Jumbo Coturnix Quail Sexing Trouble...

[tlgrimmy]

Hello everybody! I'm brand new to the coturnix quail thing, but am very excited to get started! I just picked these gals (hopefully) up a couple of weeks ago off of craigslist. I was told they're female, but haven't managed to get any eggs out of 'em in a solid three weeks now. I had them indoors and left the light on for a couple of hours after the sun went down to keep the days long and the temps up. No luck! These ones are quite tricky for me to nail down. I see spots on the chests of all of them, but not nearly as many as other females I've seen online. What are your thoughts? Are these all girls? Are they just young? Or did someone pull a fast one on me? Haven't heard any of the tell-tale calls from a coturnix roo and they all enjoy cuddling up together. No one seems to try to dominate, and of course, I haven't seen any mounting. That makes me think they must be females, but I can't explain the lack of eggs (not sure how to tell their age). Oh, and I have them on a turkey and game feed that supposedly has 30% protein. The feed store told me it was their best quality feed for laying hens of all types.

 

[SeptemberQuail]

They look like females to me.
Even though there aren't many spots, any signs of spots are an almost definite sign that it's a female.
But, if you're still unsure, you can try vent sexing,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=150049
Otherwise, if it's breeding season for your quail (like it is for mine), the males vent will be big, pink and puffy, whilst the females will just be... normal and flat?

Anywho,
Everything you're doing is fine with the lighting and the food protein. The no-egg period is probably just a delay from moving habitats as quail HATE moving.
My quail took over a month to start laying eggs, even though I got them during the middle of spring.
Just make sure that they are given calcium supplements such as crushed up oyster shell, egg shell or shell grit.

Good luck!

 

[tlgrimmy]

Thanks! I was hoping somebody would tell me they're most likely female. I tried to vent sex one of them before, but had a heck of a time just exposing the vent, let alone checking it. I don't know why it was so difficult, but maybe that's another good sign. Do your quail stop laying eggs when it's cold? I have them outside now in a big quail cage I just put together and was hoping if I set up a light to keep the daytime going for them, that they'd still lay despite the cooler temperatures (sometimes in the 40s, but mostly in the high 50s and 60s).

 

[MrNappy]

Sorry, SeptemberQuail is more experienced than me, BUT i beg to differ.

They both look male, because they have a one colour chest (dark too), and are getting mating colours around eyes, more so for the one on the right/top picture, my golden quail has mating colours but they are less prominent than my wild ones.

The one on the right could also be a female.

A suggestion for vent sexing, hold em upside down and pull on tail feathers gently too see better, female will be flat and inward (if you pull out something, tiny bump, will stick out), males have a lump under their vent.

 

[tlgrimmy]

I may have to force myself to get better at this vent sexing thing. I attempted, but failed. I'll give it a go again tomorrow. Thanks for commenting! Dig the profile pic by the way; that's hilarious!

 

[sydney quailman]

one is female on the left looking at photo, but on the right looks like a male, i could be wrong, its cold in the usa atm , so you wont get any eggs, its winter! they usually stop laying when cold/winter.

 

[MrNappy]

Why don't you post pics of vent for some one to figure out? (Before pulling feather and after pulling)

 

[chrishel]

I think the left one is female, the right one is male. The male also has darker face.

Since these are full grown, you don't really have to look IN their vents. Just look at the shape. The girls have a flat vent. Boys will have a bulb on the tail end of the vent. If you squish the bulb at the tail, foam will come out of the vent. Girls are typically tan (the skin color). Boys vents are red as September Quail said above. To me girls vents look "normal" and boys look really angry.

Caution though, just mated females may also have foam in their vents from the male, so you can't use that as sole indication.

Since you have 2, if they both look the same then they are the same sex. It takes some practice and lots of quail invasion of privacy.

 

[fuhrchick]

They both look like juvenile males to me. The one on the right is definitely a male and I am pretty sure about the other.... good luck.

 

[SeptemberQuail]

My mistake, the left one looks like a female, whereas the right one seems like a male.

Maybe the supposing spots are just a loose colouration from the original chest? (I don't know.

)
But, if your quail have already mated, you could try taking the male out temporarily for a few minutes and see if he crows. When I do that to my quail, they would normally (after realizing) crow to their mates and once they get a reply, they would run back. But that's just my quail, it could work for yours.

The males chest bares a strong orange colour, whereas the female's is more pale orange, almost white colour and covered with tons of spots.
(Kinda resembles your quail.)

(Photo belongs to Monarc23)