Male/female separation logistics

[holbytla]

Today I separated my 5.5 week old Coturnix quail into male and female pens after discovering blood on the cheek of one of the hens (the blood was also on her claw so it's possible she scratched herself, but she's temporarily sequestered in order to heal up). Yesterday at least two of the males started mounting hens, so I figured it was time.

My question is this: how do I select the roos I want to breed and should I keep them with the hens right now, or should I reintroduce them when I'm ready to breed my next clutch? I currently have 12 roos and 11 hens. I plan to keep 2 males for breeding and cull the rest for meat.

 

[Whiskybear]

A simple principle to consider here is that the later they are introduced, the greater the likelihood of problems.

 

[holbytla]

A simple principle to consider here is that the later they are introduced, the greater the likelihood of problems.

Makes sense.

I'm currently watching their behavior in their separate pens - the hens are all totally chill while the guys are in varying states of either chilling, shoving others around, or crowing, and one is running back and forth, clambering over and under the other boys even though there's plenty of room to go around. Hard to decide who gets to go live with the ladies at this point.

 

[holbytla]

This idiot is the one who keeps climbing over the others' heads while they're trying to get a drink He's my favorite but he's also my escape artist and I'm not sure that's the kind of behavior I want coming down the gene pool.

 

[Nabiki]

How to choose the male depends on what characteristics you're looking for. If you want big birds, look at your big males. If you want fancy colours, look at their colours. I do recommend taking disposition into account, since you may not want to breed the more aggressive or flighty ones.