4 Quails

I have 4 quails now and no idea what sex they are, they are only 8 weeks old, but after today i am really nervous about keeping them together. Is there a fail safe method of sexing them? or do i just have to wait till they crow? I have looked at the vents, but i still have no idea becaue they all look exactly the same. If i posted photos would anyone care to have an intelligent guess at them?

I have had a horrible day and am assessing my ability to keep quail right now, i did everything by the book and it has still turned out yucky, 2 quails badly injured and i am not sure if they will survive and 1 other gone . I am feeling very sorry for myself and very sad too, but i want the others to be as happy as they possibly can be.

Please can anyone offer any advice or help or anything? I am a bit at my wits end right now.

Batty XxX

Hi Batty,

If you can take the photo's of your birds showing the chest and head, I'm sure most people will have a go at sexing them for you.

Males start to crow from about 5 weeks of age, and given enough light (14/16 hours) hens will start to lay at about 7 weeks old (sometimes even earlier).

Derek

at 8 weeks old if you pick them up and gently squeeze the back of the vent -tail side if it is a male a foam ball will appear. the males are slightly bulgy there too.
quail can be sharp with each other. its not always preventable so do not beat yourself up over it!

With Jap Quail you can tell from around 3-4 weeks what they are.

Males have a more plain and chestnut colour breast while females have a creamy white front and a flecked breast if you look at the breast feathers they will have black middle part.