What gender quails?

[flap]

We have one pair of quails in one aviary who hatched 4 chicks and currently sitting on another 9 eggs. We want to keep two quails in the other aviary but not for breeding so we don't end up with too many quails. So are we better off keeping two hens, or two males? I guess hens would give us a supply of eggs (is there anything that would make them non edible??) which can be both good and bad... are there any drawbacks to keeping two males instead?

[Pete Sara]

2 males should be fine as long as they are bonded, as so would 2 hens , the only draw back is if you add another bird,or move one and put it back , thats when the pecking order over territory starts...pete

[flap]

Thanks Pete. I would have preferred two hens but the one chick who stands out (he is a silver) looks like he is getting the white marking under his chin and not sure my son will let us part with him - they all ahve names but this one is the only one who is recognisable!!! the other 3 are normals who can't be distinguished (except one is a male). They will be bonded as they are siblings.

[Jayburd]

2 males even siblings MAY fight as adults.
I haven't actually had this experience, the Late skinnipeep and his brother the famous and alsolate Bubbles were apart for 3 months and then suddenly reintroduced to each other in the breeding season! they cuddled up and spent a while 'chatting'

[Jayburd]

Don't forget also that hen silvers have a bib too, like all of them, it's just a bit paler.

[flap]

Really? I thought it was just the males that had the bib (I am talking about chinese painted ones, don't know if it is different with other species).

[Jayburd]

well yes, but the hen does HAVE a bib, in fact all male and hen king quail do. it's just in the normals the hen's bib is brown, and in the silvers it's just paler by a long way.
next time you see some normal or silver pairs, check it out . It doesn't see to count for Cinnamons.

[flap]

Do the hens get the black markings on the bib as well? I will have to wait a bit longer to see if the silver is a boy or a girl then. The browns are one male and two hens.

[Jayburd]

no no black... normals have bibs of varying shades of brown, and the silvers white and REALLY pale grey.
here's a pic of a normal hen's bib. this hen has a far less defined bib than many, it varies. But as you can see, none of the normal striped chest markings on the throat area, and even though the bib's pattern doesn't really resemble the male's, it's a bib nonetheless.

IMG_2265.JPG

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[Diane]

My silver baby is keeping me guessing, all the body has the adult feathering and now a few feathers on the head, but the important bit, the bib is stubbornly yellow!