Red quail or ???

[jen85]

Hi, I ordered 30 Tennessee red quail eggs and 16 hatched. It looks like Half of them are red and part are some other color? All the eggs were white. It doesn't really matter what color they are but I am curious.

 

[MrNappy]

Wait for em to grow. Best and easiest thing to do. If you still don't know by the time they are 4-6 weeks than post another pic.

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes...both of those chicks look like Tennessee Reds. They will molt into their new feathers.

 

[TwoCrows]

They will have completely molted into their adult feathers at around 12 weeks old. And they are nearly impossible to sex as well as both the male and female look similar. LOL

 

[jen85]

Ok thanks! Sucks about not being able to sex them! I was only going to keep 5 or 6 of them. Do they act different when they are adults?

 

[TwoCrows]

All you can really do is let them pair off as adults and then watch who does most of the on top mounting. It is common for females to mount boys and girls as well, but once they get started in laying, you will be able to tell who is who. Generally the males are more aggressive than the females.

But always keep them in pairs. (you can not colony raise Tennessee Reds.) So I would keep 6 of them. And when they do mature up, you may need to keep the pairs separate during breeding season. Tennessee Reds can be pretty aggressive and may not play nice during this time. They can all come back together during the off breeding season of fall thru spring.

 

[jen85]

Hmmm.... Maybe we'll eat them and get something else lol. thanks