3 week old chicks

[tjd85]

Hi,

I been rearing my own quail chicks for the first time and they're now 3 weeks old. I'm starting to sex them via the breast feathers. So far, 1 is definitely a male but some of the others are harder to tell. They have a little bit of a red fleck buy it's not as strong as the definite male. Any tips?

 

[Nabiki]

You may want to wait another week, then if you're still having trouble post pictures here. The pictures will want to give us a clear view of their chest and head.

 

[Huntmaster]

Hi,

I been rearing my own quail chicks for the first time and they're now 3 weeks old. I'm starting to sex them via the breast feathers. So far, 1 is definitely a male but some of the others are harder to tell. They have a little bit of a red fleck buy it's not as strong as the definite male. Any tips?

What type of Quail are you rasing?

 

[007Sean]

What type of Quail are you rasing?

If the males have reddish breast feathers, then they are Coturnix.

 

[tjd85]

Hi, yeh the are Coturnix quail. Im faiy confident that the top ones a male. The second picture is slightly more ambiguous.

 

[Nabiki]

I think they're both male. They both have some red showing.

 

[tjd85]

What do you think about this one?

 

[Nabiki]

What do you think about this one?
View attachment 3420480

This one looks like a hen so far, but I'd wait for those last chest feathers to come in before saying for sure.

 

[tjd85]

Thank you

 

[bhaugh]

Too soon to tell. Just because the feathers are light doesn't mean the chick is male. Other things I do: males chirp females usually don't. Males are more bold females not so much. You may see mock fights now. If all these fail take out all and see if the bird calls out the distinctive call. This works well but only if the bird is about 8 weeks old or more