Quail questions

[CoturnixComplex]

I just came across a breeder in my state that sells chicks, juveniles and breeding sets. They are a little farther away than I would like but seems to be only local option. They sell Italian, Manchurian, Tibetan, silver and tuxedo. I was originally only wanting to get the common or wild type due to being able to easily feather sex them. Are any of these color variations easy to visually sex? Maybe Italians?

Italians are feather-sexable! None of the others, though (well, maybe silver but it's kind of complicated and I haven't confirmed it totally yet).

 

[rek9]

Ok great! Thanks! Great looking bird in your avatar CoturnixComplex! What is that?

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Ok great! Thanks! Great looking bird in your avatar CoturnixComplex! What is that?

I call them charcoals and I've seen at least one other person do the same so I'm stickin' with it. I think it's the same gene that's sold as 'dark silver' on ebay though. Seeing as how there are two other silver genes I find that unnecessarily confusing.

 

[rek9]

Update: I made contact with a quail breeder who has Italians and sells sexed young hens for $3-4 each or straight run for $2-3 each. He is located 1 hour and 25 minutes away. A little farther that I would like. My questions is: If I am wanting quail just for eggs at this time should I just get the Italians or bite the bullet and get an incubator and order some jumbo quail eggs from Kansas City quail or other reputable source and try my hand at incubation? Decisions, decisions ....

 

[Sky5678]

Update: I made contact with a quail breeder who has Italians and sells sexed young hens for $3-4 each or straight run for $2-3 each. He is located 1 hour and 25 minutes away. A little farther that I would like. My questions is: If I am wanting quail just for eggs at this time should I just get the Italians or bite the bullet and get an incubator and order some jumbo quail eggs from Kansas City quail or other reputable source and try my hand at incubation? Decisions, decisions ....

If you end up getting hatching eggs, you're going to wind up with males and you will have to either cull some of them or rehome them. Or you can breed the males and females together (keep a breeding ratio) for more eggs, and try your hand at incubating them for more females. From my research, inbreeding in birds isn't bad unless it's done for several generations, which will weaken the genetic line.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Update: I made contact with a quail breeder who has Italians and sells sexed young hens for $3-4 each or straight run for $2-3 each. He is located 1 hour and 25 minutes away. A little farther that I would like. My questions is: If I am wanting quail just for eggs at this time should I just get the Italians or bite the bullet and get an incubator and order some jumbo quail eggs from Kansas City quail or other reputable source and try my hand at incubation? Decisions, decisions ....

If you end up getting hatching eggs, you're going to wind up with males and you will have to either cull some of them or rehome them. Or you can breed the males and females together (keep a breeding ratio) for more eggs, and try your hand at incubating them for more females. From my research, inbreeding in birds isn't bad unless it's done for several generations, which will weaken the genetic line.

Sky raises a good point, but I want to make it clear that even if you do decide to keep some males for breeding, you WILL have to be ready to cull most of them. That's why I don't tend to recommend incubation for people not willing to indulge in the meat aspect as well

I would get the italians personally! Like I said, jumbos are not good layers.