Advice on choosing quail

[Bluethehen]

i've been wanting to start up a small flock of quil again. For pets mostly but also for eggs.

three years ago i had a flock of coturnix quail and although i enjoyed them and they gave lots of eggs, they were quite problematic and not what i was looking for in quail.
does anyone know what kinds of quail are quite docile ? ( i know they are no particularly known for this quality but i feel so guilty when they boink !)
ive heard that some breeds of bobwhites can be quite inquisitive.
ive also been thinking about starting a separate button quail flock. ( for show mostly)
if anyone has any information on docil breeds, bobwhites or button quail please let me know.

 

[RUNuts]

The more you interact, the more docile they can become. I've been told that some coturnix will come to you for treats. I don't interact the same with mine (coturnix) and have had calm batches and hyper batches. For pets, do you have time to tame them? From hatching, interact as much as possible. For your goal of calm pets, sounds like you need a lot of time investment.

Best wishes!

 

[NY Coturnix]

I have coturnix and find that some are docile and some are not. I have 6 separate pens of 5 or 6 in each. Some won't come near me. I have one that comes to me when I open the door and I always say well hello pick her up and let her have a look in the other pens. I've named her Nosy Rosy. I have another that I always comes to the door so I can let her play with the latch. Another pen has one that will come and peck my shirt so I stand still and let her do that each morning. They all are different. I do find when in the brooder they go nuts when I give them food or water so I try to limit my contact with them until I move them to their outdoor pens. They can see me coming then and that seems to calm them down. I don't have any experience with button or bob's but from what I've read the coturnix are about as docile as you're going to find.

 

[RUNuts]

One comment I read was to approach from the side. Most of our brooders are top entry. The quail are a prey animal and are wired to run from the hawks that dive from above. My coops are side entry and they are much calmer than in a top entry tub. I have brooded in the side entry and did notice a difference.

Good point about access @NY Coturnix ! Thank you

 

[muddy75]

i have coturnix and buttons.....have not tried bobs yet.....but as all have said, coturnix overall are most docile. buttons are very flighty and more difficult to tame even with treats. most of my quail are ready at the gate yelling at me to hurry up with the treats! several will eat out of our hands and they love to peck at feet. a few will tolerate being held but most prefer to observe “social distancing” my buttons will allow me to get close but never close enough to touch

 

[Quailobsessed]

Japanese quails (coturnix) are generally the most docile in my experience. I do have unusually chill birds though. This morning, I found two of them had gotten out of their enclosure and were just standing around near one of my other aviaries.

 

[Nabiki]

If coturnix quail were too flighty for you, quail might not be for you. Coturnix are the most domesticated and the calmest. If you want them to be tame and more pet-like, you're going to need to spend a lot of time with them.

 

[FloorCandy]

I have also found that side entry is the way to go. It was the same with my hamsters, prey animals, even when super tame, are just wired to escape death from above.

My first hatch we held and interacted a lot, and hand fed them treats. Fast forward a few months, and I moved everyone around outside in the pens to set up a sex link producing group. So maybe 2 days later I’m filling the feed and a bird comes up and pecks my hand. When a bird shows aggression to me I pick it up and show it that I wont be run off, in fact the opposite happens. Well, normally the one who I grab flails and chirps, then runs away as fast as it can. but this didn’t happen, and then I remember I moved them around, this is Big Bird, one of our originals, she was just pecking my hand hoping for treats! I set her down and she tried to climb back into my hand so I went and caught her an earthworm.

Despite the many other issues I’ve had with them, the snowies are actually very docile, and they come over to see what I’m doing when I open the pen, and they often let me pet them and pick them up. I think the jumbos are more calm and less flighty, they rarely flush. I find that my rosettas are the smallest in general, and are the most flighty.

 

[Quail 66]

I have also found that side entry is the way to go. It was the same with my hamsters, prey animals, even when super tame, are just wired to escape death from above.

My first hatch we held and interacted a lot, and hand fed them treats. Fast forward a few months, and I moved everyone around outside in the pens to set up a sex link producing group. So maybe 2 days later I’m filling the feed and a bird comes up and pecks my hand. When a bird shows aggression to me I pick it up and show it that I wont be run off, in fact the opposite happens. Well, normally the one who I grab flails and chirps, then runs away as fast as it can. but this didn’t happen, and then I remember I moved them around, this is Big Bird, one of our originals, she was just pecking my hand hoping for treats! I set her down and she tried to climb back into my hand so I went and caught her an earthworm.

Despite the many other issues I’ve had with them, the snowies are actually very docile, and they come over to see what I’m doing when I open the pen, and they often let me pet them and pick them up. I think the jumbos are more calm and less flighty, they rarely flush. I find that my rosettas are the smallest in general, and are the most flighty.

Hello. Snowies are white with black spots or completely white? They gave me a male white one with just a pinch of brown on the head. Is that a Bobwhite? It's the most docile of all the birds I raised myself. Japanese are friendly but they are no cats.

 

[Nabiki]

Hello. Snowies are white with black spots or completely white? They gave me a male white one with just a pinch of brown on the head. Is that a Bobwhite? It's the most docile of all the birds I raised myself. Japanese are friendly but they are no cats.

That's a Coturnix (Japanese, same thing). It's simply a colour variation.