Overbreeding Quails

[alisa2860]

I have a few questions about overbreeding quails, like how much is too much for overbreeding one female quail. In my house we have one female and three males. We’ve separated them all so they would stop attacking each other. This person in my house keeps wanting to mate the female quail with a male one and is constantly putting them together whenever nobody is around. I’ve told him how she can be overbred since she’s been laying white eggs, dark eggs, or not even laying any at all. He argues back with they can be with each other for 5 minutes or more but she doesn’t seem to move as much anymore. Ive read about females getting stressed out but can someone explain to me when you need to really worry about overbreeding. She seems okay right now but I know it’ll get worse soon.

 

[Quailobsessed]

People generally recommend around five females for one male, but that will depend on individual birds. Some males will still overbreed them with ten females, but some can have only one female with no overbreeding (like some of mine).

There are plenty of stories of females being badly injured or even killed by a male (not to say that paring can't be done. I actually really like paring, but it needs to be done right).

Are you planning to keep all three males? If so, are you able to get more females so they can all have company but be safe?

 

[alisa2860]

People generally recommend around five females for one male, but that will depend on individual birds. Some males will still overbreed them with ten females, but some can have only one female with no overbreeding (like some of mine).

There are plenty of stories of females being badly injured or even killed by a male (not to say that paring can't be done. I actually really like paring, but it needs to be done right).

Are you planning to keep all three males? If so, are you able to get more females so they can all have company but be safe?

Yeah we do plan on keeping all the males but this person wants to have these two quails mate and have babies so I don’t know if we will have females. But this also happened in the past, we had another female quail and he kept putting her in with a male and she was already in bad condition, she started laying these dark brown eggs and had a prolapsed can’t a few times then a few days later she passed away. Our female quail right now is starting to lay some brown eggs but not as dark, I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not. Also we separate them because of how aggressive each male is, I don’t know how to tell this person to stop because from time to time the female quail makes these noises that sound like she’s in pain.

 

[Nabiki]

One male to one female is going to cause overbreeding in most cases. There are exceptions, but they are rare. If she is overbred or stressed, she may well stop laying entirely.

 

[Cazook]

what has the egg colour got to do with it?

3 males and 1 female is too many.

 

[alisa2860]

One male to one female is going to cause overbreeding in most cases. There are exceptions, but they are rare. If she is overbred or stressed, she may well stop laying entirely.

I’ve read that white eggs means she’s stressed and brown eggs means it’s been in her for too long. And he only puts this one male with the female but this particular male is really aggressive, but he’s constantly putting them together I don’t know if that’s overbreeding? But she does seem stressed, if she does stop laying entirely will it kill her?

 

[Cazook]

cull the aggressive male? who is this person that is putting them in the same pen? i'm not sure why you would want to breed genetics from an aggressive bird.

 

[Nabiki]

I’ve read that white eggs means she’s stressed and brown eggs means it’s been in her for too long. And he only puts this one male with the female but this particular male is really aggressive, but he’s constantly putting them together I don’t know if that’s overbreeding? But she does seem stressed, if she does stop laying entirely will it kill her?

It won't kill her, but it does defeat the purposed of getting fertile eggs out of her. The colour of the egg *might* have to do with stress, etc, but might also have to do with her individual pattern.

 

[alisa2860]

cull the aggressive male? who is this person that is putting them in the same pen? i'm not sure why you would want to breed genetics from an aggressive bird.

Well we’re not farming them, we actually have them as pets so we wouldn’t cull any of them but when a female keeps being overbred, can she possibly die? My last female quail was definitely overbred but she passed away because of a prolapsed vent that kept coming out.

 

[MDBird]

I think a prolapsed vent can be caused by over breeding, but I'm fer from.an expert. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in.