Lighting for quail

[SuseyQ]

JetCat,
What do you mean you don't breed back birds of different ages? Are your pens full of the same "age" birds or the same breed bird? Do you like the smaller pens or larger ones? I suspect I'd only be breeding the Cortunix and I believe you can have different colored birds together so I'd think the main reason for smaller pens would be to know which stock is which and not interbreed or to have different breeds or ages of quail at the same time. What system do you think works best?

Thank You,
SuseyQ

 

[JetCat]

​JetCat,
What do you mean you don't breed back birds of different ages?  Are your pens full of the same "age" birds or the same breed bird?  Do you like the smaller pens or larger ones?  I suspect I'd only be breeding the Cortunix and I believe you can have different colored birds together so I'd think the main reason for smaller pens would be to know which stock is which and not interbreed or to have different breeds or ages of quail at the same time.  What system do you think works best?

Thank You,
SuseyQ

All birds in my breeding pens are the same age, mixing different age birds isn't a good idea. An 8 week old Coutronix and a 2 year old look identical but their fertility are drastically different. I guess you could band them if you wanted to mix different age but seams like more hassle then it's worth to me.

I keep my different color variations separated. I replace my breeding stock when I notice a decline in hatch ratio usually between 14 and 18 months.

Pen size is just personal preference, with 1:4 ratio in Coutronix I don't have fighting issues and excellent fertility but a few hens do have bare backs and that can be reduced with lower rooster ratios at a slight egg fertility drop. It's really just whatever works best for you and your setup.

 

[SuseyQ]

Jetcat,
I wasn't intending to mix different age birds, but I was thinking I could safely breed quail if I used a rooster from a different batch, but I guess there is no way to know what batch the original eggs came from. Just wondering how breeding would work and if it really can if you only have about 30 birds? When you hatch your own eggs do you breed with a new rooster or one from the hatchling batch? I guess this is my real question. Is there a concern regarding interbreeding? I'm assuming when you say you replace your breeding stock you remove the old stock for meat. What do you mean by hens having bare backs? Is this a pecking problem or something else? Also it seems you would only be concerned about fertility drop when you are breeding or trying to get hatchlings, is this accurate?

Thank You,
SuseyQ

 

[JetCat]

If you do the math out 20 hens and 4 roosters gives you 80 different mixed possibilities from each pen then multiply that by 12 pens you get a huge genetic diversity so problems with interbreeding don't show up for many many generations. Getting eggs from a different breeder every 7-10 yrs solves these issues.

 

[JetCat]

Yes I replace my breeding stock with young birds completely.

Bare backs are from breeding.

Sorry for the multi replies but I'm on my phone and it's difficult to scroll and read all your comments

 

[SuseyQ]

Jetcat,
Okay so how do you divide the eggs up initially to prevent interbreeding? I'm thinking if I get around 30 birds I would only have 3 pens. So I can see that being one way to prevent interbreeding. Are you able to discern which hen lays which egg with quails? Are you suggesting having a breeding pen where you put one male and female together at a time? How often do you replace your breeding stock? Yearly? I'm still unsure of what bare backs are. Does something happen to the hens when they breed? Do you use a separate breeding area from your egg production area?

Thank You,
SuseyQ

 

[JetCat]

You're getting way too deep into the thinking here. There are no need to separate your eggs there are no problems associated with inbreeding for many many many many generations, if you'll just add some diversity every 7-10 years you'll never have issues (this may be sooner in a small scale set up but not on the large with so many birds adding to the diversity)

Bare backs are caused by roosters breeding the hens so often, having higher hen to rooster ratios clears this up but you loose fertility in the eggs and it's not a problem for them to be bare backed other then cosmetically speaking.

 

[SuseyQ]

Jetcat,
Thank you for clarifying on all accounts.

SuseyQ

 

[JetCat]

Jetcat,
Thank you for clarifying on all accounts. 

SuseyQ

You're welcome. Here is what bareback looks like.

 

[SuseyQ]

Jetcat,
Got it and thank you.

SuseyQ