new baby questions???

[imagine]

Yep, very original, gotta love 'em

 

[Del1977]

Hopefully your girls will lay quicker than our last lot did. Slightly older batch had males crowing at about 6 weeks but females took until nearly 11 weeks to lay. Hoping this next batch lay a bit sooner. Keep checking for eggs but none yet.

 

[Del1977]

LOL! Few hours after my last post yesterday my daughter found the first egg. So one of the females has started laying at 6.5 weeks. Have two definite females in that pen, a definite male, and a white one which is yet to let on whether it is male or female. No crowing, no foam, no eggs. Hopefully it will let us know in the next week or two.

 

[imagine]

That's awesome!! I am needing to make a couple cages, before my males start being mean to each other....though I haven't noticed them pecking at each other at all, anyone have any idea at what age they'll get fed up with one another?

 

[Del1977]

I find they can start fighting anytime from about a week after they start crowing, but seem to depend a bit on nature of the bird and how many males are in the cage, and of course how big the cage is. I find I can usually keep two males in a 2x2 metre cage with anywhere from 2-4 females and they mostly get along, especially once that initial hormone surge settles. Like I said though, depends a bit on the nature of the bird. Some are a lot more aggressive than others!

 

[imagine]

So, I got nervous about having so many boys and wasn't sure when I'd be able to make more cages for them so I traded my boys for girls. But while at the feed store I saw the most beautiful golden boy, so I got "him". "He" was kind of mean when I put him in with the girls so I kept him seperate with a high protein feed thinking that maybe he was pecking due to being malnourished, and also one of his eyes was a little swollen and crusty looking. So I kept him seperate for a week with the high protein feed, some ACV in his water, and a heat light on him to keep him nice n warm (I read somewhere that a cold bird will not get better ) By about the 4th day his eye was normal, and by 1 week I decided to try and put him with the girls again. He has been doing great for 4 days and hasn't been pecking them at all from what I can tell. But he is older than the previous boys I had had and I haven't heard him crow not once. So I did the foam test to see if he was a boy....no foam and no "man parts" that I could see...I think he is actually a SHE. I'll upload a picture of IT in a little bit, but it has barely any speckles on its chest...anyways just an update

 

[dc3085]

The reason your male qual was aggressive is because you didnt properly integrate him into the flock. Quail are one of the most territorial gamebirds you can keep they will defend what they believe is their territory with their life if necessary . To integrate birds place them side-by-side in full view of each other for 1 to 2 weeks and then mix all of the birds together in a cage that none have ever been in . This will eliminate 90% or more of the squabbling that happens when you mix quail together. In your case it turned out OK but often it will lead to the death or maiming of the new bird inserted into the group.

Edited to fix voice typing errors

 

[imagine]

Hind sight...when he was seperated for a week he was in a cage right next to the others should have done that from the beginning I was just not too worried about it because the 3 new females and him were in cages right next to each other at the feed store so I though it'd be fine...it's all a learning experience

 

[imagine]

So, I'm getting ready for bed and it's supposed to be freezing tonight and I didn't want the quails to get too cold I went to put a towel over their cage (they're indoor) and I found our first egg!! I am so so so excited!!! Look...

 

[Del1977]

Congratulations! First eggs are always eggciting! I found a tiny 'extra' egg in one of our cages a couple of days ago, and assuming it was from one of the new quail we had put in there we removed the ones we were going to sell in case it was one of them, need to keep the females, and it hasn't layed again since. Took the risk and sold the ones we were going to anyway. Seem to have upset the flock as they haven't been laying so well since.