Feathers Falling Off On Back Of Neck?

Texas A&M is not a breed - it's just a coturnix quail that's bred for color, size and eggs. It's actually not uncommon for quail to dislike those that are very different from themselves in color though. But usually that would show as fighting and pecking. Your roo might just have an instinct telling him how the hens he's supposed to mate with should look and the white one just doesn't fit the bill.
In large, planted aviaries 1-2 hens for a roo is usually enough, as the hens can get away from the roo if they don't want to mate. If that's not an option, then he most likely does need more girls.
If you hatch out chicks and get even more roos (as you most likely will), there are 3 options:
Creating a bachelor pad of all males
Sell the surplus males
Cull/eat the surplus males
 
Is there any way to get that idea of racism out of my roo's head? I wan't the A&M's eggs to be fertile, too.
 
I HAVE ALSO NOTICED AND JUST TAKEN NOTE OF THAT THE BROWN ONE IS DRINKING A VERY LARGE AMOUNT OF WATER.
 
Have you tried to crack one of the A&M's eggs open? Could be they already are fertile. When you crack it open you should be able to see a white dot in the yellow part. If the egg is fertile, there will be a faint white ring around this dot. It's called the 'bulls eye' if you want to search for pictures.
There could be many reasons for a bird to drink unusual amounts of water - it could be hot, dehydrated from being very active, one of the others can have kept it from the water dish for a while and so on. As long as it acts normal in all other ways, I wouldn't worry. Just keep an eye on her.
With regards to bachelor pads fighting: according to what I've read, it's usually not too bad, as long as there are no hens around.
 
Last edited:
Oh, okay, I'll try that later today! I searched up some pictures of this 'bull's eye' and I'll keep an eye out for it! And if I have any roosters I'll make a bachelor pad for sure!
 
Okay, so I just cracked open three of the A&M's eggs and I saw some white dots but no rings around them. :barnie I don't rlly want to crack open the brown one's eggs cause I'm gonna incubate them when I get some time free, and it wouldn't be any surprise if they were fertile cause I've seen my roo mating with her and it would be a real waste. My roo is still calling out for my brown hen and she answers with a little continuous chirp for a while then forgets about it. She hasn't laid any eggs since I separated her. I dunno if he's mating with my A&M but I haven't seen anything or even those lil sperm foam balls he always poops a while after he mates. so I'm gonna assume that he still isn't mating with her. :T I'm planning on just keeping them separate for a while longer until my roo gives up and just mates with the A&M one so when I bring the other one in my hopes are that he evenly mates with both. Should I just do that? Oh, and btw does inbreeding harm quails? Or even decrease fertility? Cause If I hatch anything and theyre hens I dunno what'll happen if they start mating with their father or if I get a male and some more females and start another small flock whether they'll be able to mate since they're siblings or at least half siblings.
 
Inbreeding always increase the risk of harmful mutations popping up, but in general you don't see significant issues in japanese quail for the first 3 generations or so of inbreeding. After that there is a drop in fertility and hatchability of the eggs, getting worse with each generation. If I recall correctly. I read a research document on inbreeding of japanese quail a while ago, could remember a little wrong.
I don't know if keeping the brown hen away will make your roo mate with the A&M.

Remember fertility of the eggs decrease once they are more than a week old, so don't wait too long before you start incubating the brown ones' eggs.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom