fertile quail?

[300hj]

so i have these 2 japanese quail that i'm totally sure are male and female (breeder said they were too) but none of their eggs are ever fertile. After the hatching period is up, i always crack open my eggs expecting to see some poor dead unhatched chick inside, but there's nothing...only the yolk... if this happens, is it usually the male or female that is the problem. (and I'm sure my incubator works because I used it to hatch other quails before.)

 

[The Critter Place]

Do you have pictures that you can post here for others to help to decide if they are a pair?

Sad as it is, there are breeders who don't really know what they have or will sell you what you want to hear.

How old are the quail?

 

[animal8]

I agree with The Critter Place, unfortunately mistakes can be made. If they do turn out to be male and female and are the right age, are you observing any mating taking place? Maybe the male's not doing his job properly?

 

[cva34]

Just remember when there are only hens .They will try to breed now and then.So that can fool you.Cattle ,chickens,and other things do it.When I was a kid we had only hens for a year or two, a couple hundred and no Roo .After a while we would hear a Roo Crowing in morning.It was a Hen; dad and me went out in wee hours to see what was going on.GoFigger it...cva34

 

[animal8]

Quote:
Yes, that can also be a problem, lol. They have been a couple of discussions recently about sex change in hens.

Here is the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=573440 There is another link inside that for the other thread as well.

 

[JJMR794]

Animals Of The Same Sex Dont Actually Try To Breed Each Other Per Se'... Its Actually A Dominance Display Gesture.

 

[300hj]

my female


my male

just moved them into a new cage so they're kind of skittish

i've also heard that you can determine the gender of the bird by pushing on the vent of a male so a foam comes out... it tried that just now and it did foam...and i'm pretty sure that the other is a female because i get eggs. i also saw them mating before

 

[Chinchilla2]

Foam is not always a conclusive sign in coturnix. How many eggs per day are you getting? If it is two then you probably have two females. If it is only one, then perhaps your male hasn't hit his "stride" and while he may put on a good show, just isn't quite making the final act.

 

[300hj]

i also just got another question
my male japanese quail started to become a little lethargic in the past 3 days, and the female has been picking on him to the point of a bloody beak i noticed about an hour ago. they were both in a smaller cage with a pair of buttons but just yesterday i moved them out into a larger one (i only noticed the male japanese was being bullied, not any of the buttons). I just moved the female back with the button quail and now the male jap. quail has the cage to herself. Is there any kind of common diseases that could be ailing it, and how long do you think it would take to heal a sprained foot because it seems to be walking with a limp too?

and thanks for your help on the 1st question!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
In this case, since there are only 2 birds, foam would be a conclusive sign. Females are not able to produce foam, so if you sex a female that has it, she's only gotten it from her last breeding.