New here... need some help :)

[VickieB57]

After my chicks matured I put 8 hens in each cage with 2 roos. I had 2 cages. The roos were just way too hard on the hens, and i had to cull a roo from each cage. In my experience (which is extremely limited, I just started this last August) 1 roo to 3 or 4 hens is not a good ratio. The roo is going to be too hard on the hens.

 

[karlwakim]

My main concern now is their sex. Do all coturnix females have black dots? Is there any kind of coturnix that can't be sexed by chest color?

 

[Sess]

I spent like 5 hours reading about quail. But what confused me was that the vendor claimed that he gave me a female. I assumed that not all coturnix females have dots on their chests.

No most coturnix females will have dots on their chest there is the rare case of females not to have them but again thats rare another way to tell a male from a female is that the males are smaller and the females are bigger you can also feel above their vent that the males will be dense and the females will sink in a bit that means they have a egg sac for eggs.

 

[sniper338]

There are many different flavors of coturnix as well... they all have different color patterns... with these in this point they are regular brown coturnix... your roos will have the rusty red colors come out on their head neck and breast.... and the hens will be brown with a tan and black spot veriation on their breast...

Now... if it crows... its a roo...

Vent testing.... on a rooster/male.. you can hold it and turn it over and give a slight squeeze there at the sides of the bung hole... if it secreets a white foam looking substance everytime you squeeze it... its a male... that foam aids in the transfer of sperm....

The females... will not secreet this foam... UNLESS they ate freashly breed...


Use the search option and search for vent testing...

 

[karlwakim]

I did vent test before even posting here. I did get some foam from my two older ones. But it's very different from I see on youtube. It looks more like bubbly saliva than white foam.

 

[spikennipper]

The two larger ones are male but it would help if we can get a chest shot of the smaller one to confirm as it is difficult without seeing the breast feathers on a younger quail.

 

[karlwakim]

The 3rd link in 'C' is a chest shot. All 3 have almost the same chest color.

 

[karlwakim]

And thanks to all of you

 

[sniper338]

The 3rd link in "C" - is a Male - A rooster.... If they look like that they are males....

Females will have black spots covering their whole breast. Females will not have that rusty red color breast...

If all three of your birds look like this picture you have three males... and as I stated eariler... separate them or.. yada yada...

 

[karlwakim]

I went to another vendor... he wasn't a stupid liar like the guys who sold me males instead of females. I got 5 females, they look very different. I will finally start having eggs.