That Quail Place Forum
Raising Gamebirds => General Discussion => Topic started by: roygpa on April 23, 2004, 02:38:41 PM
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My kids and I just had our first hatch of coturnix eggs. Seventeen out of 50 eggs hatched and considering we ordered them via ebay from Florida, we are feeling pretty good about the hatch rate. My wife and daughter have fallen in love with the little guys and I think my plan of eventually butchering a few for dinner is now but a distant dream. I sent my wife to the page here about Coturnix so that she could see what they look like full grown, http://www.shaywood.com/quail/coturn1.htm and hear what they sound like.
She says "This page says the mature males CROW all night long!! :shock: "
My question is... how much noise do these birds really make? Will it be as obnoxious as my neighbors dogs that bark 24/7? I suppose that could be a good thing!
I will be building a pen similar to other I've seen here on this site, about 4 feet by 8 feet by 2 feet covered with hardware cloth. They will be kept in my backyard a decent distance from the neighbors, but I'm not sure if it will be far enough if these little buggers are crowing at all hours. My wife says I'm a selective reader!
Thanks in advance.
Roy
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Once your birds are mature and start crowing its the best sound in the world. We love to sit out on the porch and listen to them call back and forth and even call the wild ones up. It's very relaxing to a hard days work. Now you need to get you several thousand Bobwhites to go along with them for the ultimate experience. They usually dont crow all night here unless the moon is shining a little or we have lights on them. We listen to them at night and its the first thing we hear in the morning-usually around 5:30am.
Larry
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Watch them it's a easy way to sex them !!! I catch the ones crowing and put a leg band on them makes them easy to pair up later
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Larry and Don:
Thanks for the replies. I have a feeling I'll enjoy the sound, but don't want to bother the neighbors too much. :wink: When I was a kid 30 years ago, my family raised chickens, ducks, rabbits, sheep and a horse in an urban area not far from where I am now. We never had a complaint then, but the world's a different place today. When I was 12 I bought one of those little UFO shaped incubators and 3 quail eggs from the back of a comic book and they didn't hatch. I told myself that when I could afford it, I was going to try again.
We're having fun so far.
Thanks again.
Roy G.
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I live right on the edge of town(I have neighbors just not right next to my birds) I have them not even 50 yards from houses. And if you try to listen you can hear them, but if you aren't trying to hear it you don't even notice courtnix. I only really hear them at night when its breeding season. And its kinda rare. They really aren't all that noisey. I see your in Pa. If you want even more young birds than you hatched, I should have plenty to get rid of very soon. I just use them as a teacher bird for some rarer pheasants then they got to go, Ussually to the local auction unless someone wants some.
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when they do crow though, it sounds something like cook-a-tree... :D my male is very noisy when the female hides from him...he doesn't make a peep during the night (bad pun...bad pun...). anyway, if they do get annoyingly loud, the one thing that always shuts mine up is a good dust bath. i take some dust or dirt from my backyard, throw it in a bucket, and plunk my male in it-tada! no more noise! anyway, good luck with your birds.
-komori
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Don,
My Paw-Inlaw told me that the hens grow too. I was using the crow method of sexing and he came up with the fact that they both crow. Took my leg bands off. Do hens crow too?
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I don't THINK the hens I have are crowing ??? the way I have mine paired I am getting fertile eggs but I could have just gotten lucky you never know
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Don,
Went out to the barn last night. My quail was givin it hell and crowing every second or two. I started at 1:00 AM and finished seperating em at 5:00 AM. I now have all my males in one large cage and all the females in another large cage. I had noticed my hens were way overworked and now I know why. I had 2/3rds males in the cage. I seperated em by color and guess what, only the males crow. The brown coturnix cocks will have a lighter colored redish-brown breast if you want to seperate em by color.
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Long Night !! I did not think my girls were crowing ? but you never know, I have mine 2 hens to 1 male and it seems to be working. thanks for the tip on color I check it out
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I have 8 pharoahs right now...my males crow, but it sounds more like a 'gargling' noise.....and i've never heard them at night.....maybe mine don't know any better! my females make a noise that sounds like crickets.