Best Male to female ration (Cotornix quails)?

[qatarfarmer]

Hello everyone, I have 34 quails, 28 of which are females and 6 males giving almost a 5 female per male ration (4.66 to be exact)
I was wondering what is the best ratio in a 28 sq ft cage?
I want to have the least amount of males with females so i could use the space for more egg production

 

[Q QUAIL S]

Right now I have a 1-5 male to female and 1-2 male to female ratio. The 1-5 is doing best and the females are are not really getting picked on as much.

 

[Bug n Flock]

I have only ever tried 3 hens to one roo, and that wasn't nearly enough. Had to get rid of my roo for seriously roughing my hens up. Growing some birds out now to correct the ratio and try again.

 

[JaeG]

It all depends on the rooster. Some are horrid and should never have the responsibility of looking after girls, and some are so sweet they are fine with only two girls. Stressed out girls don't lay eggs so if you are keeping them in a colony situation they may not lay as well as males will scuffle and fight no matter how big your space, and more birds in one space increases your chances of certain birds not getting along (females can be just as awful to each other and to a certain male if they don't like him).

 

[Bug n Flock]

And it warrents stating just in case you are not aware, the hens will lay even if their eggs are not fertile and or you have no rooster. So if it's eggs and not birds you are after, just load up on hens! Maybe set up a smaller breeding pen to replace birds as they age out?

I have no mature roos right now but still get a delicious egg per day per hen.

 

[DK newbie]

From some research report I red recently:
"In single-male groups containing 8, 12, 16 and 20 hens (experiment 4) the percentages of fertilised eggs were 92%, 84%, 77% and 69%"
That's more than 2/3 eggs fertile with one male covering 20 females! If incubator space is a concern, of cause that is far from ideal. But I find it quite impressive

 

[Bug n Flock]

From some research report I red recently:
"[COLOR=333333]In single-male groups containing 8, 12, 16 and 20 hens (experiment 4) the percentages of fertilised eggs were 92%, 84%, 77% and 69%"[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]That's more than 2/3 eggs fertile with one male covering 20 females! If incubator space is a concern, of cause that is far from ideal. But I find it quite impressive [/COLOR]

Do you have a link? I'm not questioning you, I just would like to read the study also.

 

[DK newbie]

http://evolution.data.unibe.ch/WelfarePdfs/Schmid_AABS1997.pdf
http://evolution.data.unibe.ch/WelfarePdfs/Schmid_AABS1998.pdf
http://evolution.data.unibe.ch/WelfarePdfs/Wechsler_BPS1998.pdf
Probably one of those 3. I can't search in the documents and I don't feel like actually reading them again, so you'll have to do the hard work yourself ^^

 

[Bug n Flock]

[COLOR=333333]http://evolution.data.unibe.ch/WelfarePdfs/Schmid_AABS1997.pdf[/COLOR] [COLOR=333333]http://evolution.data.unibe.ch/WelfarePdfs/Schmid_AABS1998.pdf[/COLOR] http://evolution.data.unibe.ch/WelfarePdfs/Wechsler_BPS1998.pdf Probably one of those 3. I can't search in the documents and I don't feel like actually reading them again, so you'll have to do the hard work yourself ^^

More than enough! Yay thanks so much, now I have reading to look forward to!