Few newbie questions...

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creekrocket

creekrocket

Songster
8 Years
May 9, 2011
182
8
103
Savannah, Ga
I Just Purchased 18. I've Got Them In A 8L X 3w X 2h Pen. Food And Water Is Set Up Great for Them. As A Matter Of Fact, The Man That I Bought Them From Had Them In Really Horrible Pens. I Mean BAD! I FeltBad For All The Birds...
#1.... I Bought TheBirds Last Friday,And They WereLaying Eggs Like Crazy! They Have Kinda Slowed Down A Good Bit...Anything Wind With This?
#2... I Asked For 3 Makes, But Neither One Of Us New.. I New I Had 1, Until Yesterday. Do The Males Start Getting A Little Braver As They Grow? It Seems Like This Guy Got A Little Comfortable,And Started Putting His Two Cents In...Ha
I'll Post Pics Of The Birds Tonight,But I'm Unsure Of TheSpecies..
ThanksFor The Help!
 
If I understand correctly, you have them really crowded. You may want to research space recommendations for chickens.Most people want a minimum of 4 sq feet in the coop and 10 sq feet in the run.

Layers often slack off for a bit after a big change. They will lay the eggs that were "in the works" so to speak, but then take a break. It might not be long.
 
I've Read Where 1Sq Ft Per Bird Is Ok....I'v Got 24Sq Ft Total,Wit A 2Ft Ceiling. With Eighteen Birds Being In There,I Figured It Was Enough Space...???
As Far As The Male To Female Ratio. I've Got Eighteen Birds Total, WithTwo Of Them Being Males...Not Sure If There Were Anymore. I'll Post A Pick Of The Birds Later To A What your Opinions Are On Breed/Sex.
Thanks For All The Help!
 
creekrocket said:
I've Read Where 1Sq Ft Per Bird Is Ok....I'v Got 24Sq Ft Total,Wit A 2Ft Ceiling. With Eighteen Birds Being In There,I Figured It Was Enough Space...???
As Far As The Male To Female Ratio. I've Got Eighteen Birds Total, WithTwo Of Them Being Males...Not Sure If There Were Anymore. I'll Post A Pick Of The Birds Later To A What your Opinions Are On Breed/Sex.
Thanks For All The Help!
Click to expand...
I am so sorry! I was just hitting the "Unanswered Posts" section and I paid absolutely no attention to where you had posted your questions.

I just assumed you were talking chickens. My 7th grade teacher is rolling in his grave.... he tried so hard to teach us what "assume" means.
hmm.png

In my defense that was over 30 years ago.

I have raised quail in the past and am doing so again. I think the recent move could be the reason for the drop in eggs, still.

Your square footage seems fine for quail. I went about that size for a group of 11, but I kept the height low, as I have always heard that quail need a really tall or short pen due to their flight reflex. As long as yours don't bounce off the ceiling of their pen, I would say it's just fine.

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I will pay more attention in the future.
big_smile.png
 
Hi there,

Male quail will crow, but it doesn't sound like a cockerel's crow. Coturnix (also known as Japanese, Italian, Spanish and pharaoh quail) quail make a noise that I think sounds like "Ha-Ha-Waa", but most people seem to think it sounds like they say "koo-tu-nix", hence the name. They will be either brown or golden in colour (most likely, there are loads of colours available from breeders, but in job lots goldens and normals (browns) are all I've seen), possibly with brown or light coloured stripes or spots on their backs. If they're brown, then the males have a ginger colour chest and the females have a light cream coloured chest with small brown spots.

Of course, they might be some other species which I know nothing about, but Coturnix are the most common quail, usually sold for egg production of meat. They lay cream eggs with black/brown blotches.

If they are Coturnix, then the size sounds good, but other species need different housing, so it's important to find out which they are and find out about the needs of the quail you actually have. Look up different species of quail and compare the pictures to the ones you have, and ask the clever people on here to identify photos, or ask the guy you bought them from (although he doesn't sound the most knowledgeable).

The best ratios of males to females seems to be about 1:5 if you want fertile hatching eggs, so it sounds like you might want a couple more males, but you don't need them for egg production, and if you get too many in not enough space then they WILL fight.

The easiest way to identify males if you're not sure is to watch for them mating with females and crowing, and obviously anything that you see lay an egg is a female.

Hope that this helps :)
 
Weirdness555 said:
Hi there,

Male quail will crow, but it doesn't sound like a cockerel's crow. Coturnix (also known as Japanese, Italian, Spanish and pharaoh quail) quail make a noise that I think sounds like "Ha-Ha-Waa", but most people seem to think it sounds like they say "koo-tu-nix", hence the name. They will be either brown or golden in colour (most likely, there are loads of colours available from breeders, but in job lots goldens and normals (browns) are all I've seen), possibly with brown or light coloured stripes or spots on their backs. If they're brown, then the males have a ginger colour chest and the females have a light cream coloured chest with small brown spots.

Of course, they might be some other species which I know nothing about, but Coturnix are the most common quail, usually sold for egg production of meat. They lay cream eggs with black/brown blotches.

If they are Coturnix, then the size sounds good, but other species need different housing, so it's important to find out which they are and find out about the needs of the quail you actually have. Look up different species of quail and compare the pictures to the ones you have, and ask the clever people on here to identify photos, or ask the guy you bought them from (although he doesn't sound the most knowledgeable).

The best ratios of males to females seems to be about 1:5 if you want fertile hatching eggs, so it sounds like you might want a couple more males, but you don't need them for egg production, and if you get too many in not enough space then they WILL fight.

The easiest way to identify males if you're not sure is to watch for them mating with females and crowing, and obviously anything that you see lay an egg is a female.

Hope that this helps :)
Click to expand...
tongue.png
 
Ok, Here are The Pics I've Been Promising. Not Sure Of The Species...The Guy I Bought Then From Said They Were Coturnix...
Right Now, The white Bird In this Pic is Laying And Sitting In The Eggs. everything I Go To The Pen, She Gets Off The Nest And Runs away Then Returns To Sit On The Eggs...Do You Think I Should Let Her Sit, Or Should I Get The Eggs?
 
Last edited:

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