My Quail Saga

OK so how do I get the whole slide show to appear from Photobucket?

Thats it fixed You had just missed part of the code.

lovely pictures

Those pictures are adorable. Great slideshow!

One of my "guys" started crowing this morning! Scared my cat to death. Unfortunately I didn't see which one it was! I tried taking a peek (I know they are only 5 weeks old) yesterday but they are not ready to vent sex. Since five of them are white, there is no way to tell by their color. My two goldens have unusual markings, so, again I'm not sure. I tried taking some pictures but holding the quail in one hand and operating the camera in another was a bit clumsy and the pictures are blurry. I'll try sending pictures later. I needed to know because I wanted to separate them. 8 in one cage was too many now that they are bigger. No one was fighting, but they were crowded. I ended up just putting the ones that were easiest to catch in the new cage. That's when I first heard a crowing (more like croaking). This morning I heard an all out Coturnix crow!

Well "Bertha" is really a "Bert"! I caught him in the act of crowing.
Here's Bert at 4 weeks old:

At 5 weeks old if you give the vent a squeeze the males will have the tiniest bubble of foam!

OK. So I picked up the flighty little things, got a picture of each of them, and turned them over and gently squeezed their vents. I don't know how I could have got this lucky. Top cage: 1 male three females. QT had a little white foam. The other three were "dry".


Babs
Jimmi (Jamie?)

And Henry (I guess it's Henrietta now)

Now for the 4 in the bottom cage.

Don't count your chickens yet Some might be late starters, so far if there is foam they're definitley boys. That top one is a cock (is that QT?), Henry's little colourful bum is really cute

In the bottom cage I may have all males. Bert, the one who crowed this morning, foamed like crazy. The others were a bit iffy. Buckwheat has me puzzled. The vent on this bird is not as developed as the others but his coloring suggests male. I guess I will just have to be patient and wait until they are a little older. I am happy with the way I had separated them without even knowing. I wish I had a few more females, but I guess three will do.
Here is Buckwheat

Hi,

No need to wait finding out buckwheats sex, he's a male.

Derek.

Buckwheat is male as Derek says, they don't all develop at the same rate. My record for an "undercover girl" is 10 weeks. I'd checked them weekly (as I thought I was a bit lucky to get the 3 white hens I wanted) and lo and behold he turned out to be male!

Hi Emma,

Send him here, The "male" white I've saved for breeding from has layed an egg!!!!

Derek.

I guess I shouldn't count my eggs until they have been laid. Thanks for all your input.

internet_nobody wrote:Buckwheat is male as Derek says, they don't all develop at the same rate. My record for an "undercover girl" is 10 weeks. I'd checked them weekly (as I thought I was a bit lucky to get the 3 white hens I wanted) and lo and behold he turned out to be male!

Well, now I know for sure. This has been an adventure in patience. Barbie (my undercover girl) is a Bob. "She" never started crowing and I never saw any foam, but today tried to mount Henrietta (my ONLY girl ). Then he started crowing like mad and fought with Jimmi. So, now the "penthouse" is full again. Out of 8 hatching I got only one girl (she's laying and I caught her in the act so I KNOW she is a she). I guess my buyer will get two when he comes back for the injured Harry. I'm keeping Buckwheat. He is such a darling bird. I am hoping to hatch 4 more soon and then (if they are girls) putting them with Buckwheat. Jimmi's offspring should be range because it's a dominent trait from what I read. So, I'll put those girlies (I'm being optimistic here) with Buckwheat who is a gold. Then, I plan on hatching some from that group to put more girls with Jimmi. Whew! I'll be busy. After that my outside run should be finished (next spring) and I'll order some eggs to put fresh "blood" into the group. Sorry for the ramble