Author Topic: Quail Question (Read 2428 times)

Q · « **on:** June 14, 2014, 11:01:49 am »

A few weeks ago I hatched some Quail. I wanted primarily hens for the eggs but bought the giant ones for trying a bit of meat too.

The question is how to deal with the imbalance of males to females.
Out of the remaining 9, I have 7 males!
They are just getting active and I wondered how best to separate them off. I know that the male to female ratio is 1 male to 4-5 females (cant even achieve that!).

I also know that eventually the males will fight. They are too small to eat yet.

Does this mean trying to separate 1 male with the 2 females and then keeping the other males separate? Thats a lot of individual cages?

I have some more eggs from a different source for hatching/ breeding to try to get a reasonable number of laying hens.

shygirl · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2014, 11:17:41 am »

im sure when we bred quails we had eaten the boys by 12 weeks old. i dont remember them fighting at all, and kept them in a big rabbit size hutch. id keep the boys together and the trio separate.
remember when sexing, the girls will also have "foam" if they have been mated recently.

Q · « **Reply #2 on:** June 14, 2014, 12:17:45 pm »

Thanks shygirl,
I was thinking that if it were chickens then i would keep all the boys together because they seem to get on ok to start with. I had read that quail boys fight more viciously.
The biggest boy gets the girls then.

doganjo · « **Reply #3 on:** June 14, 2014, 12:26:36 pm »

I have a feeling they fight more if they are in close proximity to hens, so if you can keep them well separated that might work Good luck. My single girl is obviously very lonely, I'm tempted to bring her inside and have her in a birdcage.

in the hills · « **Reply #4 on:** June 14, 2014, 12:38:55 pm »

Agree with Doganjo .... make a trio and keep other lads together but caged as far from the females as possible.

Doganjo - I have a book about quail by Katie Thear (I think that's her name) she kept her quail indoors in the winter, in the conservatory, in rabbit cages. She let them out for a run around and said they became quite tame!

Daisys Mum · « **Reply #5 on:** June 14, 2014, 09:28:54 pm »

Quote from: doganjo on June 14, 2014, 12:26:36 pm

I have a feeling they fight more if they are in close proximity to hens, so if you can keep them well separated that might work Good luck. My single girl is obviously very lonely, I'm tempted to bring her inside and have her in a birdcage.

I seem to have 2 males in with 5 females and 1 of them is getting beaten up so if anyone wants him? If not he will have to go.

artscott · « **Reply #6 on:** June 19, 2014, 02:38:50 pm »

Keep males together and well away from the females, feed them up to grow as quick as possible and eat them soon. I seem to vaugly remember that if you restrict daylight it slows down their time maturity and will lessen the problem.

If they do start fighting it’s gets rather nasty as they go for the back of a the head like a mock mating (showing dominance) and go for each other’s eyes if they fight. Once a couple of them start they will not stop until you stop them. We used to kill the boys as soon as they started crowing, (so were sure they were boys) pluck and clean them and pop them in the freezer until we had collected enough for a meal.

If you only want eggs and not to breed, eat all the boys, they are a pest to the girls too once their blood is up.