new quails

[Anonymous]

Hi All

We have just bought two hen and two cocks chinese painted quails, we bought them from a bird and poultry shop.

As the owner was getting them in it was difficult to see them, however we have got them home into a lovely environment they have come out and one of the cocks and one of the hens has obviously been pecked quite severley and lost a lot of their feathers. (no blood exposed ) I know we could take them back but we feel like we have rescued them and they are so pretty, do we need to apply anything to help regrowth? or put on anything to stop it being sore,

They already seem really happy where they are,and i couldn't take them back.

Lydia and the rest of you I hope you have some answers,


Annie


PS our Khaki campbells are pretty darn big aylesburys now. We have also found a drake call duck(colin) for our lonely lady who happens to be called Lydia.

 

[Anonymous]

hi Annie,

really pleased your call duck now has a boyfriend ,that is good news.Very sorry your khaki campbells are alyesbury's .They'll taste nice as roast ducks though .

Anyway,back to your quail,is the pecked area on the female's backs,or,on all the quail?
Males can get a bit carried away with the ladies,they are supposed to hold the head feather's,I've seen the males doing this with mine when mating,it leaves the feather's all ruffled ,but,they can also remove the feather's along the back.Some of my girls were like that when I bought them.I increased the ratio of hens and cocks,I've 3 cock birds and 9 hens.

I've not applied anything as like yours their skin is fine and not broken.I do add a calcium supplement to their water once a week every month,to encourage re-growth,and also a food that you buy from pet shops called 'Rearing Food',you feed it when birds are breeding and moulting.It will be in the cage bird section.

Also,what food are you them?I buy quail food,and can send you some links to buy it over the internet if you like.They also love grit,I use chick flint grit,and they love to dust bath,I've got chinchilla dusting sand in my quail cage and they love bathing in it.Once it is warmer,I will provide water for them to bathe,they love that as well.
They also enjoy cucumber and lettuce,dandelions etc,and mealworms for a treat.They will come and eat mealworms from your hand.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Lydia,

Thanks for this, the feathers are missing from their backs, both the males and females, they had six pairs in the shop. Will the feathers regrow? We now have a cage for each pair, all our ducks are pairs at the moment.
I am struggling to get my head around the polygamous nature of the birds. (don't want to give my hubby ideas)

Not sure about what sex the aylesburies are. Can you see from the photos they are now 6 weeks old now and nearly as big as the muscovies.

We have not named them yet as we are waiting for clarity of sexing.

Can you send me the link for the quail food.

Thanks again for the advice

Annie

 

[Anonymous]

oh what lovely ducks. the quail feathers will regrow in time but I would recoment at least another female to go with each male as in pairs the female wont get a break from him and wont give feathers much chance to grow. I think quail are better with 2 or 3 females to a male. hope this helps

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for that, we are trying to source additional females. Are japenese quail noisy as we want to keep some outside our back door and dont want to annoy the neighbours, (as they are tolerant of our ducks)

I have used this forum so much for advice it has helped no end. We do search the net but there are so many conflicting answers.

KInd Regards

Annie

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Annie,if you can get more female quail that will help.Also,japanese are fairly quiet so shouldn't annoy your neighbours.The quail feathers will grow back,but with females getting too much attention from males it will take longer the fewer females to males you have.
As to your ducks,I'd have thought female as their tales don't curl like a drakes-but I'm not sure whaty age the tail feathers start to curl with a drake.I'll have a look in my duck book and see if that says.

Apperntly, ''In the doemstic breeds(apart from muscovies)the curling tail feathers or sex curls become apparent at a few weeks of age.''
So your ducks are girls if six weeks old.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow if your right about the ducks thats great , and we are lucky from reading on the forum.

One of the quails is performing at the momemt to the female, but the quail who we thought was a female in the next cage appears to be displaying in the same way. Can you tell from this photo what sex it is. The other males have the bib on so we know what they are.

Also have you got any hen quails you would like to sell, as i know you have been breeding. We coulld come and collect.


You can also see its poorly back.

Thanks for your help

Annie

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Annie,
i'm no expert but i'm sure your quail is a little lad.From doing a little bit of breeding from my own I have found that most of the the non standard colour boys still keep the red feathering on their rump like their standard colour brethren.
Hope this helps
Rachel

 

[Anonymous]

hi Annie,

of course you can have some female quail,I honestly don't know what sex your quail is.With chinese painted,the males all have a white stripe on the head.It doesn't show on the whites,but,it does on the other colours.It is called a face mask.From what I can see of your quail in the pic,it doesn't have a face mask.
Is there any white feathering on it's head,in sort of stripes above the eyes and white underneath,almost like a little bib.
The other sign of a male is after 6 weeks of age they will pass little foam balls from their vent.
The vent is different,males are more domed,females slightly inverted,maybe compare this ones vent to your others that you know for definite what sex they are.
The link for quail food that I buy is http://www.vermisell .co.uk a 6 kg bag lasts for ages,months.
There is another supplier,called Marriages,but they don't have a stockist anywhere near me,so I deleted their link,a search should find them though as they do lots of poultry,game food,as well as other livestock.

 

[Anonymous]

He/she is gorgeous by the way,a lovely little bird.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Lydia

I thought I had pm'd you but can't find a record of it.

How many female quails can you spare, we are looking for 5? let me know where and when we can come and collect them if you have some and obviously how much.

We are thinking abour Japanese quail as well, do you know anyone who sells them.

Thanks

Annie

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Annie,

no,I haven't got a pm from you yet.5 females is not a problem,i'll pm you the details.I don't want to sell any of my whites at the moment,as i've only got 1 male and 1 female,but I've plenty of others.
Also at the moment I'm hatching out chocolate pied cpq,so far 1 has broken out of it's shell and is now in my brooder.
They can fly by 10 days old,so should be ready to go to new homes by 3-4 weeks old,I don't know if you'd like some of those.They are very pretty.

 

[Anonymous]

Oops,forgot the links for adult japanese,there are two places I would recomend,one is called Foster's Poultry and they are based in Gloucestershire www.fosterschickens.co.uk/ .The other is in Devon, www.gameforanything.co.uk I also know of someone in Staffordshire who has adult japanese,the lady I got my ducks from.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Lydia

Thank you for yesterday, you were very kind. Harvey enjoyed himself so much, He said to his mum, 'I could do that again couldn't I ?' Because of the Quail 'fielding' skills that he aquired at your house, he helped to catch the ladies when we got home and put them into their cages!

Here are your quail settled in their temporary home, we are searching for a cage to suit as, at the moment, we have been swapping and changing them to see who gets along with whom!

I have also included a picture of Harvey with FANG, I hope the other forum members don't mind that he hasn't got feathers!

All the best
Annie & Ady

These are sooooooo cute!

This is the one that Harvey has decided to adopt. He has named it after his sister Daisy.

Harvey and 'FANG'

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Annie,it was lovely to meet you,Ady and Harvey.I'd love to see you all again, or meet up somewhere.Harvey is always welcome,he's amazing and so good with animals,a real natural.
They look settled in their new temporary homes all ready,hope they start laying for you soon.I cleaned my others out after you'd gone,they were so pleased they tipped the water over and soaked it all again ,I think they are trying to bathe in the water.They then all escaped :roll: ....for a change :lol: .
Your pictures have come out really well,the chicks are still dashing about everywhere,they make a mess as well :? .
oh for pets that tidy up .

 

[Sandrine]

Hi! I realise that the original post is quite old now but I wondered if there anything I can do about my male quail who has a bare back because the hen keeps pecking at him. They get on really well though normally and he's fine otherwise, no marks just lack of feathers...
Also what can you do to make her more broody? I would love her to sit on her eggs. Lol I have bantams who are constantly broody but this one, the most adorable chinese painted quail, nah!! Lol
Thanks