Any reason to keep male coturnix?

[jopheso]

So I just hatched my second batch of eggs on the 14th. Got 31 out of 48 from my crappy Chinese incubator so Im pretty happy about that. I already have 8 mature cortunix from first hatching giving me a total of 39 assuming all 31 survive. My pen is 5'x10'x6' which is way more room than necessary for the 8 birds, but I feel it will get a bit cramped at 39. So the question is do I cull all the males out when the time comes or is there some benefit to keeping a 5-1 ratio of hen to roo?

I have no intentions of growing the flock any time soon and even if I did I have a friend with over 1000 birds so I can get fertile eggs at any time. I just want to makes the girls are happy and if I have a keep a few males to do that I will.

Thanks for any info.

 

[dc3085]

Covey raising them like that you'll have a lot more problems if you throw a bunch of roosters in there. They are useless beyond their sole purpose of fertilizing eggs. Feel free to not include any roosters in your pen if you don't need fertile eggs.

 

[jopheso]

thanks DC that is kind of the way I was leaning. Just want to make sure the girls wouldn't be depressed or something without that male attention

 

[Bryam]

I would just keep a few males around to keep the hens in line. Somebody has to be in charge!

 

[dc3085]

I would just keep a few males around to keep the hens in line. Somebody has to be in charge!

You need some more time under your belt working with cots or bobs. I've seen more roosters killed or ruined by coturnix hens than the other way around by a long shot. Things that apply to chickens usually don't apply at all to quail. Quail roosters are not intelligent enough to defend a flock the way a rooster does, nor do they possess the brain power to keep anything "in line".

Keeping males around when you don't want fertile eggs is just more work.

Running multiple roos per cage is a constant pain in the behind as well, until your cages are out in that 100 sq ft+ range. They'll forever be fighting or wearing down hens all of them breeding their same favorites over and over again. It can lead to a hen being bred several times a day. Completely redundant since once bred a single time a hen will remain fertile for at least a week.

 

[jopheso]

nice info there DC. personally I think the lil buggers are too tasty to have the roos running around for no reason. I hope I get at least 10 hens out of this batch of 31 chicks. that would give me an even dozen hens in a 50 foot ground coop and I think that's prolly pretty close to perfect for my small suburb backyard

 

[Bryam]

Oh, good to know! Thanks for speaking up!!