When to remove extra males?

[Lilyofsalen]

Hi,
So I'm still not sure exactly how many roos (however, I have at least 5) I have because I don't see any foam or bumps, hear crowing, or see any breeding behavior. My plan was to wait until I heard/saw bullying and remove the aggravators. However, the more I read through posts on this forum, the more I realize that it might be time to remove excess males and put them in a bachelor pad before things get ugly (. . . This is solid reasoning, right?

I am building some ground pens right now. Two side by side 3'x3' breeding pens designed to hold a breeding pair each and another 1.5' x 6' built for grow-outs that will sit on top of the breeding pens. The grow-out pen can detach from the breeding pens for easy transportation. When I finish building I will put all quail that I know are roos into one of the pens and keep a group with proper male-to-female in my aviary.

What I want to know is, how can I make a bachelor pad work? And also, if (in the future) I were to put a divider in the grow-out pen to keep roos and hens separate would this work if the roos could not see the hens at all? I read from another thread that roos should not see/hear/smell hens to make a successful bachelor pad.

 

[gdg327]

I know that this is off subject but I would love to see pictures of your cages when completed. I am a fairly newbie so I don’t have any experience in this matter but will follow. I have 60 eggs in my homemade incubator now with less than a week to lockdown.

 

[Nabiki]

Your bachelor pad might work if the boys can't see or hear any of the girls. They may or may not fight regardless.

FYI, if you're breeding coturnix quail, pairs are not the best way to go. You want one roo with 3-5 hens.

 

[Lilyofsalen]

Whoops, I meant breeding sets. I plan on having one roo to 5-6 hens in the breeding pens. But I'll try and see how a bachelor pad goes. But if a good age to process quail is 8 weeks and they can become crazy hormonal machines before that, how is it that they can be kept until that age?


I'll post pictures when I'm done but I use a lot of scrap/pallet wood so my pens may not be the prettiest.

 

[Nabiki]

Whoops, I meant breeding sets. I plan on having one roo to 5-6 hens in the breeding pens. But I'll try and see how a bachelor pad goes. But if a good age to process quail is 8 weeks and they can become crazy hormonal machines before that, how is it that they can be kept until that age?


I'll post pictures when I'm done but I use a lot of scrap/pallet wood so my pens may not be the prettiest.

I usually start processing mine at 6-8 weeks. When they start causing trouble, they're big enough to eat.