New to the quail questions.

[rittert3]

exactly, I would go with a 3/13 ratio in your setting and adjust it if needed, keep out about 8 roos if you have them just incase.

 

[joe125]

Quote:
It's not quite as easy as that, but you will figure it out when you are low crawling over wire to gather eggs on the vent side of a 4x4 pen, and please keep some spare roos. Just because someone says that an X amount of roos to Y amount of hens is good....That doesn't mean that they will always get along together. You will have your fair share of problem children.

 

[Stellar]

Trial and error

 

[Missi]

How do you cull a quail? Weeks & weeks & weeks ago we had a dying baby & my hubby took a shovel & QUICKLY decapitated it (& I kept my back turned & cried). That's how finishes off suffering rats he finds on the job.

 

[jeslewmazer]

Quote:
That depends on what you want. If you are raising large meat birds, then keep the largest birds. If there is a particular color, then pick the best of the color you like. Don't over cull roos, and keep some spares if you have the space for them.
Though the younger the bird the more tender they are, but coturnix don't get tough like chickens as they age. There is little difference in a 10 week old and a 10 month old.

true!


keep the ones you like, cull the others...that simple

so for my 12 females I would need to keep a total of around 6 males, and just pick what I like to keep. It sounds easy, but I guess i'll see.

 

[joe125]

Quote:
true!


keep the ones you like, cull the others...that simple

so for my 12 females I would need to keep a total of around 6 males, and just pick what I like to keep. It sounds easy, but I guess i'll see.

Maybe not all at once, but you really do need some extra roos!

This simple flow chart (Sorry, I'm not a genetics expert and generally suck at VISO (TM))

This is a very SIMPLE genetic model that can produce up to 1200+ genetically OK offspring from 2 roos and 6 hens in a single first generational year. If you are shooting for the flying purple people eater coturnix, then the model gets a bit more complicated.
It assumes that all birds are of acceptable quality, and assumes that you don't want to raise 20,000+ birds in your first year. Next year, you cross the R1Hx offspring with the R2Hx offspring. (I assume everyone that has hatched 1200+ coturnix by now, has at least 2 hatchers so you can keep them separate.

Now things get totally crazy, and you will be building pens out the butt! If properly mixed, then 8 becomes 1200, and 1200 becomes 60,000 without any inbreeding or exaggeration as long as you have bator/brooder/pen space to follow the model out to the end.


Sorry for the edit but I had some tech. difficulties!

Now tell someone that they are inbreeding their coturnix! It's simple math, and it's rhetorical, and 99.999% free of trolling.

Please check my numbers!

 

[jeslewmazer]

For breeding I should keep at least 2 roos for every 2-4 hens. Plus plenty of pens.

The chart does help. Is it basically the same as breeding chickens?
So, if I am not exactly certain of the breeding quality. Such as if any are closely related. I should see problems in the first or second generation. Then I would have to start over or introduce new breeding stock, right?

 

[jeslewmazer]

Quote:
I have read from many places that people use small hand shears. Like pruning shears. But, I have not culled any of mine yet.

 

[Missi]

Quote:
I have read from many places that people use small hand shears. Like pruning shears. But, I have not culled any of mine yet.

That's just CRAZY!!! I just hope we never have to dispatch another bird again! YIKES!

 

[Stellar]

Quote:
so for my 12 females I would need to keep a total of around 6 males, and just pick what I like to keep. It sounds easy, but I guess i'll see.

Maybe not all at once, but you really do need some extra roos!

This simple flow chart (Sorry, I'm not a genetics expert and generally suck at VISO (TM))

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/68119_geneflow.jpg

This is a very SIMPLE genetic model that can produce up to 1200+ genetically OK offspring from 2 roos and 6 hens in a single first generational year. If you are shooting for the flying purple people eater coturnix, then the model gets a bit more complicated.
It assumes that all birds are of acceptable quality, and assumes that you don't want to raise 20,000+ birds in your first year. Next year, you cross the R1Hx offspring with the R2Hx offspring. (I assume everyone that has hatched 1200+ coturnix by now, has at least 2 hatchers so you can keep them separate.

Now things get totally crazy, and you will be building pens out the butt! If properly mixed, then 8 becomes 1200, and 1200 becomes 60,000 without any inbreeding or exaggeration as long as you have bator/brooder/pen space to follow the model out to the end.


Sorry for the edit but I had some tech. difficulties!

Now tell someone that they are inbreeding their coturnix! It's simple math, and it's rhetorical, and 99.999% free of trolling.

Please check my numbers!

Looks good to me!!