What should the ideal male to female ratio be with Bobwhite quail?

[grouse]

I'm planning on raising a small number of Bobwhites this year as a hobby and will be getting 20 chicks at the end of the month. Of those 20 I will probably give 10 away after a few months (once I'm able to tell the sex of the quail) and then raise the remaining ten in the shed and flight coop I have set up for them.

The size of the flight pen is (approximately) 8 feet by 8 feet, so a total of 64 square feet. Plus it is around 7 feet high. The size of the inside of the shed (where the waterers and feeders and such would be) is probably going to be around 8 feet by 4 feet. Considering there are going to be 10 Bobwhites living in these spaces, what should the male to female ratio be, roughly?

I ask because I've gotten different answers from different people. One breeder told me the males would kill each other and that if I was going to have 10 Bobwhites as a hobby they should either all be female or 9 female/1 male. Another person said 2 or 3 males and 7 or 8 females would be fine. And on the other end of the spectrum, another breeder told me that it didn't matter, that I could have 9 males and 1 female or just 10 males and it would be fine. So I'm not exactly sure what to believe.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[aprophet]

I was trying to keep trios but I have a couple of hens that wants the male all to themselves . I do not have flight pens and all just breeder cages like GQF sells so some of mine are pairs and I have a few trios 1 male 2 hens

 

[underground chickenman]

I'm no expert by any means, but I thought I had read somewhere that bobs were monogamous. In others words, you need an equal number of males and females. They will pair up and mate with the same mate perpetually. Coturnix, on the other hand, will breed randomly. You might want to research that angle and see it it contains your answer.

UGCM

 

[_Randall_]

Sorry.......Duplicate post......please delete...........(Thanks to HughsNet "turtle speed" satelite internet.......LOL)

 

[_Randall_]

I've got 16 males & 16 females in a 5' x 12' (60 sq. ft.) pen. About 3 or 4 weeks ago when I had the light on them for 17 hrs., and courting started weighing heavy on the males' minds, there was a fair amount of tension amongst the bunch. But here lately, is seems a lot of that has subsided. Don't get me wrong...........one doesn't think twice about just going off on another one just for the heck of it, but they've got plenty of "gettin' away" space to avoid being trapped and scalped. What's really funny......was down there about a week ago gathering eggs and filling the feeder and waterer, and a male decided he "wanted" a certain female. He topped her, done his thang, and about the time he was fixin' to hop off, (I guess her "steady" man) come around the sand box and saw what was happening, and it was an all-out run and gun after the "new boy" messin' with his woman.....

Anyhow, the new boyfriend was successful in doin' his duty, and got away without injuries......LOL

So yes, it's not all a friendly, get-along-with-all world when it come to the "reproduction" process in the pen-raised Bobwhite world. Matter of fact, the ladies can hate each other about as much as the males do sometimes!!!!!!!!

 

[_Randall_]

Duplicate post........please delete this.

 

[jenjscott]

hey randall, it wasn't your hughesnet, it was BYC with over 1000 users slowed it down,....way down.

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
Ha Ha.......I still say it's the best forum on the web. I don't think you could buy enough poultry books to learn even a fraction off what you can learn on here....

 

[grouse]

At this point I'm thinking of a 1:3 ratio, with 3 hens for every male. I've been looking around at old threads and posts on this forum as well as elsewhere and some are of the strong opinion that there needs to be at least 4 or 5 hens to every male, while others say 1:1 is best or that the number doesn't matter...so I figure 1:3 is something of a happy medium between the two, and since I want a total number around 10 or so, my thinking right now is 3 males and 9 females for a total of 12 birds. Would there be any big problems with that combination? If so, what's the worst possible scenario I'd be facing?

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
are you reading about coturnix or bobs a lot of folks here recommend 3-5 to 1 for coturnix most recommendations I have seen for bobs or 1-1 or 2-1 imho when the male is in charge of the pen trios work when you have a old hen and a young male it seems like the hen is at the top of the pecking order and pairs seem to work better then