I need help sexing quail, whites and darks, winter, no foam, 6 weeks on sunday.

[zilabirds]

I have begun to notice the pecking on males and ive had them since day old, now i need to begin thinning my flock. I will take photos of them and see what yall think and see if there is any other way then waiting for a crow and trying to keep eyes on one bird in the middle of 30+ now u see y thats not gonna happen and no foam not in rut. Hope all yall like my back woods terms. Help.

 

[TwoCrows]

If they are acting this aggressive at 6 weeks old, chances are giving them more room will solve some of the issues. Quail get aggressive when cramped up and will turn on each other.

Yes, some birds do mature quicker than others and there may be a male or two in your group that is already showing his high status. But chances are, they are either too warm and or too crowded in. Offer them up more room, (more than 1 square foot per bird), add some hidey places to their area and keep them in a quiet location to keep the stress down.

Hope this helps.

 

[zilabirds]

Thank you for adivce, its pretty cold out and i only have 40 watt bulb to adjust them to the 30s been outside since week 1 so ive got some strong birds, and right now id say ur right on little over crowded but thats why im trying to pull males, 7 already clarified males in my colored speckleds so theyll come out sunday and if i can get rest of the whites and dark males out my encloser should be plenty big enough. So if i take up close pics do you think you could help identify by breast feather shape or head shape or beak idk. Thank you for your advice.

 

[TwoCrows]

It could be the white light bulb that is agitating them. White light will cause them to be aggressive. You might want to switch to a red bulb. Pretty soon you should be able to ween them off all heat. Never leave this light on 24/7 at this age. This might be your issue.

 

[zilabirds]

I had put a red lens thing over it, i did read that some where, but its out theyre grow enough to handle freezing now, i was nervous for awhile when smaller. Thanks again on good advice, within the hr here im going to post pictures of the birds to see how to identify males. And also if i want eggs now, can i hang strands of xmas lights up and turn on for extra few hrs they need, is it 12-14hrs of sunlight for them to lay? Would that work

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes, but don't do that until they are laying. It will only create more agitation seeing the lights. At this age, they are still maturing and need as much sleep as possible. They won't be ready to lay until 8 or 9 weeks of age. Once they are 9 or 10 weeks of age, you can start adding light to get them to lay.

 

[silver-quail]

That's a long hour for those pics

 

[USAmma]

I had two aggressive birds. I used a yellow highlighter and I painted the head stripes of the two aggressive ones so I could easily see them in the flock, to monitor if it was the same ones causing the trouble each time I noticed birds pecking. It was. I separated the two out in small cages within the big cage and let them see but not mingle for a few days. It seemed to have cured them.