Finally got my first quail!

[Ulladh]

Well this must be their week 4/5 going from the start of the post! Food consuption definitely has slowed down, I have abig bag of partridge feed im still giving them, it is about 27%. There is limited interest and next to zero rearing of quail in my country tbh. Ive recently heard of one far doing eggs, it is something Id like to try and supply decent meat birds to.

Ill likely try and look at the Texas AM, the 3 white ones, which I believe are Texas AM (have a single little black dot behind each of their heads?) I am hoping are a trio, or at least one female!

I really should try and weigh them sometime soon to see what weights their coming into. I seen a post a couple years ago that focused on "jumbo" quail and selective breeding, but I imagine starting with bigger birds speeds this up?

 

[pkhunter]

Well this must be their week 4/5 going from the start of the post! Food consuption definitely has slowed down, I have abig bag of partridge feed im still giving them, it is about 27%. There is limited interest and next to zero rearing of quail in my country tbh. Ive recently heard of one far doing eggs, it is something Id like to try and supply decent meat birds to.

Ill likely try and look at the Texas AM, the 3 white ones, which I believe are Texas AM (have a single little black dot behind each of their heads?) I am hoping are a trio, or at least one female!

I really should try and weigh them sometime soon to see what weights their coming into. I seen a post a couple years ago that focused on "jumbo" quail and selective breeding, but I imagine starting with bigger birds speeds this up?

Since the white one's have a dot they are probably texas A&Ms but brown cots have a recessive gene and can produce a white bird also. I get a few every now and then. the one's in the picture are from brown birds. A&Ms are a cross between english white and brown cots.

 

[Ulladh]

See I am thinking the same thing happened these guys, I also have a fawn cortunix, hast the dark feathers like the rest but light brown ones are a very light brown/pale colour on it.

What sort of vitamins do you guys feed your quail as a regular thing? Is ACV god to continually provide?

 

[Athaid]

http://www.animalfeedstore.com/Small-Holder-Range/Turkey-Starter-Crumbs.aspx

This feed is 22% protein, which I think would suffice. But you may want to boost it. There are also other feeds available on the site which you could check out.

 

[Ulladh]

Thanks for the link but I am based in Ireland. I got partridge crumb which is 27% so should do the job? I was wondering though about extra vitamins etc

 

[Athaid]

Oh sorry my mistake. 27% is a better number anyway. I'm not too sure about vitamins but you could try adding apple cider vinegar to their water. (Not if the water holder is metal though)

 

[DK newbie]

I think most crumbs and pellets already have the needed vitamins. Doesn't it say anything about that on the bag?

 

[Ulladh]

Folks I have ended up with 4 out of 11 quail as females. I'm getting 2 eggs a day or maybe 2 alternatively however in the picture you can see one is always much bigger. Any ideas? I have one texas am and the other 3 are just wild colour

 

[lomine]

Folks I have ended up with 4 out of 11 quail as females. I'm getting 2 eggs a day or maybe 2 alternatively however in the picture you can see one is always much bigger. Any ideas? I have one texas am and the other 3 are just wild colour

You should be able to tell which of the wild color ones are male and female by the feather pattern. Males have a red-ish color on their upper chest and no spots. Females have no red and they have spots. On the a&m, if it crows it's a male. You can also check the vent for foam. I learned how from a you-tube video. If the females are old enough to lay the males are old enough to produce foam.

 

[Ulladh]

I already checked and identified only 4 females, the rest were all very clear males!

It was the eggs that confused me as each time one egg is distinctively bigger. The photo may not do justice but there is a clear difference!