girlies having a break

[caroles-chooks]

I was just wondering.
I don't want to breed any more quail this year and would like to give the girlies a break from the boys as they are looking a bit bald.
I would like to keep all the girlies together and will be moving them to a new pen so hopefully they shouldn't have any territory problems.
I planned to do the same with the boys? They will be in another part of the garden so they can't see each other.
Does anyone else do this over the winter with their stock?
The plan is to swap the boys around with different girls next year so I don't end up mating the same ones together all the time.
Any input greatly appreciated.
17

 

[bex46]

HI, i dont separate my quails at all, i find that when breeding season is over and the weather gets colder things seem to quieten down anyway. If you want to separate them in to male/ female groups that should be fine as long as they have all lived together from the start. Males can still be abit fiesty with eachother even when girls arent present, you always get one who thinks hes better than the others! lol! Hope this helps abit.

 

[Shazzybird]

If their inside just reduce the lighting. If outside cover them up some of the day.
A lot of people don't keep them long as after 6 months the fertility drops.
After a year their supposed to be very poor on fertility. (never kept the same birds past 6 months my self.)
I sold some Japs a while back that got to 4 years old.

 

[caroles-chooks]

Thanks for the input.
Well, I did the deed on Sunday - the boys settled remarkably quickly, a 5 minute punch up and then they sat in a pile together in the sun chatting all afternoon as though it was just a normal day. They've not been crowing either so that seems a good result.

The girls however are a different matter - one minute they are all eating and dust bathing togthether, the next its handbags at 5 paces. I suppose they will settle down eventually. Its only ruffled feathers so not too worried at the moment. Someone said if they don't settle, to put one of the boys back in with them so this might be an option if it gets out of hand.