Did You Know About this WEIRD FOAM? This Has Changed How to Sex My Male and Female Quail
I absolutely adore quail. I mean, aren't they beautiful?
BUT, I must admit, I'm not very good at feather sexing. It can be done on the natural colour variation, with males and females looking a little different. And, on many of the golden or honey varieties, the males have a distinct block of cheek colour. On the whites? No chance at all.
So, without feather sexing, how can you tell your hens from your roosters?
The most obvious way is to simply sit and watch for a while (and let's be honest, that's a pleasure in itself). The males are fairly keen little things, and it won't be long before you see them doing their thing. But what if you've got several white birds and by the time you've got to their cage, run or aviary, you've lost sight of who hopped on who? Well this is how I sex my Coturnix quail and it's a pretty fail safe method!
Look For the Foam
In one of Mother Nature's curiosities, male Coturnix quail produce a foam from a gland just above their vent. Scientists don't truly know what this is for, though some have suggested it provides a little safe haven for sperm to sit in after mating. Why? Because hens don't automatically take sperm in - in fact, if they don't like it, they can shove it back out. This means that sperm can be sitting around inside a hen for at least a few days before fertilization occurs and, perhaps, the foam helps keep it healthy. Also it has the same proteins as whipped egg white so it's just meringue, right?!
Anyway...it looks like this:
Distinguishing Boys from Girls
Once you see foam, then it's a guarantee you've got at least one male. Now it's the part where having tame quail helps because to be 100% sure, you need to catch and 'inspect' them. And once you do, it's VERY easy to tell hens and roosters apart as you can see in the following pictures.
A hen has a nice clean vent, though during the egg laying season it may be a little loose.
Squeeze the bulge just above the male's vent and foam will come out.
And voila! It's THAT easy. Be care to ensure your quail are mature - after all, young males won't always have developed their gland yet so inspect at too young an age, and you might miss a few. I've found most have developed it by 8 weeks. Having tried my best with feather sexing quail over the years - and failing - I've found this to be the best method by far!
I hope that helps you, as it sure did me!
The feather sexing can really catch you out can't it?! Sometimes the boys are obvious, but sometimes not. I have also found that in a natural daylight setting when it's out of season the males stop producing the foam, so I can't sex them over winter. Our quail are just cooking back into season now, so I need to put aside some time to sex them and take out the excess males.
Anyway, it's lovely to meet a fellow quail keeper. 😊
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Lovely to meet you too @minismallholding. I hadn't thought of that but yes, out of breeding season I can see the foam would stop. Does the gland shrink at that time too? If not, might still work if you're used to looking at quail glands! LOL.
Quail are quickly becoming favourites of mine! I have some Chinese painted quail too, but thinking of expanding with a few more varieties.
Yes, the gland also shrinks. Even the feather colouring on the masks (for the ones you can feather sex) turns paler, although it's still visible.
They are adorable birds aren't they? We used to have Bobwhites and I'd still love to have them again if I had the room. Do you think you'd try the Californian with the little crests?
I went to a poultry show yesterday and one of the chap's selling specializing in quail had some bobwhites - looked amazing. He also had Californian - to be honest, I'd never gotten them before as I thought they were big! All the online pictures make them look at least twice the size of Japanese but they're little...so, in answer to your question, YES. I think I will!
Wow! That's wild! I've never heard of such a thing. I love the learning that happens in the homestead community!!
I had NO idea when I first got them - I couldn't work out what all this foam stuff was. It's a great help though.
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STOPI am thinking of getting quail but it will be part of our future plans. Upvoted and Followed!
Thanks so much.
I really recommend quail. I know a lot of people thinking they're not worth the effort and yes, if you've got LOADS of land, then possibly not. But they're a very easy bird to keep and great for meat and eggs too particularly in small spaces. :)