Henry has a problem.....quail

[stace]

Glad he's feeling better. Those pictures of them are so lovely. They are like balls on sticks aren't they.

[Kath/Gaz]

We call them "little eggs on legs".....

[Hezz]

They have beautiful markings, don't they? Is that their normal colour or a mutation?

[honeybunny]

they do indeed Hezz, both are absolute beauties unless i'm mistaken i believe Henry to be a 'Silver, Red Breasted' and Hilda a Pied, Silver possibly also Red Breasted or Pearl...hard to suss out what mutations have been combined with silver

aggression between quail is almost always same sex, its pretty much unheard of for a hen to attack a cock with the exception of when introducing a new male to a group of hens on there territory and even then the squabble that ensues is usually nothing to write home about, i'd put my money on him doing what CPQ do when startled and that is 'boinging' leap/flap/flying straight up in the air with surprising force and skulling themselves on the roof (or a perch/toy ect) its incredibly common and the most likely scenario.

oh and eh...well...eh...hate to say it but what makes you think Kath/Gaz that Henry's a male? unless im missing something im pretty sure Henry's a she!

[Kath/Gaz]

Well we bought Henry and Hilda at the Stafford bird show in March....they were sold to us as a pair.....male and female is what we were told.....and we were told that the male is smaller then the female....and now that they are both sitting on eggs....which we have seen Hilda lay eggs but not Henry....but Henry is always there beside her when Hilda lays.....

If they are both females....may I take that to mean the eggs will not hatch.....

And should I try the trick with mealworms.....as I have read that males will not eat them but feeds them to the female.....

[Kath/Gaz]

I did forget to add......that when we asked the age.....we were given a uuummmmm....."I think 9 months".....so we are not sure how old they really are.....I will also say that when we got them home....Hilda laid an egg right away and we noticed that they both had "poo balls" stuck to their feet....which have since fallen off.....

[Hezz]

So Henry may have to become Henrietta, Kath. ;D And you may have to go shopping for a male ............ if you want the pitter-patter of little quail feet.

[honeybunny]

it is true that males are generally smaller than females but its not so much size as build, hens are built chunkier than the males who are far lighter and slimmer, breeding and genetics plays a huge part, small females and large males are common place, in your pics i can not see a bib on henry which should be quite prominent even against his grey/silver colouring, no red/pink eye colour and being the dilute mutation he is he should have obvious pink feathering on his belly, chest and tail, so i myself would say hen but that said there are some mutations that mask certain male characteristics blue face for example and what with him already being an interesting mix who knows what other mutations he might be hiding...perhaps Henry will surprise us

[Hezz]

Will have to wait and see if the eggs hatch. I feel sorry for all that wasted time, though, if they are sitting on infertile eggs.

[honeybunny]

ah well i wouldn't see it like that tbh Hezz, as awful as it sounds generally speaking the less they lay the longer they'll live, its important to discourage laying as much as you possible can (unless of course you want them to) so this break will do her the world of good. CPQ eggs really are monstrous for the size of the bird, the quail themselves are similar size wise to budgies (give or take) but the eggs are easily twice the size of a budgie egg! and they'll foolishly churn out one a day...indefinitely, much to their detriment im afraid.

[Hezz]

So what should Kath do, then, HB? Leave the eggs - will that discourage them from laying more? Or get rid of them ........ wouldn't that encourage them??

Poor quails - whose idea was it to give them eggs so big to lay??? And what other way is there to discourage them from laying in future?

This is interesting - I know nothing about quails except that they are those little birds who love to shoot up out from under a horse's hooves when you're riding past. And everyone gets a fright! Horse, rider and quail!

[honeybunny]

i'd let her sit as long as she likes, if on the off chance Henry is a male then happy days baby quail galore if not then she's still having a good rest and once she realises they wont hatch she'll be all the more prepared for her next egg laying marathon, whenever you've no use for the eggs ie not breeding or collecting eggs for an incubator or even eating them, then its a really good idea to discourage them from laying as best you can, swap stuff around regularly in the cage/hutch/aviary so the place looks somewhat different each time and collect up every single egg as and when you see it as this puts them off laying more, its worth the effort as they'll be far healthier for it