Quails and chickens?

[Cydneybirdlova8]

Thing is, I really don want my dad to know until it happens. Lol. He is so against the whole bird thing it's not even funny. So instead of buying them, can't I just breed them? I found out today that a friend of my moms is probably getting me some coturnix female for Christmas to go with my males. So do you think that they will breed and lay some eggs? I can incubate from there but I just need the eggs without the whole shipping and process. Thanks for all the help! I'm not sure how many though. Probably only 2. But I heard that you need 8 female to like 2 male? To be sure to get fertile eggs? Is that true? And even so, I don't care I just want to try and get maybe 2 or 3 babies in all? I don't need many.

 

[TwoCrows]

One male can fertilize a harem of hens. You will want to keep at least 4 and up to 7 hens with ONE male. Any less hens and the get mated to death, any more and the eggs are less likely to be fertile. Never keep to males together unless you have NO females.

So if you get your brood together, they will mate and the hens will lay eggs. It takes about 2 weeks of mating before the eggs are fertile. You will need to incubate in an incubator. Use a good quality bator, follow all the proper guidelines and if you set 6 eggs, there is no reason you shouldn't get at least 3 to hatch.

Keep us posted and we can help you thru the process of incubation.

 

[Cydneybirdlova8]

Thing is is that I have 2 coturnix males. If I get 2 coturnix females, how would I arrange them? I can have them together for a few days then separate the males and females. Or. I can do 2 pairs. I can separate then at different times and stuff. Lets just say this: i have the 2 coturnix males(I have them now) and 2 coturnix females(going to get them in a few months). What should be the situation???

 

[TwoCrows]

You really need to get a couple more hens as two hens is too little for one male. It is not the amount of males, but the time. Takes two weeks of mating for good fertility. You could try keeping only two females with one of the males, however you will need to watch them VERY closely. If the male just won't leave the females alone enough so they can eat, drink, sleep and rest, the exhaustion will kill the hens. If he behaves, (some do, but most boys don't) you might get away with just two hens with one male. You could try out each male and see which one mounts them the least, giving the hens a break.

You could always leave the male in with the hens for half the day, and then remove him for the rest of the day and give the hens a break. That is an idea....

 

[Cydneybirdlova8]

Thanks ill try that. It will be a while though. I'm getting the females for Christmas. Grrr wish I could get them sooner

 

[TwoCrows]

Are you in the US? Or at least north of the equator...as in winter?? If so, quail are seasonal layers, which means they lay spring thru to fall. So you will probably need to add lighting and heat to get them to lay. If they are still quite young yet, you might want to hold off on the forced laying until they are a bit older.

When you get them, come back here with pics and we can help you from there.

 

[Cydneybirdlova8]

I live in Illinois. But as of right now, my birds are in my basement. We're planning on moving to a farm in the next year. So there's light on all time if needed. They have heat if needed and light and all things they need so there not missing out on much.

 

[TwoCrows]

Quail need about 14 hours of daylight to lay. Never leave a light on longer than this. It can harm their health and even kill them.

Good luck and hope you can wait till christmas!

 

[Cydneybirdlova8]

Quail need about 14 hours of daylight to lay. Never leave a light on longer than this. It can harm their health and even kill them.

Good luck and hope you can wait till christmas!

Thanks!! Hope so too

 

[Mollie4dogs]

Now, if only someone can come up with a Turducken ;-)... save me the trouble of ordering online, LOL.