Confused about colonies

[fiddlebanshee]

I have been perusing the threads in this section of the forums and read the stickies but maybe I'm missing something. Here are
my questions that I could not find an answer to. I apologize in advance if it is somewhere I couldn't find:

1. If I ordered 100 Coturnix quail, standard variety and 50 hatched, could I keep all 50 in a 50 sq ft, or larger, enclosure, male and female mixed?
2. Say that 25 of the 50 hatchlings are male, I should probably separate them and raise them for meat until 8 weeks and slaughter. Could I keep those 25 together or would they fight?
3. The remaining 25 hens, could they live together, just for the eggs in one large enclosure?
4. I suppose I could always have a breeding trio or foursome in a separate cage if I wanted to hatch my own eggs.

Second type of question:

In scenario 3 -- can you keep different varieties of coturnix quail in one group - like Pharaoh, White Wing Pharao, Golden Manchurian, English, Roux, Tibetan and Tibetan Tuxedo?
In scenario 3 -- can you mix jumbo coturnix and regular coturnix in one group, or would the difference in size lead to bullying?

Third type of question:

Can someone please confirm that bobwhites, coturnix and so on cannot be mixed in one group? I'm imagining that since bobwhites have dedicated pairs that they wouldn't do well in colony settings.

I'm just trying to educate myself before I delve into this, in order not to make mistakes that may make the lives of the birds I'm about to take into my care miserable.

 

[James the Bald]

Can someone please confirm that bobwhites, coturnix and so on cannot be mixed in one group? I'm imagining that since bobwhites have dedicated pairs that they wouldn't do well in colony settings.

I'm just trying to educate myself before I delve into this, in order not to make mistakes that may make the lives of the birds I'm about to take into my care miserable.

I have posted this in the past... I know you didn't specifically say that your intent was to breed the multiple species of quail, but here is a link that I posted last year when somebody wanted to breed coturnix with bobwhite. Bobwhite males are aggressive, and here is a post from a different forum pertaining to housing the 2 species.
Here is another article that you may find interesting.
James

 

[QuailRaiser]

I have been perusing the threads in this section of the forums and read the stickies but maybe I'm missing something. Here are
my questions that I could not find an answer to. I apologize in advance if it is somewhere I couldn't find:

1. If I ordered 100 Coturnix quail, standard variety and 50 hatched, could I keep all 50 in a 50 sq ft, or larger, enclosure, male and female mixed?
2. Say that 25 of the 50 hatchlings are male, I should probably separate them and raise them for meat until 8 weeks and slaughter. Could I keep those 25 together or would they fight?
3. The remaining 25 hens, could they live together, just for the eggs in one large enclosure?
4. I suppose I could always have a breeding trio or foursome in a separate cage if I wanted to hatch my own eggs.

Second type of question:

In scenario 3 -- can you keep different varieties of coturnix quail in one group - like Pharaoh, White Wing Pharao, Golden Manchurian, English, Roux, Tibetan and Tibetan Tuxedo?
In scenario 3 -- can you mix jumbo coturnix and regular coturnix in one group, or would the difference in size lead to bullying?

Third type of question:

Can someone please confirm that bobwhites, coturnix and so on cannot be mixed in one group? I'm imagining that since bobwhites have dedicated pairs that they wouldn't do well in colony settings.

I'm just trying to educate myself before I delve into this, in order not to make mistakes that may make the lives of the birds I'm about to take into my care miserable.

1. 50 square feet is, in my experience, a little small. they will have a medium density and will all pick on each other.
2. If you take the females away, males will usually get along fine.
3. yeah, the hens will be fine.. although if you want fertile eggs you should keep a couple roos...
4.yeah, that's how most do it, i have a large communal pen and then a smaller rabbit hutch type deal for breeding pairs.
scenario 3, part 1- they will be fine in theory as long as there is not an overwhelming majority and minority as they will pick on other colours if there's only one or two.
Scenario 3, part 2- Jumbo and regular's are fine, as long as you don't mix species (eg. Bobwhite, Scaled, California Valley....)

Third type of question, no, they cannot. the bobs will beat on the Coturnix, like Chukar will if you mix them with bobs. as a general rule of thumb, all quail species should be kept seperatly. ALWAYS.

Cheers
Finn

 

[fiddlebanshee]

1. 50 square feet is, in my experience, a little small. they will have a medium density and will all pick on each other.
2. If you take the females away, males will usually get along fine.
3. yeah, the hens will be fine.. although if you want fertile eggs you should keep a couple roos...
4.yeah, that's how most do it, i have a large communal pen and then a smaller rabbit hutch type deal for breeding pairs.
scenario 3, part 1- they will be fine in theory as long as there is not an overwhelming majority and minority as they will pick on other colours if there's only one or two.
Scenario 3, part 2- Jumbo and regular's are fine, as long as you don't mix species (eg. Bobwhite, Scaled, California Valley....)

Third type of question, no, they cannot. the bobs will beat on the Coturnix, like Chukar will if you mix them with bobs. as a general rule of thumb, all quail species should be kept seperatly. ALWAYS.

Cheers
Finn

Many thanks for answering all my questions in detail. Exactly what I was looking for. I'm good to go now, I have ordered the quail ( not 100, lol, that was just hypothetical, just 40) which are all different colors coturnix. So i think I'm good.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Thanks for the links. They didn't address my questions fully, I was not asking about interbreeding. As I said, I did a full search of the forum and didn't find the answers. I wouldn't have posted the questions otherwise.

 

[dc3085]

I have been perusing the threads in this section of the forums and read the stickies but maybe I'm missing something. Here are
my questions that I could not find an answer to. I apologize in advance if it is somewhere I couldn't find:

1. If I ordered 100 Coturnix quail, standard variety and 50 hatched, could I keep all 50 in a 50 sq ft, or larger, enclosure, male and female mixed?
If you keeping coturnix in a colony male:female needs to be 1:5 or higher. You will have dead roosters if you put them in a tight space with not enough hens. As it is you will have some roos that just will not be able to get a long with others and have to be removed. Also 50 sq ft won't be enough for 50 birds no matter how many times you read 1sf per bird on BYC. You would be keeping 50 birds in a 5'x10' space. They like to be close but not that close. Especially if you are colony breeding, then you're going to want to go to the 2-2.5 sf/bird area.

2. Say that 25 of the 50 hatchlings are male, I should probably separate them and raise them for meat until 8 weeks and slaughter. Could I keep those 25 together or would they fight?
If you keep males together but out of sight of females then they usually won't fight and you can raise them full term for meat. If you notice one fight too much cull it or move it because one fighting bird can make 30 bachelors look like crap and lose weight from stress and flying around all the time.

3. The remaining 25 hens, could they live together, just for the eggs in one large enclosure?
Roosters are in no way required for egg laying unless you want to hatch them.

4. I suppose I could always have a breeding trio or foursome in a separate cage if I wanted to hatch my own eggs.
Small groups of coturnix do not do as well as larger groups Definetly no less than 1:3 but the more hens the more happiness if you have a rooster in there.
Second type of question:

In scenario 3 -- can you keep different varieties of coturnix quail in one group - like Pharaoh, White Wing Pharao, Golden Manchurian, English, Roux, Tibetan and Tibetan Tuxedo?
In scenario 3 -- can you mix jumbo coturnix and regular coturnix in one group, or would the difference in size lead to bullying?
Coturnix are coturnix, the different varieties as people call them are just color mutations. Certain color mutations are capable of carrying the jumbo gene more effectively. Basically a jap quail is a jap quail is a jap quail.
Third type of question:

Can someone please confirm that bobwhites, coturnix and so on cannot be mixed in one group? I'm imagining that since bobwhites have dedicated pairs that they wouldn't do well in colony settings.
You can put them together but its not recommended you're creating a forced stress situation for both types of birds. There is also a possible of hybridization, which can often lead to you losing hens from being aggressively mated by males of different species. This is assuming they don't just murder each other right off. Bobwhites can kill a bird quicker than you would have any idea. So while you can do it I do not recommend it, and I don't know anyone who would.

Bobwhites can be kept in colonies when they aren't breeding so say september to april they can be kept in a colony. Then come breeding season you can pair them back off.

I'm just trying to educate myself before I delve into this, in order not to make mistakes that may make the lives of the birds I'm about to take into my care miserable.
Read the quail stickies and learn to use advanced search so you can just search the quail forum.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Quote: As I stated in my original post, I DID READ THE QUAIL STICKIES AND I DID TO ADVANCED SEARCH. Sorry to be shouting but i am getting a little tired of seemingly everyone on this quail forum assuming that any newby does not read the stickes (was the first thing I did when I decided I wanted quail), and i have been a long time BYC member so I do know how to use the advance search.

Guess I won't be frequenting this board all to often, as I am sure you "oldies" would like to converse without the distraction of "newbies" who apparently break every rule in the book by asking questions.

Thanks, by the way for your other answers, they were right on and I will take them into account.

 

[dc3085]

As I stated in my original post, I DID READ THE QUAIL STICKIES AND I DID TO ADVANCED SEARCH. Sorry to be shouting but i am getting a little tired of seemingly everyone on this quail forum assuming that any newby does not read the stickes (was the first thing I did when I decided I wanted quail), and i have been a long time BYC member so I do know how to use the advance search.

Guess I won't be frequenting this board all to often, as I am sure you "oldies" would like to converse without the distraction of "newbies" who apparently break every rule in the book by asking questions.

Thanks, by the way for your other answers, they were right on and I will take them into account.

Forgive me for assuming you were a beginner you asked many questions that could easily have been answered by searching BYC. I typically treat people who ask beginner level questions like well beginners. From what I can tell every question you asked was answered and all you did was get an attitude about it.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Discussion closed. i got my answers and will go elsewhere to ask additional questions if i need to.