Help quails losing feathers

[aapoole]

I'm not sure if you can tell, but here's a pic of my quail... notice the white streaks in wing area, I believe they are getting their adult feathers. I really didn't even expect these to hatch for this being my first time and I still need to learn a lot.

 

[JaeG]

Those are the pin feathers that will open out to proper feathers. They grow so incredibly fast - it's crazy! So there's nothing to worry about and you can ask as many questions as you need to.

 

[Binki]

Haha awww that's a cute batch, so young ^^ is that a little runt I see kind of in the middle of the group?

 

[aapoole]

Yes, Binki... I have 2 that are growing crazy fast and are huge then the runt. It's my favorite lol. Also, my mother in law whom I got the eggs from said to have one rooster for every 2-3 hens. I have 2 males so do I need to separate both males and divide hens between them or since they are same hatch do they stay together? So much to learn in such short time lol. I still can't believe how fast they grow. I just put 28 more eggs in incubator Saturday so we'll see if these hatch too.

 

[Binki]

Yes, Binki... I have 2 that are growing crazy fast and are huge then the runt. It's my favorite lol. Also, my mother in law whom I got the eggs from said to have one rooster for every 2-3 hens. I have 2 males so do I need to separate both males and divide hens between them or since they are same hatch do they stay together? So much to learn in such short time lol. I still can't believe how fast they grow. I just put 28 more eggs in incubator Saturday so we'll see if these hatch too.

Haha I'm always partial to the runty ones too ^^

Even though they grew up together, the males will need to be seperated with their own females, preferably at least three and up to ten girls per boy They should be seperated before 6 weeks and monitored in case there is fighting. Even after they are seperated you have to watch the noob male isn't hurting the girls who may not want to mate with him.

Some males mate more and as such would need more girls or he would overmate the few he has which is stressful and dangerous for them.

You have some cool colors going on, how do you know you have two males?

 

[aapoole]

Thank you so much Binki. I've never raised birds before, other than growing up my dad had game chicken but we let them free range the yard. I think I got myself into another "lessons learned" lol. How can you visually tell difference in male and female at this age? I thought the 2 darker ones were male but my husband last night said he was thinking they all might be male except for one or two.

 

[JaeG]

Pharaohs and Italians can be feather sexed at 2-3 weeks of age by their chest spots (pharaohs all start out with spots but by 3 weeks it should be clear whose chest is going rusty brown though some keep you guessing) but all the other colours you have to wait and see. My last lot of boy babies started crowing at just over 3 weeks (9 boys out of 11 chicks)! By 4 weeks they are usually crowing and before that they will start making a lower sound compared to the girls. To me it sounds like a "rib, rib" sort of sound.

 

[Binki]

As @JaeG said, certain colors can be sexed by their feathers but only at a few weeks old

You guys have a few different colors floating around in there, I think mostly variations of a tuxedo type? Just throwing it out there, can't see them too much from the angle of the pic :3

Tuxedos are a favorite it will be interesting to see their final colors!!

 

[aapoole]

Here's some of them. I love the colors of the white one but the darker one standing in bowl is my favorite. He's the second to smallest but he always stands high on legs and buffs his chest out. Looks like a penguin lol.

 

[Binki]

Here's some of them. I love the colors of the white one but the darker one standing in bowl is my favorite. He's the second to smallest but he always stands high on legs and buffs his chest out. Looks like a penguin lol.

LOL!!! He's exactly as you describe him

So cute!!!