Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ure 5°F (3°C) or so per week until they no longer seem to need the heat. You can tell this
is the case when the babies have feathered out and start to avoid the light (maybe by the
end of the second week, depending upon the season and building used to raise them).
Generally, by the third week, they no longer need supplemental heat. At this stage, they
look fairly mature, and by four weeks, the young males are becoming sexually mature.
Stage 3: Reproduction
Coturnix quail hens are unbelievably productive layers; it's not all that unusual to get an
egg a day from these hens. This continues for about a year and then age catches up with
them. I found that if kept under artificial light — usually a 40- or 60-watt bulb above
their pens — they will continue to lay until the hens become too old. Their lifespan usu-
ally doesn't exceed two years.
To determine whether or not you have males or females, you can inspect them when
they reach sexual maturity (usually at about five weeks old). The males have a foamlike
product that comes from the vent. Simply pick the quail up and press your finger for-
ward just behind the vent and a white foamy substance will come out if it's a male. It
resembles shaving cream in consistency and color.
You can also determine the sex of the bird by color in the Pharaoh color variety, but
it is difficult to color-sex the British Black and the Manchurian Golden, and practically
impossible to color-sex the Tuxedo and White.
Quail thrive when living in groups of two to five hens per male. But even with the
proper ratio, you'll need to be sure that your overly active males are not destroying your
hens. Sexual activity is important if you're going to further the bloodlines, but too much
activity can cause serious damage to backs of particular hens, making their backs raw
and the backs of their heads bare. If you have no intention of perpetuating your flock,
you can completely eliminate the males.
Coturnix quail hens start to lay at approximately 38 days and continue to lay until
about a year later when she molts. They usually do not hatch their own chicks. I have
seen only one incident of a hen nesting and hatching her own chicks, and that occurred
when they were raised on the ground. In most cases, these birds hatch best when the
eggs are gathered and set in incubator. I've had excellent results setting the eggs on the
wire screen in the Styrofoam incubator and rolling them with my hand each day instead
of trying to mark them and turn them from one side to the other. Quail allow for an eco-
nomical approach; you needn't go to the expense of buying the turner for your incubator.
Simply roll the eggs two or three times a day with your hands as you go by.
