Is it a male?

[Payroll]

I have had quail for 3 years now. This is the first year where I have not been sure that all of them are female. One of them, the top of her beak is bleeding. I am thinking one of the other two (or both?) are male and are causing the problem, but I'm not sure. None of them crow, so I have to go by colors.

Here is the injured one (female?). Her name is Sweetie. The beak has healed a couple times. Now the top of her head has a couple pulled feathers. Is that from a male, or from trying to escape the cage?


Here is "White Feather". I believe she is female.


And here is my unknown. His/Her name is Flap-Happy. While the other two are getting plumper (getting ready for eggs?) this one is staying thin. They were all born April 15, 2013, so they should start laying soon?


Cage size shouldn't be an issue, as their cage is huge. Possibly I need to add a hidey-hole? Or maybe the divider is enough. The divider has a quail sized opening, so they can walk between the two sections. She could be injuring her beak by attempting to stick it through the mesh.



I'm thinking it's that one of my quail is a male. I need to know soon, before Sweetie gets killed. I have no desire for a male, but when I bought them they were a little too young to sex with certainty.

I tried looking through the forums for similar beak problems and whether they were caused by males or cages, but I couldn't really find anything.

 

[Habibs Hens]

female
male
not sure

check the vent

if there is a bulbous area its a male

 

[TwoCrows]

Until you figure out who is the male, you need to separate the aggressive one. Especially since you only originally wanted females. And since you only have a few birds, the ratio is not correct of females to the male and there is going to be trouble. So get the suspected male out of there. For now, keep him by himself. Even if he is a she, this bird is too aggressive for the rest of them.

 

[Payroll]

I'm not sure which one is being aggressive. I checked the vents, but they all look the same to me. I googled quail vents for some sample images and my birds' vents seem female to me.

I suppose I could just pull out the one that is hurt. But that won't tell me who is being aggressive, or why.

 

[Habibs Hens]

sorry need to make an amendment

the top 2 are hens
common coturnix and golden Italian

the last one is a possibe roo

not sure of sub breed but in UK some people call it a Range Quail

 

[TwoCrows]

Never separate the least aggressive. Always remove the aggressor. Take out the male. You may need to sit down and watch them for awhile to figure out who is being the meanie.

 

[Payroll]

I watch them for hours. Mostly they sleep. I haven't seen any aggressive behaviour, but evidently something is happening. They all have some feathers missing from the tops of their heads, Sweetie this morning has several that look to have been ripped out from the top of her head. It's all very confusing.

I don't mind killing one, but I want to make sure it's the right one.

 

[Payroll]

I called my breeder in Saskatoon, but she doesn't have any quail right now. The other breeder I know of lives in Prince Albert.

Any coturnix quail breeders out there in the central Saskatchewan area?

 

[quailz123]

1:Female 2:female 3: male

 

[Payroll]

I just wish he would crow. Then I would know for sure.