Japanese quail, the gender question

[CrazyConure]

Hello everyone, we recently bought two quail and have started getting one egg a day. The two birds are about the same size, but only one is laying. I believe they are Japanese Quail, but not positive.

Can anyone tell me if they are both female or if one is a roo?

Thanks!

 

[Kherome]

Yes the lighter colored one is a roo.

 

[CrazyConure]

Yes the lighter colored one is a roo.

Thanks. For future reference, how can you tell?

 

[SeptemberQuail]

In general for most commonly coloured quail, males have a rusty orange chest and females have spots. Sometimes for quail with feathers the same colour as your dark brown one, it can be hard to tell and so the only way to be able to distinguish a male from a female would be by vent sexing or observing behaviours.

 

[Kherome]

Yeah, the roo has a red chest and a slight face mask as well. Hens would have a speckled chest, not the solid rusty colored one. The Tibetan hen you have you would have to vent sex, or in this case you already know because the roo is obviously not laying the eggs. Also, if those are the only two quail you have you might end up with trouble. A Cot male can easily breed 1 hen to death. They need 3-4 hens per roo for sure.

 

[dc3085]

Does that golden roo have scar tissue around his left eye or is he squinting at the flash?

 

[CrazyConure]

Thanks everyone for your help. At this time, I'm not interested in breeding quail (just eggs until I get my hobby farm) and I was fortunately able to exchange the roo for a hen with the original vendor. I did vent sex him this morning and he was absolutely male. I now have a total of three females.

As for scar tissue, I did not notice any, but I am a newbie.