female to male ratio

[veggiecanner]

I just bought my quail and I am setting up breeding groups for spiral
breeding. I see some breeders prefer 3 females to 1 male.
But I am also seeing some are putting 5 to 1 male.
The reason i am asking is if I use the 3 to 1 I am going to end up with 5 females with no mate.
If I spread the females over the cages the ratio would be 4 to 1.
Is my fertility going to fall that much? My other option is to fix another cage to keep the females in till I get, hatch and raise more males. Or send the extra females to freezer camp!

 

[Sycamore27]

I'm assuming we're talking coturnix quail here.
From everything I've researched here you don't see any fertility drop off until you go to 7 females per male, 6 is the most you want to do. Three is your bare minimum for peace in your groups without your girls getting overbred so your four to one is probably actually ideal.
Good luck!
Jessie