Friday 11 April 2014

Sexing the quails

Our older quails are now about two months old. All 6 have been housed in a new cage which will soon be added to the aviary we are due to build. We believe that there are 4 females and 2 males though one of the latter has become partly lame. The predominance of females is helpful given this venture is meant to produce us a cash crop of quail eggs. We have not yet attempted to sex the younger quails of which we have 21. They are nearly 4 weeks old. Generally speaking, the males have redder breasts so we could sex them quite easily. Once that is done, we will be looking for a ratio of 4 hens to one cock. We will then need to decide what to do with the surplus males. 2 are spoken for - they will be going to a friend. The others will be found new homes or be slaughtered for meat.

Meanwhile, given the age of the older birds, we are hoping to have our first eggs this month.

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