integrating young coturnix with adults?

[ki4got]

my brooder's a bit crammed right now, with 24 assorted brown/golden from jumbo lines. my 7 adults (1 roo 6 hens) are in a 4x8 pen with covered shelter.

my question is, how would you go about integrating the youngsters with oldsters? (their parents, who hatched just before christmas, so they're not so old LOL)

I'd like to cull now for the keepers and put them in the breeding pen, then i'll grow out the others for the freezer or sale.

the quail-lets are not quite 3 weeks old right now, but fully feathered and larger than the same-age LF dorking chicks that hatched at the same time. man they grow fast!

but i will need the brooder space sooner than later, as i've got eggs hatching today, and another 40+ due on sunday.

 

[QChickieMama]

I've had success with combining adults and youngsters when they're nearly the same size and fully feathered. In my case, I couldn't tell them apart unless I held them and could feel that one was smaller than another.

 

[ki4got]

ok well these guys aren't quite up to full sized, but they're getting there i think... better than half way i would say.

i just worry that the oldsters would pick on the young ones, but with 24 young to 7 old, i don't know that it would get that bad LOL

think i'm going to try and hold off until the next sale tho, the 6th, so i can attempt to sell the culls. i've discovered it's best to compare body weights around 4-5 weeks old, because then the hens haven't started laying so it's more uniform. after 6 weeks, once they start laying then they may vary depending on if they've laid yet or not... so by the sale they'll be right at 4 weeks. they're off the heat lamp all together now, but the house does stay about 70.