New coturnix quail

[PittyLova]

Hey guys! I just picked up 21 coturnix quail from somebody who is getting out of birds. They were in a heated shed with many other species of birds in quite deplorable conditions (a pair of chickens in a small guinea pig cage-too small for a guinea pig to be happy).

Luckily the quail seem healthy. They are young...8-12 weeks from what I was told. I do have a couple of questions...

First, a few have stuffed caked around their poor toes. Should I just soak them in warm water to get it off?

Second, is it true you can only keep 1 male per cage? Or is that if you don't have enough females/minimum space? I have one very large cage split into 2. I was going to use 1 side as a grow out pen. I'm also adding an outdoor run for them in the spring. I was told 16 are female and 5 are male.

Third, they were in a heated shed..any way to get them adjusted to going into their cage in the barn or am I stuck with 21 indoor quail until spring?

And 4th, can you guys confirm what I have? I have no idea who is male, what type is what except the two male A&M whites.

 

[feedman77]

You have Rosetta in 1,4,5, and 6.

Pic 2 and 3 are male bobwhite. 1 is a snowflake.

Bob's can be mean towards cotournix so if you keep them in together be careful.

Congrats on the new quail

 

[pineapple416]

Yes soaking them in water should do the trick. They are so adorable I love quail! Don't know much about sexing quail and how many you should have per pen though sorry. Be careful not to heat shock them though so you might have to wait until spring or slowly acclimate them to the outdoors.

 

[feedman77]

1 to 5 is a good ratio of males to hens.

I have kept more than 1 male in a pen. Maybe i was lucky but they didn't fight (to the death). Just minor squabbles.

The Rosetta quail are not sexable by color. You gave to wait til they lay or you see them mate. Then there is vent sexing. If the male is active you will know by doing this.

What are your temps now. Do you have a garage or shed you can put them in to a limate them slowly. Or can you put a small heat source in the sheltered area of your pen so they could warm up some if they so desired.

 

[PittyLova]

Oh good lord lol! I was told those 2 were male pharoahs.

I'll soak their feet tomorrow after they settle a little bit. Thank you! Almost all of them have at least one foot covered.

I'm in northern NH....yesterday was almost 60...today 10 degrees. I can probably put a heat lamp in part of their pen.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Diamond Dan]

Definitely a couple are bobwhites

 

[PittyLova]

It's too bad....they are the cutest lol! I now notice the different head and beaks. I know what I'm having for dinner ‍

 

[feedman77]

They are delicious.

You might check your hens maybe they mistakenly sold you a hen Bob.

 

[PittyLova]

We went threw all of our quail last night after building their pen in the barn. Definitely only the 2 bobwhites. Almost all of them had their feet caked so they went into the tub with a cage topper over them to soak. Looks like the male to female ration was correct. I was secretly hoping for female bob whites, because they were just so pretty. But I can't see buying females and setting up a separate cage because I happened to have 2 male.

We did find two that were injured while inspecting them all. Skin torn away from their necks. So they got butchered with the bobs.

Everybody went out into the new pen last night, I put a heat lamp on top of the enclosed area and it keeps it warmer, but not overly warm. they were all running around seeming very pleased with themselves this morning.

Do they like...eat hay?? I put some into the house with them for additional snuggling material, but most of it disappeared overnight. It's possible it's buried in shavings, but I didn't really see any!

 

[JaeG]

They will flatten hay or straw right down so that's probably what's happening.

The Bobwhites are pretty things, but from what I've read on here they need to be kept in pairs and need more space than the Coturnix.

Are the others giving you any clues what they are gender wise? I've noticed in my rosetta ones the male does look redder round his head. I think your two (the last two pictured) are females.