[CarolW]

Can anyone help, how easy is it to sex Japanese Quail ? we bought 11 a couple of weeks ago and were told they were pol  - no had one egg so we were wondering if we'd been diddled.    They are really cute little things.

[cluckingnuts]

Cocks have a chestnut coloured breast, hens breast creamy with black speckles.

[Sylvia]

If they were cock birds they would be fighting to the death by now

[Mel Rice]

I had three boys and two girls hatch from my first lot...all diff shades of the basic colour. My boys did not fight but did vi with each other as to who jumped on which girl. they then seemed to sort them selves out into to pairs and a single male. I lost the two pairs and the single male has two new girls. i was getting an egg a day each for a while (Enough to hatch a new five!) but they have stopped laying at the moment. Not moulting so I think its down to the weather!.

[little blue]

CarolW - if they are young they probably won't lay until Spring (Easter - ish)
Quail have a short but prolific laying period - ours went off lay in August, when the weather turned very wintery!!

 We usually get eggs between Easter and September/October ... but later-born chicks won't start til the following spring.

If they are traditional coloured, they are easy to sex and the females "parts" are more concave, the males' domed & produce a foam when sexually mature (5-6 weeks plus)

hth

[CarolW]

Thank you for helping, it looks like we have mainly girls and so far the boys arent fighting.  They are really sweet and come running to us when we go in the run.