Hey guys! This is a question about my favorite domestic bird.
I have 4 button quail;
Mouse, Luna, Mooney (Moonshine) and Lando.
Mouse is a cinnamon and is 100% female, egg layer, and gets along great with Lando.
Lando is a dark blue male with russet vent feathers, 100% male, gets along great with Mouse.
We got Mooney, who is a silver with a white bib, along with Mouse & Lando at the same time from the same breeders. The breeders were pretty sure Mooney was a female, but after a few weeks Lando, the for sure male, started chasing Moonshine around like crazy and pulling at his head feathers. So for this reason we figured Mooney was actually a male. So we separated him and got a "supposedly" 100% female egg layer who was also silver with a white bib.
So we put Luna and Moonshine in a tank together and they seemed to just kind of... well.. do nothing. They didnt court or snuggle or preen the same way Mouse & Lando did when they were left alone, but they didnt fight at all either. So I was left wondering if both were females, but they would keep me up at night with their territorial calls back and forth, which I thought only males did (the little growl they do and the pew-pew-pewooo). Lando and Mooney were constantly having their little "squawk off" as my husband calls it, from separate rooms, in the wee hours of the night.
Anyways, lol (bear with me here) we bought a BIG tank, (its about 4 1/2 foot long, not very tall) hoping to put Luna, Mouse and Lando together and let our local pet store have Mooney (we're very close with them, they incubate our eggs) because it was driving me nuts them bickering back and forth at night.
We filled the tank with shavings, 4 hide out/nest boxes that are dark and well covered, multiple branches from the evergreen out side for cover and a food & water dish at each end as well as a heat rock. But when we added Luna into the equation, Lando the male went nuts again and started picking on her, chasing her all over. So I thought that was odd, because everything I'd read said about 3 females per male would be great. So then I thought... maybe SHE is the male and Mooney is female. So we tossed Mooney in and now Lando is after both Luna and Mooney. SO. WHAT. IS GOING ON? Lol Im so confused.
If Luna and Mooney were both males, they would have fought when they were together, yes?
But if Luna was a female why would Lando be so harsh on her?
I would really love to keep them all but I hate to see them stressed like this. I really dont think space is an issue, or hide outs, this tank is very well equipped! They're fed a mix of finch seed, game bird crumble (for laying hens), oyster, broccoli, lettuce, and other veggies regularly.
Im almost wondering if Lando is just extremely territorial/aggressive, he'll even attack my hand as it goes into the cage which is quite valiant/hilarious. Is it possible that Lando is just a one woman kinda guy? Will they ever get used to each other and the fighting stop? Should I give it some time or should I just separate them again?
I have 4 button quail;
Mouse, Luna, Mooney (Moonshine) and Lando.
Mouse is a cinnamon and is 100% female, egg layer, and gets along great with Lando.
Lando is a dark blue male with russet vent feathers, 100% male, gets along great with Mouse.
We got Mooney, who is a silver with a white bib, along with Mouse & Lando at the same time from the same breeders. The breeders were pretty sure Mooney was a female, but after a few weeks Lando, the for sure male, started chasing Moonshine around like crazy and pulling at his head feathers. So for this reason we figured Mooney was actually a male. So we separated him and got a "supposedly" 100% female egg layer who was also silver with a white bib.
So we put Luna and Moonshine in a tank together and they seemed to just kind of... well.. do nothing. They didnt court or snuggle or preen the same way Mouse & Lando did when they were left alone, but they didnt fight at all either. So I was left wondering if both were females, but they would keep me up at night with their territorial calls back and forth, which I thought only males did (the little growl they do and the pew-pew-pewooo). Lando and Mooney were constantly having their little "squawk off" as my husband calls it, from separate rooms, in the wee hours of the night.
Anyways, lol (bear with me here) we bought a BIG tank, (its about 4 1/2 foot long, not very tall) hoping to put Luna, Mouse and Lando together and let our local pet store have Mooney (we're very close with them, they incubate our eggs) because it was driving me nuts them bickering back and forth at night.
We filled the tank with shavings, 4 hide out/nest boxes that are dark and well covered, multiple branches from the evergreen out side for cover and a food & water dish at each end as well as a heat rock. But when we added Luna into the equation, Lando the male went nuts again and started picking on her, chasing her all over. So I thought that was odd, because everything I'd read said about 3 females per male would be great. So then I thought... maybe SHE is the male and Mooney is female. So we tossed Mooney in and now Lando is after both Luna and Mooney. SO. WHAT. IS GOING ON? Lol Im so confused.
If Luna and Mooney were both males, they would have fought when they were together, yes?
But if Luna was a female why would Lando be so harsh on her?
I would really love to keep them all but I hate to see them stressed like this. I really dont think space is an issue, or hide outs, this tank is very well equipped! They're fed a mix of finch seed, game bird crumble (for laying hens), oyster, broccoli, lettuce, and other veggies regularly.
Im almost wondering if Lando is just extremely territorial/aggressive, he'll even attack my hand as it goes into the cage which is quite valiant/hilarious. Is it possible that Lando is just a one woman kinda guy? Will they ever get used to each other and the fighting stop? Should I give it some time or should I just separate them again?