Quail with Head Wounds?

[rodriguezpoultry]

Again, I'm assuming that in chickens are like quail in that too many males will give the females a headache.

Is this correct? I have several females (and some males) that are battered looking. Some are "squatting" when I move my hand close to them, but most run in fear.

Am I looking for eggs anytime soon? They turned 6 weeks this week!

Sorry, they are coturnix. I did a count and had 11 females and 5 males (and 1 I'm not quite sure about...).

They did a number one of the females and I believe she has a broken leg. The shank is swollen up. It just happened not 40 minutes ago...swelled up as I was handling them and counting and marking which ones to keep.



ALSO: Is there some distinct thing I should be looking for in coturnix? I've been looking at the "largest" of them. All females are being kept, but the males have been selected for breast feel? Is that correct?

 

[monarc23]

WAYYY too many roos per hens there lol i'd deffinatly remove roos or you're going to wake up one day with hens with no eyes believe me it gets really bad really fast. You only need 2 roos for that many hens....those other boys either need freezer camp or put them in a bachelor pen together.

You can select them whichever way you want, some go off of weight others go off of feeling the breast width. I just cull any excess roos, keeping the heaviest roos for breeding (and keeping the ratio correct which is 1 roo to 5 hens).

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Awesome!

I've marked the two good males, and have a "backup" for the just-in-case factor that always seems to happen.

The females I'm keeping. All of them.

Freezer camp for the other boys!!

 

[AHappychick]

yep head wounds and other things are common. I do 4 hens to a boy and that seems to work well. all injuries (not broken legs of course) get blue koted and they go in the quail hospital for the day or so until partly healed and then off to a new pen where they are better liked.
I found switching them up causes chaos so I try not do do that often if possible.

enjoy

 

[monarc23]

nothing wrong with back up roos

It's very ..musical...having bachelor pads but I like hearing it

I only have 2 bachelor pens right now, one with just one roo in it (he crows allllniiiight loonnng since he has no girls lol) and then my other one has two young roos and one really old roo in it... I guess they are pets because i have no breeding plans for them

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Is it "ok" to keep all the quail together? The 2 males and the 11 females? What about the third possible male?

Can someone tell me if it's a male or female? It lacks the rusty color on it's breast, but doesn't have spots either:

Here is the female that broke her leg:

 

[bkvail]

I keep my 9 hens and 2 roo's all together in an 8'x8' pen in the yard under the tree's. They have been doing really well there - egg collecting is kinda a pain is my only complaint with that setup.