First time coturnix breeding Qs

[gmstan]

Hi all,
I just hatched out our first set of coturnix and had a couple questions about breeding.

I'm trying to decide which males to keep and these answers will hopefully help.

The prettiest bird we have is a pearl male who we are deciding whether to keep as one of our two males (with about 9-10 females). He is also large, so that's a plus too. Seems to be one of the more intelligent birds we have, he was the first out of the brooder and down our ramp to explore the aviary. Downsides are that he does not like being picked up and he seems to be one of the most frequent callers (not great in our super tight urban backyards in Brooklyn ny).

Would love to keep the pretty bird but our main goals are large eggs and large birds with minimal fuss for us or bother for our many neighbors....

1) Will his loudness get quieter once we get down to the appropriate male-female ratio? (We have 6 males and 10 females right now at 6 weeks of age as we are deciding which makes to keep)

2) If he is crossed with our generally calm jumbo brown females:
-will his flightiness and loudness likely be passed on?
-What colors might result?

Thanks for any help!

 

[ShrekDawg]

You might want to check out the quail hatch along thread. Lots of knowledgeable people there! And I’m sure @Kiki will want to add you to the spreadsheet

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/➡-quail-hatch-along.1276785/

That said though, I’ll tag some people too who may be able to help as I’m still new at this having hatched my first batch recently as well.

@muddy75 @Nabiki @RUNuts @Kiki @007Sean @Fenrisulfr

 

[Kale the Quail]

he should get quieter once he's happy

 

[Pandaisy]

If he is nice with the girls, keep him. As it was already said, he should calm down with enough hens around him. I usually let my hens decide which male they want to keep.

 

[gmstan]

Thank you all for the quick and helpful replies.

I like the idea of letting the hens decide. I haven't noticed much mounting activity from him or any aggression. What should I look for in my hens behavior if I'm letting them decide? And what do you think are no-no's for the males?

I've just seen a fair amount of neck feather biting while mounting.

 

[Pandaisy]

I had three males in with the hens. I had no idea they were roosters, too young. Two of them were chased constantly and getting pecked. I took these two out and they were quite. In my opinion a rooster should check his surroundings first and then introduce himself to the ladies. Mine did a little dance, head down and tiptoeing around them, making noises. I can't stand those roosters/rapists who instantly mount everything that moves. They always end up in my freezer.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

he should get quieter once he's happy

Yes, I have a male, which constantly was crowing ... like mad. Now he has his own flock, he is quite calm.

For breeding, I am in a similar situation in conflict. I used to keep the most calm and tame males as I used to keep my quails on my balcony. Also dense urban.
But since this year I am also breeding for exebitions, so I have to look for figure and plumage.
Had an overagressive but perfekt Italian. Seperated him, thinking of what to do.
The fox took care of my problem

For urban enviroment, I would think of troubles with the neighbours first.

Jumbo Brown is Tibetan or Pharaoh?

If it is Tibetan, you will get Grau Fees, assumed tue Fee-factor is homozygotious. Heterozygotous you also get Rosettas.

If it Pharaoh, you will get Pearl Fees and Falb Fees, assumed the Fee-factor is homozygotious.
If it is heterozygotous you'll also get Italians ans Pharaohs.

 

[gmstan]

got it. Yes, the pearl gentleman seems to be waiting for the right moment. And there are others who have not been patient at all...

And thank you for your answer on the colors, fenrisulfr, our hens are mostly jumbo brown Pharoah type but we do have two Tibetan hens and I believe one Italian hen.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Yes ... the left upper bird is an Italian hen

 

[Quailobsessed]

He would probably be crowing a lot because there's other males around and he's most likely the dominant one. Back when I only had one male, there wasn't nearly as much crowing as there is now