One of the serious practical problems that occasionally arise in front of each poultry farmer is the correct determination of the sex of the bird. This is necessary both for the selection of hens for egg production or the formation of the parent flock, and for the timely separation of the chicks by sex with the purpose of their subsequent separation. Unfortunately, not all birds differ between males and females as obvious as, for example, in chickens or peacocks. Quail is a vivid example of an agricultural bird whose sex determination can cause certain difficulties.
Who is a quail
Quail (the Latin name is Coturnix coturnix) is a small bird of the family Pheasant (or Galliformes), subfamily Kuropatkovy. 
The length of the bird's body is no more than 20 cm, weight - up to 160 g, which is at least 20 times less than the weight of the average chicken. Note that of the variety of representatives of the quail family are the smallest.
Did you know? Quail eggs and meat are valued by mankind since ancient times, but they were breeding these birds until the second half of the last century only in the East. The Chinese began to domesticate the quail, followed by the Japanese tradition. In Russia and Europe, quails were also very much loved (among the most famous admirers of meat of this bird are called Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Armand Jean du Plessis, better known to us as Cardinal Richelieu), but the only source of this delicate and dietary product was hunting.
Despite a very short history, breeding quails as a poultry is becoming more and more popular every year.
And it is not surprising, because, on the one hand, the tiny size of the bird does not require large areas, on the other hand, quails are known for their precocity, which ensures high profitability and quick payback of such a business. 
Both eggs and quail meat are considered to be a very valuable and useful product, which also distinguishes these birds from their heavier relatives.
How to distinguish quail female from male
There are several parameters by which you can distinguish a male quail from a female. If we use all these indicators together, the probability of error is minimized.
Learn what are useful and how to eat quail meat and quail eggs.
According to external signs
Let's start with the secondary sexual characteristics, that is, everything that will help determine the sex of the bird, without looking under her tail.
First of all, pay attention to the color. 
Differences in coloring between male and female quail are given in the table:
| Part of the body | Male | Female |
| Head | The plumage is more contrast than on the lower part of the body, often in the form of a "mask" | No contrast with the lower body |
| Throat | Dark, sometimes there is a characteristic strip and the form of a "collar" | Motley |
| Chest | As a rule, bright and monotonous (ocher-yellow, “rusty” or red) | On the chest there is a large number of black dots, the shade is more pale |
| Goiter and cheeks | Lighter | Darker |
| Beak | Darker | Lighter |
| Lower torso | Lighter | No different from the top |
| General view of plumage | Monophonic | More variegated: the presence of black or dark brown patches or variegated areas |
Important! It is possible to determine the gender of quail by color not for all breeds of this bird, but only for those that have a color close to wild. This, in particular, Japanese, Manchu, Estonian, golden quail, as well as the pharaohs.
With the so-called colored rocks (for example, Lotus, or English white, Turedo, or white-breasted, smoking, marble and others) things are more complicated, such birds have almost no differences in color. 
As a hint, you can use such a parameter as the size of the bird. Quails are usually much larger than quails (the difference is on average 20-22%, that is, it is very tangible, it can be detected both visually and by weighing).
But despite this, the female does not look ponderous at all, moreover, she is much more graceful and sleeker than the male, her physique seems very proportional.
Find out what breeds of quails are among the best, and also get acquainted with the peculiarities of the content of such popular breeds of quails as Texas white, Japanese, Pharaoh, Chinese painted, Manchurian, Estonian.
It must be said that quails initially grow much faster than quails, therefore it is possible to distinguish chicks by comparing their sizes at the age of one and a half months, and an experienced poultry breeder will cope with this task even earlier.
Another indicator is character. Girls, as befits the fair sex, have a quiet and calm disposition. Restlessness and passion for clarifying relationships, often in the form of a fight, are the notable traits of males. 
Before an attack, males usually pull their necks out, as if getting up "in front" and thus giving out their sex.
Important! The activity of boys and the calmness of girls are traits of the character of adult or maturing quails. In the young of the first weeks of life, the situation looks the opposite: females are more scandalous, restless and noisy.
Thus, trying to separate boys from girls only on the basis of the behavior of birds is a thankless task, you should not trust the results of such a “survey”. But this indicator can be used as an additional hint to check yourself once again.
By sex
Another way to establish the sex of a bird is to study the primary sexual characteristics, that is, strictly speaking, the genitals. 
In males, the skin in the area of the cloaca has a pink color with a thickening in the shape of a bean in the upper part (this is the secretory gland). In females, the same area has a dirty gray tint, however, it must be borne in mind that this "blue" in girls occurs with age, so this method is not suitable for determining the sex of chicks.
Certain differences exist in the structure of the pelvic bones: in the pubic region of females, the bones are arranged in the form of a distinct "fork", while in males they are almost parallel to each other.
By voice
As it was said, quails were very quick.
Did you know? After the two Japanese cities were hit by American atomic bombs in 1945, residents of the land of the rising sun began to actively look for products that help remove deadly radionuclides from the body. The honorable first place in this list was occupied by quail eggs.
They reach sexual maturity by the age of one and a half months, and at this age the sex of the birds can be determined even by voice:
- males make quite sharp, hysterical, shrill and not too pleasant sounds for our ears;
- the females are either silent or whistling melodiously.
Secretory glands
However, the most reliable way to determine the sex of a quail is considered to be the “analysis” of secretions of the secretory glands, and to be more precise, the very existence of such. This method is applicable only to sexually mature birds and young animals that have reached the age of 40 days; the secretory glands of young individuals are not yet developed.
For quail care, it is important for you to know about the features of breeding and keeping quails at home, how to make a quail cage with your own hands, when quails start rushing, what to feed quail in the first days of life and older, how to make a brooder with your own hands, how to build various quail feeders with their own hands.
So:
- We catch the bird, carefully turn its breast upwards and with our free hand move the feathers in the lower region of the tail.
- Just above the cloaca in boys, there is a subtle tubercle (growth, "knob").
- Girls do not have it, we will see only a flat surface of dark pink or blue color, depending on the age of the bird.
- To check, gently and easily press a finger over the area over the cloaca. If at the same time there is a release of white foam (not to be confused with dung!), There is no doubt: we have a boy.
Conclusion
To summarize: most breeds of quails have fairly obvious secondary sexual characteristics: in order to determine the sex of a bird, it is enough to consider its plumage. 
The exception is the category of color quail.
Did you know? The ancient Egyptians loved quail meat so much that they very often used it as an offering to the gods. So, according to extant information, during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses III (approximately 1185-1153 BC) Amon, the god of the Sun, was sacrificed 21,700 quails, which accounted for about 15% of all the birds presented to this deity.
Representatives of these birds are painted the same, so you need to be guided by a combination of the following sex differences:
- females are always larger than males, but at the same time they look more elegant;
- adult males are scandalous and pugnacious, females behave calmly, but chicks behave in a mirror opposite way;
- males utter harsh cries, females are silent or melodiously sing;
- the cesspool of adult males has a pink color; in females it is blue;
- in males, near the cloaca, there is a secretory gland, when clicked, the release of foamy white matter occurs; in females, when clicking on the cloaca area, only litter can be released.
In conclusion, we add that almost all the above differences become noticeable not earlier than when the birds reach 40 days of age, until this point it is almost impossible to determine the sex of the colored quail.
