quail gender behaviors in 2 week old quail

[lehouseofdog]

I know you guys have probably discussed this before but I didn't see it going right down the list. I hatched some eggs and have 28 babies. I am giving them away to people locally. I have silver in solid and tuxedo, white, red (in various shades from pink to darker), wild color, dark range and tibetan tuxedo and a couple of silver with red mixed together. Anyway, I have been trying to guess genders from their general behavior because of course no-one wants Roosters and I'm thinking that I have mostly Roosters.

I've decided to keep 3 and I have to pick tonight before the second person comes to get their set (I've given away 8 already). I wanted to keep the silver tuxedo, a white one and one of the strange silver/red combos.

They are 2 weeks old, almost fully feathered except their heads. The only wild color one I already gave away because she had a spotted breast. I've been trying to guess based on their body size. Thinking that the ones that are getting plumper are going to be girls and the skinnier more active ones are going to be boys?

I've also noticed that some stand really tall and peep and so I assumed those were going to be boys as well.

The question that I had was when I picked out the silver tuxedo and put her in a separate container, s/he went from just kind of sitting around being plump to standing tall and peeping.

I want to get better at this. I'm hatching another 20 but those will go back to my friend that has the quail. She was excited that I got silver as she thought she didn't have any more. I think she does, maybe they've just faded really bad since they are outside and get sun a lot. These are photos I took almost a week ago.

I'm hoping I don't have mostly roosters but I fear that I may. What is the normal ratio in a hatch? surely I didn't hatch 20 boys.

 

[lehouseofdog]

Here are some more photos of the 20 I have left.I took these photos this morning so they are exactly 2 weeks old. This is the one that is a weird silver/red combination. I was going to keep this one because it looks so unusual.

This is one of the ones I wanted to keep, I was thinking it was a silver tuxedo but her silver is really a dark gray. She was black and yellow when she hatched.

This is the dark one, I'm assuming because no spots that this one will probably be a boy?


one of the dark reds - boy?



This is the light red, this one actually hatched yellow with faint red stripes. Boy because no spots?

 

[eHuman]

Very pretty babies. I have 17 of them that are 2 weeks old today too!

 

[MonicaRenee]

I am a first timer as well and not very good on the feathers and all that but I normally just look at the bottom butt area if it has the puffy spot boy. That is pretty much all I know about the sexing though. Hope maybe that helps. I am still very green at all this as well.

 

[UniqueQuail]

For most of the hybrids you will need to wait until 4 to 6 weeks old and vent sex them. You will need to keep an eye on the hens as some texas (whites) and others hybrid males can mature late and sneak through as hens.

 

[MegTheHenEggQueen]

I know you guys have probably discussed this before but I didn't see it going right down the list. I hatched some eggs and have 28 babies. I am giving them away to people locally. I have silver in solid and tuxedo, white, red (in various shades from pink to darker), wild color, dark range and tibetan tuxedo and a couple of silver with red mixed together. Anyway, I have been trying to guess genders from their general behavior because of course no-one wants Roosters and I'm thinking that I have mostly Roosters.

I've decided to keep 3 and I have to pick tonight before the second person comes to get their set (I've given away 8 already). I wanted to keep the silver tuxedo, a white one and one of the strange silver/red combos.

They are 2 weeks old, almost fully feathered except their heads. The only wild color one I already gave away because she had a spotted breast. I've been trying to guess based on their body size. Thinking that the ones that are getting plumper are going to be girls and the skinnier more active ones are going to be boys?

I've also noticed that some stand really tall and peep and so I assumed those were going to be boys as well.

The question that I had was when I picked out the silver tuxedo and put her in a separate container, s/he went from just kind of sitting around being plump to standing tall and peeping.

I want to get better at this. I'm hatching another 20 but those will go back to my friend that has the quail. She was excited that I got silver as she thought she didn't have any more. I think she does, maybe they've just faded really bad since they are outside and get sun a lot. These are photos I took almost a week ago.

I'm hoping I don't have mostly roosters but I fear that I may. What is the normal ratio in a hatch? surely I didn't hatch 20 boys.

You sound exactly like me. Living the same life!!! We will be pros soon and know more than hatcheries. I can do chickens REALLY well like almost 100% I may second guess and ask but I almost certainly can pick the boys from girls which is good before I give them away (I’ll keep the girls)

 

[Huntmaster]

Sorry old post and poster hasn't been on BYC since 2019

 

[MegTheHenEggQueen]

I am a first timer as well and not very good on the feathers and all that but I normally just look at the bottom butt area if it has the puffy spot boy. That is pretty much all I know about the sexing though. Hope maybe that helps. I am still very green at all this as well.

And the puffy spot doesn’t show up until week 5+. I typically look at the vent. If it’s like this — then female if it’s like this O then male. It makes more sense once they start laying. Had to have enough room for an egg to pass.

 

[Huntmaster]

And the puffy spot doesn’t show up until week 5+. I typically look at the vent. If it’s like this — then female if it’s like this O then male. It makes more sense once they start laying. Had to have enough room for an egg to pass.

Sorry old post and poster hasn't been on since 2016 better to start new posts rather than try to get responses from such old posts. And you can see last dates posters responded on BYC to see if they are still active or not to even reply to your posts.