Come meet my Bevy

[Kholts]

Hello everyone,

I thought I’d introduce myself and my my son’s quail.

Last year, my son ended up coming home with 10 quail eggs from a friend’s house. We successfully hatched 6 of them (wild types), and my son fell in love. Unfortunately, 2 weeks in we had to go away for a weekend and our cat ended up either getting into the brooder or the chicks learned to jump and glide out. We had a pet sitter but I think they may have not secured the lid properly.

Anyways, we let the remaining 3 grow up to find out we had 1 female and 2 males, we ended up finding a lady not far from us that had a few female grow outs to rehome.

They have finally started to lay eggs this spring and we are currently in the middle of our first hatch. Mine babies hatched and another nine to go.

So here are the members of our bevy:

Snowy(female)- my son’s favourite and he is hoping for another one like her. This gal does not fly off and actually follows my son around the enclosure. Always first to come to the door and greet you.

Gray #1(female)- she’s flighty and seemingly the favourite of the male I have in with her.

Gray#2(female)- she’s flighty as well and another one of the male’s favourites.

Big Gal/Boy(?)- this one was sold to me as a female, but lately I have doubts. I have never heard a crow, but I also have not seen an egg being laid. This one likes to pick on the confirmed males, both of them. Also, he/she is big, like noticeably… might try vent checking to see.


Boy#1- one of the OGs that my son hatched, he does his job… enough said. Not flighty, but not friendly.

Boy#2- one of the OGs that my son hatched, he does his job… enough said. Not flighty, but not friendly. .

That is all the adults. If anyone has names for the colors, that would be helpful. I know the boys are pharaoh (at least I assume), and Snowy is white, but are there particular names for the gray/silvers?

 

[muddy75]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Nabiki]

Welcome to the world of quail!

Big Boy looks like a boy to me, but vent sexing to be sure would be a good idea. It sounds like they're still young, but if you keep all three boys in with only three girls, you're going to have problems. Your boys will most likely start to fight and it will get bloody and/or deadly fast. Your girls will also get over bred, which can also lead to blood and worse.

Good luck, and post more pics! We love seeing how people house and keep them.

 

[Kholts]

Welcome to the world of quail!

Big Boy looks like a boy to me, but vent sexing to be sure would be a good idea. It sounds like they're still young, but if you keep all three boys in with only three girls, you're going to have problems. Your boys will most likely start to fight and it will get bloody and/or deadly fast. Your girls will also get over bred, which can also lead to blood and worse.

Good luck, and post more pics! We love seeing how people house and keep them.

Thank you & I am well aware of the too many boys to girls. I only keep 1 boy in with my gals at a time. I have bred Ancona ducks in the past so I know the ins and outs of ratio, diet & hatching.

I have been alternating Big Gal/Boy since I was trying to watch the behaviour with the known boys. I’m definitely going to be vent sexing them soon.

I’ll post my indoor & outdoor setup soon.

 

[scyllarus]

Big Gal/Boy looks like a boy to me, too, based on its clear/slightly rusty chest and the fact it picks on the males. Big size, though, makes me lean towards female.

Snowy is an English white, I believe. Gray 1 and Big Gal/Boy might be silver, but more likely to be fee + a dilute gene. Gray 2 is a falb fee. To explain:

English white is a dominant gene. Heterozygous = tuxedo, homozygous = white, usually with color patches on the head and back. Fee is a gene that removes red/yellow and leaves black, which creates a gray bird. Het fee may have some leakage (feathers are tinted with color), homozygous fee is usually fully gray. Diluter genes usually remove black, which...in a bird with fee will make it look like the bird has fewer markings. Silver birds tend to be gray with few markings and white wingtips, but a bird with tuxedo + fee + dilution of some sort can look very similar.

I use this website for colors:
https://ourpipsnchicks.wixsite.com/poultry/quailgenetics

Editing to add:
I would pick a roo and get rid of the others for the sake of peace in the covey. I know these are also your son's birds, so it might not be possible, but from experience the males will scalp each other and even the hens if they're not willing to breed, and that's a traumatic thing to deal with. It'll be up to you and your breeding plans as to what makes a good quail roo, but if you're just keeping them as pets, I recommend picking a roo that's good with your hens. I can't say enough good things about my current quail roo, but I went through multiple males and excused a lot of bad behavior as "normal male quail" until Tidbit came along.

 

[Kholts]

Big Gal/Boy looks like a boy to me, too, based on its clear/slightly rusty chest and the fact it picks on the males. Big size, though, makes me lean towards female.

Snowy is an English white, I believe. Gray 1 and Big Gal/Boy might be silver, but more likely to be fee + a dilute gene. Gray 2 is a falb fee. To explain:

English white is a dominant gene. Heterozygous = tuxedo, homozygous = white, usually with color patches on the head and back. Fee is a gene that removes red/yellow and leaves black, which creates a gray bird. Het fee may have some leakage (feathers are tinted with color), homozygous fee is usually fully gray. Diluter genes usually remove black, which...in a bird with fee will make it look like the bird has fewer markings. Silver birds tend to be gray with few markings and white wingtips, but a bird with tuxedo + fee + dilution of some sort can look very similar.

I use this website for colors:
https://ourpipsnchicks.wixsite.com/poultry/quailgenetics

Editing to add:
I would pick a roo and get rid of the others for the sake of peace in the covey. I know these are also your son's birds, so it might not be possible, but from experience the males will scalp each other and even the hens if they're not willing to breed, and that's a traumatic thing to deal with. It'll be up to you and your breeding plans as to what makes a good quail roo, but if you're just keeping them as pets, I recommend picking a roo that's good with your hens. I can't say enough good things about my current quail roo, but I went through multiple males and excused a lot of bad behavior as "normal male quail" until Tidbit came along.

Thank you! I feel like you saved me a lot of time on researching colors and breeding for color (not that that is what we plan to do). It will help me in determining what my chicks colors are based on knowing what I have for parentage.

We already planned on keeping only one roo. The boys were young yet and we were using this spring to see who was pulling their weight and worth keeping. Now that we have gotten chicks out of our boys, we may assess our plans for the future and seek out a roo that will fit our needs wether that be a bit more size, specific coloring or less flightiness (yes I know this can be more so handling then genetics).

So you have a picture of Tidbit?

 

[Kholts]

Some of the quail babies <3 We hatched out 14 with 5 more eggs in a different incubator due to hatch tomorrow.

Quite a few tuxedos presented & not as many pharaoh as I was expecting. All in all interesting first hatch.

 

[Kholts]

Oh, and I vent sexed Big Boy/Girl… the name is officially Big Boy

Also, went out to the pen tonight and my son’s favourite bird was dead (Snowy) no wounds, no feathers everywhere. She wasn’t showing signs of anything that I could tell. I’m thinking something internal.

Either way my bevy is now on quarantine watch protocol. Really hoping it doesn’t spread.

 

[Nabiki]

I can't tell from this angle, but are the eyes bulgy on this one? Are they red?

 

[Kholts]

I can't tell from this angle, but are the eyes bulgy on this one? Are they red?
View attachment 3836634

I have two of these ones, and had to look to see. I wouldn’t say the eyes are bulgy per se but one definitely has a red tinge look to the eyes from what I can tell. The other at moments in the right light kinda looks red too.

I can get better face pictures if you like?