Lowest temperature quail can live outside

[DK newbie]

There you have the tibetan. He hatched out darker than the rosetta roo in the next picture and with dark legs and pink toes - a telltale sign of a tibetan, I've read.

Rosetta roo to the left, hen to the right. I think the difference in color is more obvious in real life.

And just because I'm posting pictures anyway, my gray hued rosetta hen.

 

[thatbeechick]

@thatbeechick looks like mine. Is this male/female? Can you do feather sex with Tibetans?

She's a girl. No, you can't feather sex with them. This was about two weeks before she started laying.

 

[thatbeechick]

View attachment 1911618
There you have the tibetan. He hatched out darker than the rosetta roo in the next picture and with dark legs and pink toes - a telltale sign of a tibetan, I've read.
View attachment 1911617
Rosetta roo to the left, hen to the right. I think the difference in color is more obvious in real life.
View attachment 1911619
And just because I'm posting pictures anyway, my gray hued rosetta hen.

My tuxedo Tibetan girl has pink middle toes like you've described.

 

[Maiahr]

@thatbeechick she is very interesting!!
@DK newbie I have a Tibetan/Rosetta which does not have pink toes.. are you sure ALL Tibetans have pink toes? Or do they appear at an older age? Mine is 25 days old.

 

[DK newbie]

I'm not sure all tibetans have pink toes no, but I think they are at least supposed to have dark legs, which yours don't seem to have (admittedly my tibetan roo doesn't have much pigment left in his legs, but I'm pretty sure he did when he was 25 days old). The pink toes are visible from they hatch. Rosettas, however, don't have the pink toes - yours might be a rosetta. I'm not exactly an expert at telling the two apart, but if my roos are typical the tibetans have very little pattern in their feathers compared to rosettas. Looks like the chest feathers of yours have a nice pattern. Could well be a rosetta, but a picture where the bird doesn't pretend to be dead (how did you make it do that?) might help

 

[Maiahr]

Right.. so I thought Rosetta is a subspecies of Tibetan. This is what I have read. I will wait for another week and will post a new picture. I am almost sure it is a she as she is calm, brave and quiet as opposed to the males who run around non-stop and yell all the time for nothing. All my baby quails like to sleep on their backs on my lap.

 

[thatbeechick]

@thatbeechick she is very interesting!!
@DK newbie I have a Tibetan/Rosetta which does not have pink toes.. are you sure ALL Tibetans have pink toes? Or do they appear at an older age? Mine is 25 days old.

She was born with her two pink toes, still has them now as an adult. They were even more prominent when she was little!

 

[Maiahr]

9.7C at night. They are still laying eggs, no extra light and no extra heating.

 

[Claire A]

9.7C at night. They are still laying eggs, no extra light and no extra heating.

It is amazing how hardy these little birds are, the temperature in my garden room - where my chicks now are, is about the same

I tell people who are worried about the cold to do a little experiment. Put several in a plastic box - put the lid on with an air space as big as your hand and leave them just 5 minutes. When you take them out you will notice the temperature inside is extremely warm and toasty

They will generate lots of heat in the small space naturally - so if you recreate this box type house outside (even in an open pen) - they will be happy birds

 

[Nabiki]

It's been in the mid 30s for the last few nights. My birds seem to be doing just fine. They're on the ground with some boxes for shelter. I've blocked some areas off to keep one end of their pen out of the wind, but I have a tyvek sheet coming today that I plan to cover about 3/4 of their pen with for the winter. That will give them wind and rain shelter.