Button Quail Died. Other Quail Are Grieving. What Do I Do?

[birdluvr]

A button quail escaped and hit the roof. She broke her neck and died.
My other quail are doing the Tweet-weetwetweet call for their friends. Should i put the body in the cage, if so for how long?
How do i help them?

 

[Crazy QuailLady]

I'm so sorry for your loss, and the way you lost her. I don't know how helpful it is for quail to see dead family, but when I've had cats die, it helped my other guys to see the body - especially if they weren't able to come and see them while they were dying if it was something like cancer or organ failure. That being said, if you decide to let them see her, just leave her with them long enough for them to get a good look and see that she's not moving anymore. They'll work through the grief pretty quickly, I think. In the next few days, talk to them when you hear them calling for her. Tell them she's gone and you miss her too. Sometimes, animals understand a great deal more than we give them credit for. I have a couple big cages of button quail adolescents, (and bobwhites, and coturnix, and a brooder full of serama chicks...) and for right now, they're all in my living room (I live alone, and most of them will be going outside once the weather warms up reliably, and all but two of these guys were hatched since Jan. 2nd of this year - in incubators also in the livingroom). I'm constantly being surprised by what they know and can learn. I have four that I've named so far, and they've learned their names and look directly at me when I call them by their names. So talk to them, use terms they would understand - time of day in terms of morning, night, dinner time, etc. I think that even if they don't know the exact words, or at least all of them, that they do understand the emotion behind them. Good luck, take notes on what you did and how they reacted, and let us know how it goes. That can help other people later on. (((hugs)))

 

[birdluvr]

Thank you for replying, I ended up putting her body in the cage. They're a lot better now!

 

[Crazy QuailLady]

Good! A lot of times, with many species, it's just a matter of getting that closure of being able to see that their companion/sibling/mate died. It helps them get through the loss much faster.