Difficulty telling sex of some of our jumbo browns

[Glorybee]

Hi- new to quail. We have 29 chicks just over 4 weeks old. We've determined that 12 are for sure female and there are many boys too but several are puzzling. We have about nine that we cannot figure. Some have spots like female but are much more brown like the males. Are these all males? Also, most of our males have gray or black sections on the brown chest which seems odd. Under the brown feathers the downy part is dark gray. Probably genetic features we'd want to cull out of the flock on some of the not able to identify males.

I know that we can try vent sexing in a couple more weeks, but any insight that could help here? These are not the perfect model quail you see pictures posted of to tell the difference.

 

[Sill]

I would cull these regardless of gender. I only keep and breed birds that are obviously male or female at this age. These ambiguous quail will pass on these traits. You don't want to end up with a line of birds that are not easy to sex. Your roosters should have clean fronts, no black speckling. Hens should have an abundance of speckles, not just a few.

My best guess would be male, female, female, male...but I sure wouldn't guarantee it. Better photos would help, with the quail not being held as that messes the feathers and makes it harder to sex them.

 

[Sill]

Oh, and

 

[dc3085]

Big X2 on what Sill says here. One of the reasons this color phase is so useful is the ease of sexing. The breeder you go these birds from is not culling very heavily to have this many of these mottled chested roos. You should have been able to sex those birds at least a full week ago.

 

[Glorybee]

Thank you Sill, that makes complete sense. Will be separating these odd ones out for the freezer in a few weeks. I appreciate you taking the time to give me advice on them.

 

[Glorybee]

Big X2 on what Sill says here. One of the reasons this color phase is so useful is the ease of sexing. The breeder you go these birds from is not culling very heavily to have this many of these mottled chested roos. You should have been able to sex those birds at least a full week ago. 

Yes, here's a good reason to no get your birds off craigslist. It was the only place we could find closer than two hours away. We will find eggs on here next time and incubate ourselves. We thought we had 17 females and then it just became more disappointing as these hard to distinguish ones became unknowns.

Thank you for your time and advice!

 

[shotgunrem14]

I would say the problem is with the breeder not with craigslist. Bad breeders can be selling anywhere. Just gotta find someone thats got there heart in it as my granddad would say.
/B]quote name="Glorybee" url="/t/1015301/difficulty-telling-sex-of-some-of-our-jumbo-browns#post_15739893"]
Yes, here's a good reason to no get your birds off craigslist. It was the only place we could find closer than two hours away. We will find eggs on here next time and incubate ourselves. We thought we had 17 females and then it just became more disappointing as these hard to distinguish ones became unknowns.

Thank you for your time and advice![/quote]

 

[Glorybee]

I would say the problem is with the breeder not with craigslist. Bad breeders can be selling anywhere. Just gotta find someone thats got there heart in it as my granddad would say.
/B]quote name="Glorybee" url="/t/1015301/difficulty-telling-sex-of-some-of-our-jumbo-browns#post_15739893"]
Yes, here's a good reason to no get your birds off craigslist. It was the only place we could find closer than two hours away. We will find eggs on here next time and incubate ourselves. We thought we had 17 females and then it just became more disappointing as these hard to distinguish ones became unknowns.

Thank you for your time and advice!

[/quote]

I agree, it just seems hard to know what your getting even after many questions. I suppose it could be that way no matter where your getting them from.

 

[shotgunrem14]

I agree, it just seems hard to know what your getting even after many questions. I suppose it could be that way no matter where your getting them from.[/QUOTE]
I suppose so. Especially if who you are asking doesn't know the answers lol