I don't remember how long exactly. Too long for comfort! But she did get over it. Sadly she passed last spring, so I can't offer insight on the next molt.
I know someone who lets her (handraised) valley quail out to free range under supervision and then calls them back in to their aviary. Is that what you do, too? I've done this with chicks, but I'm too scared of hawks to try as they get older.
I have 4 pairs in about 230 SQ ft aviary. They still fight each other and will kill if you don't intervene. They seem to chase their target down until it's too tired to flee anymore. Any unmated birds would be targeted first, but they will also attack other mated birds. Pairs appear to mate for...
You can certainly eat the eggs if you like. They're a little smaller than coturnix.
Fyi in case you haven't gotten to that point yet, mated valley quail become aggressive/territorial, especially towards their own sex, during the breeding season. Depending on numbers and space.
Several of my valley quail have gone broody, but I haven't let them hatch chicks. Unfortunately they lay a lot more than 40 eggs in the season because I take the eggs away. I keep them as pets, not for egg production.
I agree. For your aviary size, I wouldn't really recommend adding more birds, with the possible exception of one male if your females become aggressive to each other (which may happen if only one pairs with the male). Chicks can't be sexed until they're older, so you could end up unbalanced...
That's amazing! Our little girl that we lost laid her first egg on my husband's shoulder, with her face pushed into his hair. We didn't know what was happening and then--bam!--little quail egg. She laid her second one on his lap a day or two later, but then we showed her a really nice little box...
Yes, we're very lucky! She's wonderful. We raised two together but sadly lost her sister earlier this year. I wish I knew what she thinks about us and herself. We have an outdoor aviary with valley quail, but she doesn't get along with them and wants to stay with us. I think she knows we aren't...
How did you paper train your bobwhites? We have a valley quail living indoor with us. She's very comfortable with us, follows us, and snuggles all day long if we let her, but she doesn't like to be held. She tells us what she's comfortable with or not.
My adult California quail are not very interested in bugs. I give them greens (sprouts, kale, etc), fruit (strawberry, banana, apple), and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, chia, flax, millet). For Christmas I like to buy millet sprays. They get bored with anything after a while, so even if they love...
Handle them frequently to get them used to humans so they won't be afraid of you as adults. I have 9 in an outdoor aviary and one indoors as a pet. The indoor one follows us around the house and likes to cuddle, but as adults they ALL hate being touched. They do become aggressive during mating...