i'm going to sound foolish but...what do Bobwhite quail eggs look like? Are they speckled like a Coturnix egg or are they solid colored?
Quote:that's what i thought. Someone i know who has Bobwhites and Coturnix together said you can't tell the difference between the 2 species eggs... Her birds have interbred haven't they?
Sounds like the person has no clue what she/he is talking about...unless they are bob-birds (the hybrid of a coturnix/bobwhite cross)...
Quote:i was reading some old posts on here about "Bob-Birds" . She keeps them all together and always has but she gets plenty of fertile eggs .The posts were saying that they are sterile. i don't see how they could be under the circumstances. She says all her eggs are speckled but some are Bobwhites and some are Coturnix. She incubates them ...always speckled eggs... and some are one species ,some the other.....ah well...such craziness..... i would like to know more about them ..maturity time ,egg laying info. ,that sort of thing if anyone knows
Sure. Bobwhites become sexually mature in about 160 days. Coturnix in half that. Coturnix eggs take 18 days to incubate to full term. Bobwhites are 23 days. 100 seems to be a good temp. Bobwhite eggs are smaller than Coturnix and white. Pure white. If you order some jumbo Bobs, such as Butlers, they are still white, and about the same size as the Coturnix. Every Coturnix egg I have seen is beige with brown or black spots. Coturnix quail will be twice as big as Bobwhites after one week in the brooder, even Jumbo Bob's, and three times as big after three weeks and so on....I will often set some Bobs then add a few Coturnix after 5 days. They hatch together. They brood together. They eat together. They DON'T live together. The reason being is that Bobwhites are a native species. If one of the crossbreeds escapes and is fertile, and can pass as a Bobwhite, it pollutes the native gene pool. That's just my opinion, I'm sure others will think differently.
she might check her birds closely I have a couple of coturnix hens that almost lay a pure white egg not quite as white as a bob egg but not quiet tan either
