Aggressive quail

[Onempty]

Hi. I'm new here and am looking for a bit of advice. Here is my story:

3 months ago, I picked up some coturnix eggs in my area, and put them into my incubator. Out of 15 eggs, 14 were fertile, so I was pleased. I candled them about 3 times during the course of the incubation, and went into lockdown after 14 days of turning and raised the humidity. Unfortunately, the hatch date came and went without any chicks. So, I walked away from the incubator at 24 days. That same day, I heard calls, and I had two chicks.

Looking back, I had the temperature set to 98F in my still air, which I had been told to do by the breeder. I now know it should be 101.5F. I suspect this as the reason for the late hatch. Anyway, the other chicks were fully developed, but never hatched.

I waited awhile, and then ordered bobwhite eggs. Out of 15, I still have 10 in the incubator, and went into lockdown Monday night. 20 hours ago, I had a pip! (They are upright this time).

Anyway, I want to know just how aggressive bobwhites can be. Kids ages 4-13 want to hold them, but I am afraid that the chicks might do something crazy from what I've read about bobs. Should I just wait until I have coturnix to let the children hold them, or would supervised petting be okay?

Thanks

 

[bluere11e]

Welcome to BYC!

I am a newbie when it comes to quail, so this will be interesting as I am in the planning stages of ordering Bob's or Coturnix.
I would like Bob's because I LOVE the Bob-Bob-White call they make, But the Coturnix have a reputation of being better pets.
I hope you enjoy the BYC forum as much as I do, and I still would like to welcome you

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:

I don't know squat about raising any other quail other than Bobs, .............. other than what I read on here (by some VERY experienced folks, I might add)...........But, Bobs are as about as wild and wiery (in my opinion) as a person would want to contend with raising. To put it in perspective, you're holding a WILD (by Nature) bird captive in a "cage". Yep, you may have hatched it out "artificially" (meaning Mamma Bobwhite didn't do it), and raised it to be an adult bird, but Mother Nature has that bird programmed to be WILD. They will always act WILD to a degree no matter what you do. Will they peck you when you grab their body in your gentle hand-hold? You betcha. So, the moral to MY story is, don't expect them to be the agreeable little "pet" that the child wants to hold.....they won't be, Trust Me....

 

[Fat Daddy]

+1, I think Randall hit it right on the head there. Corts are gonna be far better "pets"... But if you get down to it, mine dont enjoy being held. They tolerate it but will get away if allowed. They look forward to my arrival, run up a touch my hand, but if I grab them its not fun for them anymore. On the other hand, like Randall says, the Bobs "freak" when I walk close to the cage... Bill

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
Ditto............ It's like I tell my bird huntin' buddies............. "If you get board, and wanna see a covey-rise, just walk up to one of my pens with a black shirt on"........... LOL

 

[Onempty]

Thank you for your replies. These birds will not be pets. Is it likely that the bobwhite chicks will display extreme aggressiveness as day-olds, or does this take some time to manifest itself?

Thanks.

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
From my experience (and at this point, I'll say there's a few on here with many more years of experience than me), if the living conditions aren't suitable for them (temp, food, water, and at some point of adolescence, once it starts getting too crowded for their liking), the "unexplainable wild" will come out. I don't know any other way to say it, other than they're just hard down little terrorists with feathers!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Not to get too far off topic but... Randall, have Roger and pretty miss Peggy started laying yet?

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
Yep, gettin' 3 or 4 a day now that the heat lamp's on'em. Big cold front (compared to what we've had in the past couple of weeks) is coming through today. Waitin' for the production line to crank up full steam before I start packin' the bator.

 

[Rozzie]

From what I can tell, you are asking about CHICKS and whether they are too aggressive for kids to touch? Of course they aren't. Even if they are aggressive, what is the absolute WORST thing they can do to a kid?

The absolute WORST damage a kid is going to get from a chick is a small peck. Now, I'll readily admit that I haven't had bobs. However, I've got coturnix and button quail. I've raised many chickens. I've had ducks and geese.

I cannot possibly imagine any young chick seriously hurting a child. Even if they do manage to break skin on someone -- unlikely -- then just wash it and bandage it. I'd be more worried about the kids accidentally hurting the chicks.