- Jul 9, 2012
- 49
- 0
- 32
I bought a 'trio' of silver laced (dark faced) chinese quail mid october. I was told that 1 was a male, 8 weeks, and 2 were hens, 8 weeks and 5 weeks. The younger bird is actually just a silver, and now I'm a bit concerned about what sexes the two 'hens' are.
They're about 14 weeks and 11 weeks old now, and I've not had a single egg from either, though I don't know if this is normal because my other birds were already laying when I got them, and I don't actually know their exact age. There have also been several fights between them - the confirmed male attacked both of the other birds and I ended up separating him - I was told this was likely due to the other two not yet being sexually mature whereas he is, and was waiting for eggs before I put him back. So he's still not in with them.
I've also noticed that recently, there's been a fair bit of feather loss and blood on their heads - not too much, it's not like they've been scalped, but I can't tell if it's the pair of them picking on each other or whether it's more likely that they're catching themselves on something. They're very, very flighty birds (had a breakthrough tonight - they can eat whilst I'm sat next to the cage xD), so it's possible.
Included some pictures of them below.
The first two didn't get the colours right - basically, the yellow tinges on the photos are actually faintly red feathers on the dark faced one, but they aren't vivid, and there's not many.
Dark faced above
Silver (I assume).
Dark faced at the back, silver at the front. It has a white bib (no grey or black outlines or markings, though), but I understand some females do have white bibs.
That's not their usual cage, by the way. It's the one I had to put them in when I separated them. They do have a much larger one on the way, though, just in case I need to keep them apart.
To anyone that can help, thank you!
They're about 14 weeks and 11 weeks old now, and I've not had a single egg from either, though I don't know if this is normal because my other birds were already laying when I got them, and I don't actually know their exact age. There have also been several fights between them - the confirmed male attacked both of the other birds and I ended up separating him - I was told this was likely due to the other two not yet being sexually mature whereas he is, and was waiting for eggs before I put him back. So he's still not in with them.
I've also noticed that recently, there's been a fair bit of feather loss and blood on their heads - not too much, it's not like they've been scalped, but I can't tell if it's the pair of them picking on each other or whether it's more likely that they're catching themselves on something. They're very, very flighty birds (had a breakthrough tonight - they can eat whilst I'm sat next to the cage xD), so it's possible.
Included some pictures of them below.
The first two didn't get the colours right - basically, the yellow tinges on the photos are actually faintly red feathers on the dark faced one, but they aren't vivid, and there's not many.
Dark faced above
Silver (I assume).
Dark faced at the back, silver at the front. It has a white bib (no grey or black outlines or markings, though), but I understand some females do have white bibs.
That's not their usual cage, by the way. It's the one I had to put them in when I separated them. They do have a much larger one on the way, though, just in case I need to keep them apart.
To anyone that can help, thank you!
