Bobwhite Quail question - breeding

[pawtraitart]

Okay, so I have three pairs of bobwhite quail that were raised up together since chicks. They are currently in a colony type cage and I was planning on moving them to a larger cage for breeding season. Will this work or will they fight? If they do fight, I was planning on dividing them up into pairs. Now....do they pick their mate or can I just divide them up one male/one female? Sorry if these are stupid questions, but this is my first experience with bobwhites. Thanks!

 

[TwoCrows]

Next spring your Bobwhites will need to be paired off for the up coming breeding season. Being raised together helps in that they are less likely to kill each other, but the fighting will still be ferocious.

Generally the female picks a mate and they will stay a pair for life, till one of them dies. I take it this group is young yet. Which means next spring they won't be all that aggressive yet when breeding season starts. (as they age, they get more aggressive) The best thing you can do is wait until next spring. By March or April, they all should be breeding. Once they get their hormones going, you should be able to tell who is with who by the aggressions. If you don't want to wait for it to all play out, you can pair them up yourself. Each of the pairs will become a pair as the season progresses.

Come next October, you will be able to mix them all back together for the winter covey, when they appreciate being together.

 

[pawtraitart]

Thank you so much! This is exactly the information I needed. This will be their first season to nobody is paired up yet. I am starting to see some bickering, though.

 

[Creede]

I realize this is an extremely old thread. However, hopefully someone can help answer a few things. I'm currently researching bobwhite quail and what it takes to raise them. I live within city limits and have only a backyard to create a habitat. Very interested in a natural setting within an aviary for my setup. The information on breeding season, with the pairs for life and fighting, is something I just learned. The advice is to separate the pairs, but no one is mentioning what that looks like. Does this require multiple habitats outside of the aviary? Is there a solution to utilize the aviary and successfully keep them separated? I noticed breeding season is mid spring to mid fall, that's half of the year. Don't like the thought of keeping them in small cages paired up for that entire duration. Especially during the heat of summer. (I live in the panhandle of Texas, 100 degrees for weeks and weeks)

If required for multiple setups outside of the aviary, this might be the issue that leads me away from raising bobwhite quail. There's only so much backyard, and I already have chickens and kids who want to play.

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[Nabiki]

@007Sean would be the expert on these. He should be by to chip in in a while.