A&M Texas sexing help questions

[magsrags]

My 13, little 26 day old quail are thriving and I am enjoying observing them. There are some which are much bigger than the others. Am I correct in that the females will be larger than the roos will? When will I have a good idea which are the roos if ever before they "crow"? How old before I need to seperate them from eachother?
Figured I'd ask all at once.

 

[mamawolf544]

I'm so glad the little ones are doing so well.

Normally the females are bigger but that is not always true. But I leave mine together for about 5 weeks, most of the time I have found all the crowers, LOL and I band there little leg. And by the time they are 6 weeks I put them in their proper cages.

 

[canter6]

The only way to know for 100% sure the sex is to vent sex your birds. This sticky https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=102281 has detailed instructions for doing that. Don't feel bad if you can't vent sex even with such good instructions, because I can't do it.
Sexing by size is useless, for several reasons. Especially at a young age. Generally hens are larger than roos, but I have light hens and heavy roos.

When will I have a good idea which are the roos if ever before they "crow"?

Other than vent sexing you will have to wait till they crow. That can happen as early as 4 1/4 weeks, but late bloomers can take a lot longer than that and you may never catch them crowing unless you separate them from the rest of the birds. I built a special pen for this, which then doubles as bachelor pads. Before that, I just used a plastic tote to do the roo test.
This time of year you will have to supply at least 14 hours of light a day, or the roos won't crow, and the hens will not lay.

How old before I need to seperate them from eachother?

That depends on pen space , roo to hen ratio, the temperament of the birds, and/or the planetary alignment of the solar system, or the price of gold.
Generally speaking, 1 roo to 3-4 hens, and about 1 square foot of floor space per bird. I use 2 ft. by 2 ft pens, so I calculate things based more on temperament of the birds. 1 roo to 3 hens in 4 square feet is optimal. 1R+4H=Fine. I can over stuff 2R+6H in 4 Square feet, but, not for the novice or faint of heart.​

 

[AHappychick]

Quote:
yep usually the girls are bigger but the best way is to watch for crowing. I find often if I take one bird out of the cage sometimes the roos will then crow as if to call to the one that is missing, I then either band them or put some bluekote on the boys heads.

 

[magsrags]

Funny thing happened today!
It has been beautiful the past couple of days since our nor'easter left after howling winds for 2 days. Sun was shining and I decided today was a good day to take my little 13 outside. I have a small, spare basement room I brood in to keep the mess down. The air cleaner can't keep up with the dust anymore so out they had to go. I figured they are all feathered out now so it's a good time to make the move.
I have a large rabbit cage for their next stage in life until I seperate them. I can roll it in and out of my garage into my yard.
I made them a comfortable little habitat inside it and placed it 1/2 in the sun and 1/2 shade so they could climatize themselves this afternoon.
Finally got them all in there and sat for a bit to see what they would do.
Suddenly 2 of them began what I believe might be "the roo call". One of them has actually been a favorite of mine so far, he is now called Casper. Pure white with no spots and the only one. The absolute smallest from the hatch as well, I didn't think he'd make it but he did and is a might mite.
Come nite time I rolled them into my garage with a 100 watt bulb to keep them comfy if they get too cool.... and they so far seem content. I am happy for such nice weather to get them started in.
They did a lot of dust bathing in my mix of DE and sand I put in a shallow box. Even found them some good brush to peck around in that still has some green leaves.
So far so good!