Inbreeding with coturnix quail.

[Del1977]

I live in Australia so won't be calling Robbie either but thanks for the reply.

 

[dc3085]

Sibling pairings should only be used when youre trying to maximize one characteristic and have had no results otherwise. Sibling pairings will damage genetics much more rapidly than parent x offspring. parent offspring crosses can repeated in succession whereas sibling pairings are best never repeated. I have however done multiple generations of sib pairings with no worse side effects than low fertility, and considering that was using goldens that already suffer from a lethal gene my fertility drops were acceptable.

 

[Del1977]

Thanks for clearing that up. At least I now know that our 'father' and his daughters wasn't a total whoopsy. Will see what hatches out of this batch. Has now worked out that his 'wife' isn't laying at all so we are assuming she is past her prime, which means all the eggs are from his daughters. Only up to day 4 of incubation but might report back come hatch day.

 

[RomanQuailChickenGirl]

I'm going to raise quail. I was thinking about getting a male and female and breeding them. Do you think I should get 2 females and one male to start off with. Or not? I concerned about genetic breedings disability, but I won't breed siblings and parents or siblings and siblings. I just want a small flock. Do you think that's okay????

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm going to raise quail. I was thinking about getting a male and female and breeding them. Do you think I should get 2 females and one male to start off with. Or not? I concerned about genetic breedings disability, but I won't breed siblings and parents or siblings and siblings. I just want a small flock. Do you think that's okay????

With coturnix, you want at least 4 or 5 hens for a male. He will almost certainly overbreed just a single hen, and that can easily lead to injuries or death of the female

 

[Nabiki]

I'm going to raise quail. I was thinking about getting a male and female and breeding them. Do you think I should get 2 females and one male to start off with. Or not? I concerned about genetic breedings disability, but I won't breed siblings and parents or siblings and siblings. I just want a small flock. Do you think that's okay????

FYI, this thread is 9 years old.

To answer your question, however, do NOT get one male and one female. The ideal ratio is one male to five females. One female will be over bred, which will result in injury and quite possibly death.

Once you have your covey of five or six, you can get away with inbreeding for a few years, but will then need to add some new blood. While it is remotely possible that one of your hens will go broody, it is unlikely, so you will also want to invest in an incubator if you want to hatch your own.

You may want to read some of the articles here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/quail.32/

 

[RomanQuailChickenGirl]

FYI, this thread is 9 years old.

To answer your question, however, do NOT get one male and one female. The ideal ratio is one male to five females. One female will be over bred, which will result in injury and quite possibly death.

Once you have your covey of five or six, you can get away with inbreeding for a few years, but will then need to add some new blood. While it is remotely possible that one of your hens will go broody, it is unlikely, so you will also want to invest in an incubator if you want to hatch your own.

You may want to read some of the articles here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/quail.32/

Thank You! I'm new to this quail stuff! I've been raising chickens since I was 3 years old, but quail sound so much fun, too! I'm all about holistic raising, so I don't really want to do incubating, but thanks for the recommendations! You guys are soooo coool!

 

[RomanQuailChickenGirl]

Also, do you guys have any recommendations on where I should get quail? I'm in the suburbs, about an hour from LA, California!

 

[Nabiki]

If hatching eggs isn't an option, I would check your local craigslist.

 

[EvieChickenGirl]

Craiglist? Can you get scammed on there? Is it trustworthy?