Menopausal Quail

calvin · **Posted:** Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:03 am

Photo of "The menopausal Quail"

chicken lova · **Posted:** Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:14 pm

nice looking little fella you got there, how would you know whether they're male or female??

maybeamac · **Posted:** Thu Jan 15, 2009 10:24 pm

Because the female feathers are dominant and the male featheres are recessive.

I guess he prob had it as a girl and it started to turn into a boy. how long have you had it?

calvin · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:35 am

She is estimated to be about 5-6 years old. We have had her for three years, and the previous owners say they had her for at least 2 years, maybe more. When we got her, she was most definitely a girl... All brown, no blue/grey feathers, and none of the typically male facial markings showing through. You know, she looked just like any other normal coloured female King Quail. And she laid eggs of course.
The egg laying has stopped, and I would hazard to say (as title suggests) that she has hit menopause and run out of ova. Most likely her oestrogen hormone has plummeted to such a level that it no longer represses the traits caused by the hormone testosterone from showing through. Hence, she is showing these male features in her plumage due to an imbalance in her oestrogen/testosterone levels which now favour the testosterone.
I suppose the Human female equivalent would be when you notice older women who might have some slightly more noticeable facial hair, or who suffer a bit of female pattern baldness. All these can often be attributed to elevated testosterone/diminished oestrogen levels in their body. Often due to the onset of menopause.
(No offence or disrespect intended with this analogy, just hopefully an easier way to grasp the changes that go on as some animals mature through their lives.)

chicken lova · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:45 pm

oh ok , very interesting.. quess you learn something new every day :-D

Stt · **Joined:** Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:01 pm **Posts:** 3006

do you have here with any cock birds?

calvin · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:59 pm

No, she actually killed (suspected) the last cock bird that was with her. They were paired up for about a year, whilst she was still laying eggs, but one day, I came out to check, and he had received some huge wounds to his back that she was pecking at. Unfortunately, he succumbed to these very shortly after removing him from the cage, and before treatment could be administered.

Stt · **Joined:** Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:01 pm **Posts:** 3006

what about hens?

calvin · **Posted:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:41 am

No, she's on her own at the moment. We are in the process of constructing some larger accomodation for her and future quail, as the cage she came in wasn't well constructed. So until we have a larger, more neutral (initially) housing location up and running, we are holding off getting any more quail, or other aviary birds for that matter.

Stt · **Joined:** Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:01 pm **Posts:** 3006

oh ok

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