Hens and Roosters?

[pinoyathletics]

Cortunix Quails. The only way i was able to identify hens was to isolate them in separate nearby cages and see if they laid eggs. I saw some laid eggs daily, some every 2 or 3 days. I took my best rooster and then added 5 hens. I have 3 additional aggressive roosters i will cull.

I now had 1 more rooster, as my backup. And i had 4 unidentified quails. Meaning they are not laying eggs but they are not crowing either???. Is it common to get infertile females?

One of these unidentified after being isolated was so nervous when i opened up the cage, it flew away. Not just over the fence like i thought but right up over the roof of 2 houses away. I had no idea they could fly that high. So i went and clipped the wings of the birds after that happened.

 

[RosieR]

Some birds mature slower than others, but they should eventually reveal themselves. That is quite the flight! I had no idea either!

 

[pinoyathletics]

Yeah Rosie he/she honestly flew like a pigeon or normal bird i was totally shocked. I wonder where they landed cause it flew over 2 houses. The TV Antenae on the 2nd house it was clear.

How long do they usually take. These birds are already about 3 nearly 4 months old? I have all the unidentified and the other male in 1 cage.

I culled three of the aggressive males for the BBQ.

The other cage has 1 male and 5 females. Interestingly the 5 of them laid 6 eggs yesterday so one of them did two for the first time. maybe cause the day before the 5 of them laid only 3.

I just candled my eggs on Day 7 and 8 in the incubator using the dry hatch method. The oldest egg 10 days old was clear like a light bulb so i chucked it out. However the 2nd oldest egg which is 9 days, had a dark spot and some veins but was tilted. I only sampled another 4 of the 56 eggs at random and they all have veins and a dark spot.

Last time i had 44 eggs, 5 infertile and had a hatch rate of 39 / 44 with 23 so only 58% with 1 under developed and 15 drowning cause of too much humidity and fully developed. I am keeping the humdity at 25 to 40. Im just wondering what i should raise it at lockdown in a few days maybe 55-65. I am hoping to get about 20-30 quails from this hatch. Last time only 10 of the 23 made it to adult hood. Cause i didnt have proper waterer and heat lamp.

Some birds mature slower than others, but they should eventually reveal themselves. That is quite the flight! I had no idea either!

 

[RosieR]

All my hens start laying at 10 weeks but the Roos have identified by then usually. That seems late by what I’ve read around here but I suppose location plays a part.
I’m not sure how long you’ll want to wait before culling, it depends how often your incubating and how valuable cage space is. Perhaps earlier adulthood is something you could strive to breed for?

 

[Sara L]

Can you post pics of the ones you are not sure about? Also sometimes just watching their behavior can clue you into whether they are boys or girls. If you have one that you know is a female you can watch how they interact with her, same thing with one you know is a male - if there are females he will try to mount them. If they are all males though, he will still mount the ones lower in the pecking order than him if he can't get at a female.

 

[pinoyathletics]

Hey will just post again these 3 im unsure of this one of the three. This one is really small. But hasnt produced eggs. Rosetta quail. No crowing and no mounting.