button quail night jumping

[AZ Birds]

hi everyone im new to this site and learning lots of things about chickens and quail. i have question though that i have not seen. i was recently gifted with a pair of button quail earlier this month from my brother and housed them inside til i could build a cage outside for them. now they have been outside for 2 weeks and seem to enjoy there new place. the only thing now is at night and only at night they do the jumping and bonking there head thing and seem to be getting hurt from it. what may be the cause of this? i have one white female i think and one blue breasted male and the male seems to be doing a lot more jumping.

 

[dsfrango]

How big is the cage for them? Maybe they need a little bit more space. If the male is aggressively trying to breed with her that could possibly be the reason theyre running around and jumping to get at or get away from each other Maybe adding another female or 2 would do good. Just a thought

And Welcome to the chicken & quail world!!

 

[onewithquail]

It could be predators, or anything that can spook them.....usualy they jump because of a fright...

 

[dsfrango]

That is another possibility but if it was a predator and they seem to be jumping all the time and every night I think there would be some evidence of something trying to get in after consecutive attempts. But it definitely could be fright from something. My Coturnix hop around quite often and I think its quite normal for them to be active like that sometimes, stretching out and chasing each other around.

 

[AZ Birds]

thanks for the welcome and replies guys. i still cant figure out what is wrong. i think the cage is plenty big enough it a 2ft X 5ft and about 16in high. they have 10in x 10in house in there. it also isnt predators because they do it when im outside with nothing else around. strangely its only at night to. in the day time they are nice calm and run around and eat with each other and everything. this morning when i went to feed the female had a scab on her beak that wasn't there the day before though and now the male is losing his head feathers.

 

[bckyrdchknluvr]

You might want to stick a piece of foam to the inside of their cage top. It might help save their heads a bit.

Oh and PS,

 

[dsfrango]

That's odd, that is enough space, you sure you know which one is the female?( No offense

) but it's usually the females that lose their feathers due to mating. I still think that's the main reason for the jumpiness

 

[AZ Birds]

no offense taken any advice is helpful. im pretty sure the one with missing head feathers is the boy because he looks like one described on quail lady website with blue breast and red vent. the white one im unsure about but it is bigger then the male so i figured she was a female as i read females are bigger then males.

 

[AZ Birds]

also one laid an egg once when they were housed inside

 

[nurse_turtle]

You may want to consider covering the enclosure at night if possible. My pair of buttons live indoors in a 30 gallon aquarium and I cover them at night. Do your quail have plenty on hiding places like foliage, bark, etc? My buttons, Beau and Lila say "hi".