Having trouble sexing adult Coturnix Quail

[SouthCoastEasterEgger]

So I've hatched out a few batches of Coturnix Quail, I have varying ages now- all at least 7 weeks old up to 20 weeks old. Some are from other breeders, and the last batch was from eggs of my own. For my first hatch, at about 7-8 weeks I was able to vent sex using the foam that males produce. But now, I have not been able to identify any males in my last 3 hatches using this method. Is there another way to determine the sex of the birds? They are not all Pharaoh, so I can't feather sex. Do the males only foam certain times of the year? I find it very hard to believe that out of 3 hatches I would have all females, about 10-15 birds in each hatch (I have a small incubator). I also have not heard any crowing.

I assume it is too cold and I am not providing additional light for the birds to lay eggs right now, they tapered off during September-October so I am not able to determine sex by eggs being laid. (I live in South Coast, Mass.) I am looking to process most of the males so I don't have to keep feeding them all winter.

Thought I knew what I was doing, but I guess not? Thanks for any help!

 

[Peristeria]

So I've hatched out a few batches of Coturnix Quail, I have varying ages now- all at least 7 weeks old up to 20 weeks old. Some are from other breeders, and the last batch was from eggs of my own. For my first hatch, at about 7-8 weeks I was able to vent sex using the foam that males produce. But now, I have not been able to identify any males in my last 3 hatches using this method. Is there another way to determine the sex of the birds? They are not all Pharaoh, so I can't feather sex. Do the males only foam certain times of the year? I find it very hard to believe that out of 3 hatches I would have all females, about 10-15 birds in each hatch (I have a small incubator). I also have not heard any crowing.

I assume it is too cold and I am not providing additional light for the birds to lay eggs right now, they tapered off during September-October so I am not able to determine sex by eggs being laid. (I live in South Coast, Mass.) I am looking to process most of the males so I don't have to keep feeding them all winter.

Thought I knew what I was doing, but I guess not? Thanks for any help!

Yep! You're right about that! Males do only foam when it's breeding season, so once it gets lower than their necessary light requirements, they stop crowing and foaming. Our male stopped crowing while he was molting but picked it back up just this past week since I'm in the south.

I don't think there is any other way to sex them, although I did try to do it by weight once (because females weigh more than males generally) but then it turned out that this does not work too well, as I discovered in a violent crow off from my pen of girls, yikes !

Sorry that I'm no help, but I can't think of any other way to sex them . I guess you might just have to wait until the spring unless you can post pictures and quail wizards might be able to help you, no guarantees though, lol.

 

[FloorCandy]

Yep! You're right about that! Males do only foam when it's breeding season, so once it gets lower than their necessary light requirements, they stop crowing and foaming. Our male stopped crowing while he was molting but picked it back up just this past week since I'm in the south.

I don't think there is any other way to sex them, although I did try to do it by weight once (because females weigh more than males generally) but then it turned out that this does not work too well, as I discovered in a violent crow off from my pen of girls, yikes !

Sorry that I'm no help, but I can't think of any other way to sex them . I guess you might just have to wait until the spring unless you can post pictures and quail wizards might be able to help you, no guarantees though, lol.

Agreed, you may have to give light for a few weeks to get em going again, and the feather sexable ones you can post pics and we can try to help.

 

[muddy75]

you can usually tell by the anatomy of the vent area even when no foam but if not experienced may need to have a “known male and or female” handy for comparison. I can also guess pretty consistently by body shape, size, and weight.

 

[Peristeria]

you can usually tell by the anatomy of the vent area even when no foam but if not experienced may need to have a “known male and or female” handy for comparison. I can also guess pretty consistently by body shape, size, and weight.

My males tend to have a frill of feathers under their chin so I guess by that to tell our identical male and female apart. Here's what it looks like (not my picture here's the link to the website I found it on: gramho.com/explore-hashtag/japanesequail)

 

[RoosterML]

you can usually tell by the anatomy of the vent area even when no foam but if not experienced may need to have a “known male and or female” handy for comparison. I can also guess pretty consistently by body shape, size, and weight.

Well you sure could help me

 

[rangehen]

Maybe this will help

This is a female. Notice how nothing is projecting or swollen to stand out past the vent?

This is a male, obviously. Ignore the foam and notice the “bulb” projecting on the tail side of the vent.

Examine a few adults for which you know the gender and compare. Once they’re at breeding age, I find the anatomical difference fairly easy to recognize. I’m far from an expert on the younger birds, but have been consistently able to tell by this method.

Good luck!

(Alternatively, switch to feather sexable varieties )