Coturnix Quail Basics- Information and Pictures Galore

[ggschulz]

I've got a quail with a prolapsed vent.
We've gotten a few double yolkers the past week that I think were from her.
Usually my husband deals with the quail since they're on the ground I have to like crawl in to get the eggs, but I did it tonight and noticed one was looking off.
When I picked her up I could see the prolapse.

Do I cull or can I fix it?
Googling now....

I have tried to fix prolapsed vents and one of two things seems to happen for me, whether I help or not:

1) It fixes itself
2) It gets worse and you have to cull

I have actually had pretty good success, but you need to isolate her from the rest of the covey. The others will pick at her and make it worse. If it is not badly prolapsed (meaning just barely out of the vent) it may fix itself. Try to lower the protein of feed if you can, or anything to get her to stop laying. Less light, etc... Continuous laying will make it less likely she recovers. I have only had to cull one prolapse so far, and it was when she had intestines dragging behind her because I caught it too late.

Good luck! And if you feel the need to push it back in, use a Q-Tip and vaseline. She will likely re-prolapse anyway, but it may make you feel better...

 

[dutchbunny83]

Okay, thank you.
It's pretty bad, there's like 2 big red bubbles out of her vent

 

[K Epp]

I separated my quail this evening. I'm disappointed because of the 12 I have 3 girls and 9 boys. I moved 4 boys to a 2 ft dog kennel. I moved 4 more to another kennel the same size. I kept the 3 girls and the boy I caught crowing in the rabbit cage that is 17" wide, 17" high, and 29" long. Is that big enough to keep 4 in? I've gotten 1 egg each day for the past 3 days. I have seen one of the roos trying to mate a hen. Glad I got them separated before they all got frisky. Poor girls would be in trouble. I'd like to keep at least one more male. What's the best way to do this should I sroerate them in a trio and pair or keep a additional make and keep 3 trios? They are 8, 6, and 5 weeks old. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Males raised together are ok if there is enough space per bird. I have 2 boys in with 6 girls, and the cage is 4ft by 2ft. I added hiding spaces and its going well. I do take the boys out about a week once a month and give my girls a break.
I also have a GQF breeder pen but I keep quads in them. 3 hens 1 roo. Main thing is just watch for pulled feathers or head wounds, if they feel they are too crowded boys will kill each other.

 

[dc3085]

When you keep multiple roo's together they are usually fine until the first molt, then for some reason they go loopy. In hobby sized cages like most of us use having multiple roo's just makes for more hassle. If you have 50-100sq ft. thats a different deal entirely.

As far as fertility is concerned there is absolutely no reason to put multiple roos. 1 can easily keep 6-7 hens fertile since once he breeds one, fertility will last for more than 5 days.

 

[K Epp]

Okay so I will keep the hens (Do you call quail that?) in with one roo. I'll keep my extra roos together. I have learned that as soon as I go down to 1 roo something will happen to that one. I try to keep a spare around for that reason. I can't tell one roo from the other except some are older and there for bigger than the others. I will post pictures before we harvest any of them for your opinions on which to keep. I still cant get over them being sweet and friendly. My hand raised chicks are not this tame. I was expecting wild and flighty.

 

[TherryChicken]

This is what I found in my quail cage today

 

[Dragons4u]

You get a noobie laying?

 

[TherryChicken]

No no noobie. They are all mature layers.

 

[Dragons4u]

Wow, how odd.