Which method to keep quail crowing to a minimum

[Shamo123]

I'll try and keep this short.

The plan is to have a 2 tier cage (already got a frame i can use) with 4-5 females in the bottom tier and 4-5 on top, i only really need 1 roo and i was hoping to move it every week or 2 in to the different tiers. From what i understand quail roos crow less when they have enough females (which they will have in this case) but what about when using this method?

The other 2 options is to keep 1 roo in 1 tier and 1 in the other, the final option (which i will have to build from scratch) is 2 roos and 8-10 hens in the same cage.

 

[Lapsa]

Hey


Do You want fertile eggs? Because in our experience hens are happier without boys present...

We now have only hens (but we want to get some boys for breeding purposes or maybe just fertile eggs for incubation). Previously we had to remove boys, as hens kind of started hating them - they got scalped regularly. And they were all raised together. Maybe someone knows why this happened?

 

[Shamo123]

Hey


Do You want fertile eggs? Because in our experience hens are happier without boys present...

We now have only hens (but we want to get some boys for breeding purposes or maybe just fertile eggs for incubation). Previously we had to remove boys, as hens kind of started hating them - they got scalped regularly. And they were all raised together. Maybe someone knows why this happened?

Yeah I'm definitely planning for fertile eggs. I forgot to mention it's coturnix I'm talking about (jumbo) and I'm raising them for meat.

How many hens did you have per roo? If you had too few then i can see why they would have been stressed or maybe the males were aggressive. I guess space could have also been an issue, hard to say really.

I've decided i'm just going have 1 tier with 4-5 hens and 1 rooster, it will be easier to clean and i can always experiment with more hens.

 

[dc3085]

Swapping a roo back and forth is a bad idea. Its going to screw up your egg production and youll have a bunch of beat up birds every time you switch. These birds are far too territorial for that, they will defend their cages with their life. To properly introduce a bird to an existing group takes up two weeks placed in a cage side by side with the others and then the birds should all be mixed in a third cage none have ever been in.

Happy roosters dont crow, if you put one in each cage you might hear one a couple times a week.

 

[dc3085]

Hey


Do You want fertile eggs? Because in our experience hens are happier without boys present...

We now have only hens (but we want to get some boys for breeding purposes or maybe just fertile eggs for incubation). Previously we had to remove boys, as hens kind of started hating them - they got scalped regularly. And they were all raised together. Maybe someone knows why this happened?

How many hens to roosters were you running?

 

[Shamo123]

Swapping a roo back and forth is a bad idea. Its going to screw up your egg production and youll have a bunch of beat up birds every time you switch. These birds are far too territorial for that, they will defend their cages with their life. To properly introduce a bird to an existing group takes up two weeks placed in a cage side by side with the others and then the birds should all be mixed in a third cage none have ever been in.

Happy roosters dont crow, if you put one in each cage you might hear one a couple times a week.

A couple times per week? Well that would be extremely manageable, i thought if they were near each other but couldn't see each other then they would be constantly communicating. Glad i was wrong.

 

[Lapsa]

We tried several times with different birds - 5 hens to1 roo, 8 hens to 2 roos, 15 to 4 roos...But now we keep thinking maybe it is something in environment that bugs quail and they get stressed and agressive (we have had girls fighting, few got scalped, but that mainly happened, when the quail room is too hot)... Any ideas why our quail hens always hate roos?

 

[dc3085]

Multiple roosters are a bad idea in hobby sized cages. That alone will cause additional crowing. If you have one roo per cage its crowing a lot something is bothering it. If there are multiple roos they will call constantly bc its one method of attracting females.

 

[fishforbrains]

No two roosters in the same cage, they will try to kill each other. I've pulled my rooster off and he is in solitary confinement until spring when I will want fertile eggs. I agree, the females don't like them around and lay better without one around, he chases and beats them up, drawing precious energy away from egg-laying. My rooster never crowed at all until tossed into solitary. I'm planning on several female-only cages, and a cage for keeping the rooster in confinement, and he'll only be put with the females for a few weeks whenever I want fertile eggs. Course, my goal is eggs, not meat.

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

I’m trying to figure this out, too. My pen is 18 square feet. I keep 12 females and three males. The girls don’t looked stressed, the males don’t fight. But.... the boys crow all day until about 10pm. We get a break until about 430am.
It seems they have enough space and enough females. They get along.
Why do they crow constantly?
Would putting 4/1 in their own cages stop the constant crowing?
Help!!! Pretty sure my neighbors are going to make me eat the boys....