usually stop for 2-4 months during late fall and winter. You can turn on a full spectrum light for an extra few hours to make their day equal 16 hours and in a few weeks they'll start to lay.

You most likely have young birds. Coturnix are some of the fastest growing and maturing animals on the planet. THey will be ready to slaughter for meat or lay their first eggs by 8 weeks old usually.

The brown birds should sex by color. Males have a rusty colored chest. Females have speckles all over theirs. Tuxedos you can vent sex or wait for them to crow/mount another bird.

Currently if you have two groups of three birds you don't have enough hens for the health of your birds. For every coturnix rooster you need to have AT LEAST 3 hens. They breed so aggressively they can breed one or two to death, literally. You can only keep one coturnix roo to a cage, they are very aggressive with each other.

If you turn on a light to make them lay eggs through the winter they will live no longer than 18 months. If you don't they could make 3 years and I've heard of some rare cases of spoiled birds living for 5 but don't count on anything past 2 years.

Dont know if it has uploaded propwrly but these are mine, japanese quail. left is male and right is female. hope this helps

zayn said:

Dont know if it has uploaded propwrly but these are mine, japanese quail. left is male and right is female. hope this helps

Click to expand...

Thanks! That picture helps a lot.

Thanks for the reply and I agree that I should have done more research and probbaly specifically requested hen quail from the dealer. She gave me quite a bit of information but it was her saying they would lay for 6 years then reading thsat their life expectnacy was 18 months that nocked my confidence. I have a book on quail keeping and I've read blog posts but the key bit of information I've not seen before is that they stop laying over winter. As I say I've kept hens before and was expecting the quail to have similar laying patterns, i.e. to slow down over winter but to get a few eggs. Now I know they aren't meant to be laying I'm happy to wait till the days draw out in april... there will be eggs for easter!

On the question of adding new Quail. I've read that they are tererorial and will attack new quail that I add. Is that true and how do you go about introducing new quail to your pens?

sure B)