Scalping

[beggas82]

Can make quail scalp other male quail? I came to my cage to see one of my males completely scalped.....had to put him down

 

[DK newbie]

Yes, they can. Usually it's not advisable to have more than one male in a cage. Though it could be a hen that did it too.

 

[allo]

possibly few females put more females or reduce the males

 

[beggas82]

Just had another scalping, time to remove the culprit i think

 

[Football8841]

Can anyone tell me which is male and which is female? New to quail. I put them in this cage to hopefully make them stick out better to see. Not sure of age. Any guesses? I had the scalping problem also today. So separating into pairs and trios. Thanks!

 

[DK newbie]

Female left, male right. But most people advice 3-7 hens for one roo when we are talking coturnix - not pairs or trios!

 

[Football8841]

Oh, thanks, I was told they were bobwhite! Are these young?

 

[DK newbie]

I don't have coturnix, but from reading this forum they are mature have adult feathering at about 6-8 weeks and with my knowledge I at least can't discern the age of birds any older than 6 weeks, which I would say yours are. The fact that they are scalping each other also suggests that they are at least mature.
By the way, you tell the sexes apart by looking at the chest - spots equals female, no spots and a slightly rust tint equals males. Sometimes, in particular with young ones, it can be hard to tell - there might be just a few spots and it could be either, but yours are easy, even for me who only knows the species from pictures ^^.

 

[Football8841]

Well I sure appreciate your help and for being so kind. Thank you

 

[allo]

i raise coturnix and these look mature , they mature on day 40 to day 45 for males and start laying eggs around day 45 , also if you see bits of foam on the ground then males are mature