Can female quail change their gender to male?

[Chickengirl1223]

Purely speaking about humans (by no means do I know what I'm talking about in birds), ovaries and testes change with the introduction of the opposite hormone. Trans women stop producing semen and their dick often shrinks. Trans men frequently become infertile (like myself) with cessation of menstruation and our bodies attempt to grow male organs (max 3 inches). Pcos (highly common in the trans male community) is an example of a condition were females can present male secondary sex characteristics. That all being said, I know chicken scratch about birds hormones and can't say if any of that is actually relavent.

That is very interesting. I did not realise that about humans, because I have only looked at the bird side of things. Even though it is not about birds, I much appreciate your reply!

My quail has now had an avian sex test and he is male. I have also spoken to professors who have studied ornothology and my opinion can no longer be swayed. I am now a firm believer in sex change in birds.

 

[Stiletto]

This quail that I think changed its gender, layed eggs for at least a month and only suposedly became male when it was 4months old.

How are you certain that the quail in question was laying eggs?

Writing often does not convey tone, so I'd like to make it clear that I'm not trying to be confrontational here. I am curious.

The most likely scenario is that you made a mistake when you initially sexed that bird; I'd like to understand how you are absolutely sure that this is not what happened.

 

[Chickengirl1223]

How are you certain that the quail in question was laying eggs?

Writing often does not convey tone, so I'd like to make it clear that I'm not trying to be confrontational here. I am curious.

The most likely scenario is that you made a mistake when you initially sexed that bird; I'd like to understand how you are absolutely sure that this is not what happened.

It is possible that I did make a mistake, but my flock consisted of only 4 hens and 2 males.
I am 90% sure that it was him/her laying. He/her was already about 4 months at the time (10 weeks being sexual maturity in Jumbo quail)

I noticed her sitting in the place where I found the egg and although this might sound strange, I identified 4 different designs of eggs that were produced and was able to sort them into those groups
(Light speckling, large blotches, dark tone and an almost clear egg)
I also saw the males mating with her and I heard the typical soft "clucking" sound that females make, which later became the loud brash sound that he/she makes now.

 

[Stiletto]

It is possible that I did make a mistake, but my flock consisted of only 4 hens and 2 males.
I am 90% sure that it was him/her laying. He/her was already about 4 months at the time (10 weeks being sexual maturity in Jumbo quail)

I noticed her sitting in the place where I found the egg and although this might sound strange, I identified 4 different designs of eggs that were produced and was able to sort them into those groups
(Light speckling, large blotches, dark tone and an almost clear egg)
I also saw the males mating with her and I heard the typical soft "clucking" sound that females make, which later became the loud brash sound that he/she makes now.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me and for being candid.

The "designs of eggs" doesn't sound strange to me. I keep a maximum of six hens and for a few years now, I identify who has laid each day. With my present flock, one is very tricky as her eggs can vary in colour tone quite a lot (from a pinkish hue to off-white). Another one usually lays cream coloured eggs which are very smooth but sometimes her eggs are speckled. These two have made it super challenging to be able to identify who has laid what! I digress...

Anyway, thanks again for satisfying my curiosity!

 

[quailbird]

Really, this description seems the bird is a true hermaphrodite meaning it has both male and female gonads. Genotypically (characteristics outwardly seen), it can look either female or male predominantly. Genetic tests (phenotypic results) can favor one or the other predominately. If you have a true hermaphrodite bird, may want to reach out to geneticists regarding this bird as it's a very rare disorder in sexual development.

 

[Eric 2016]

That is very interesting. I did not realise that about humans, because I have only looked at the bird side of things. Even though it is not about birds, I much appreciate your reply!

My quail has now had an avian sex test and he is male. I have also spoken to professors who have studied ornothology and my opinion can no longer be swayed. I am now a firm believer in sex change in birds.

What exactly did the professors say that made your mind up?

 

[Fishkeeper]

Exactly what did they test? DNA? Because animals can have a set of chromosomes that would seem to indicate one sex, but have the genitalia from the other, if something goes developmentally wrong in the womb or egg.

 

[Lyndsiemac]

Recently I removed my male quail from my Coturnix quail flock because they were hurting the females.

I noticed, a month later, that one of my females was jumping on the other females in an attempt to mate with them.

I immediately vent sexed her/him and determined that it was now a male, due to the foam excreted from her/his vent.

I am doing a science project on sex change in quail, and I was wondering if anyone knows if this quail is now a fertile male?
Has anyone had similar experiences with birds?
Any information is much appreciated.

Hi! As of yesterday, i have now had the same thing happen. Female feathered coturnix. She had been picking on the other females. But yesterday I witnessed her try and mate with the other girls. So I checked her vent, and she foamed. So i separated the bird from the flock to watch for any other odd behavior...then it laid an egg. To my knowledge I had 12 females, but I was only getting 9 to 11 eggs a day. So i was thinking i just had a dud layer. But when i saw this bird foam..it hit me that maybe this bird was the dud. But after separating into its own cage for observation, it did lay an egg. Im unsure where the bird fits in. The males go crazy for it. So i cant keep it with the other males. But its too agressive with the other females.

Glad to hear someone else has had a similar situation.

 

[Ashwhite]

Chickengirl I have had a young female coturnix laying eggs, turn into an outwardly appearing male several months later. Not sure if he ever became fertile but was definitely creating foam. A friend also removed the one dominant male from his flock after 18 months and a supposedly female egg laying quail started crowing and venting foam and behaving like a male. So I have had similar experiences. This was the first post I came across. What did you find? I'd love to hear what you have learned on this subject. Thanks.

 

[Ravenlover]

I start going through reading then realized it's from 2019