Two-story enclosure causing quail to cry

[Rafnel]

Hi all, wondering if this is common. I got 6 quail recently, they're 4 weeks old. I got a rabbit hutch for them which has a large downstairs area and a ramp to an upstairs area. I keep their food and water upstairs and I taught them all to use the ramp within a day. Nowadays, they roam their hutch freely, with a couple upstairs, a couple downstairs, sometimes all up or down at the same time. When they are split up, I will often hear one of them cry. I.e. one group of 2 if upstairs eating while group of 4 is downstairs. One of the ones upstairs begins crying out, like this:

(not my video, but the cry is the exact same). It's like they go up/downstairs and suddenly forget where their friends are. When they're all on the same floor, no one cries.

Should I ditch the 2-story enclosure? It seems to be stressing them out. I don't believe they have any concept of permanence - or even memory. When they're separated, even if they did it themselves, one of them is inevitably crying.

 

[Nabiki]

That definitely sounds like they're crying for company. If they're using the ramps, it's up to you whether or not to keep them in the two storey pen. Personally, I keep mine on the ground.

 

[Rafnel]

Cool, I think I'm going to remove the ramp and use second story as storage. I don't want them to stress themselves out. As much as I want to make use of all the square footage, I think this will be best for their comfort.

 

[vall]

When I split up my brooders I usually have one or two that cry like that. You could leave them downstairs for now and open the upstairs when they're adults if you're concerned. But they'll get over it either way.