Clipping Wings of Quail

[noahs_flock]

Hi,

I was reading the FAQ on quails and it said to give a soft roof over the container they are in as they have been known to fly up spasmodically when startled. I figured they would not fly for the first few weeks.

How soon do I need to clip them?

Thanks,
Noah

 

[AQuailNamedFrancis]

Hi Noah!
If you have coturnix quail, clip them around 6 weeks. (Basically when they hit adulthood)
If you have button quail Its around 6 weeks as well. (I have never clipped buttons before as my button quail literally hatched about 24 hours ago, I will probably clip these ones since they can fly better).

I currently have both speices and I actually don't clip their wings. They rarely fly, and their "flying" is basically just going straight up. I would recommend doing it though, since its always good to be safe. And my quail live in a big aviary so no worry about smashing their small skulls.

Hope this helped
--Fellow Quail lover.

 

[noahs_flock]

Hi Noah!
If you have coturnix quail, clip them around 6 weeks. (Basically when they hit adulthood)
If you have button quail Its around 6 weeks as well. (I have never clipped buttons before as my button quail literally hatched about 24 hours ago, I will probably clip these ones since they can fly better).

I currently have both speices and I actually don't clip their wings. They rarely fly, and their "flying" is basically just going straight up. I would recommend doing it though, since its always good to be safe. And my quail live in a big aviary so no worry about smashing their small skulls.

Hope this helped
--Fellow Quail lover.

Hi,

Thank you for the information. I am very worried about clipping the wings (I do not want to hurt the bird). One nice thing about Silkies is that the bird cannot fly.

Can they fly before adulthood? I was going to clip them before moving them outside.

Noah

 

[DK newbie]

Button quail will start jump-flying at around 1½ weeks. I think it's about the same with coturnix. By 3 weeks they pretty much have all of their wing feathers and can fly pretty high. I have button quail and I don't clip them - I pad the roof of most of my cages (with foam sheets or with fabric or plastic mesh suspended below the top) to prevent injuries. I do have some in cages that are not padded though, and mostly there are no issues, but occasionally some lack feathers on top of their heads.
Others have experienced deaths due to boinking though, but the risk depends on many factors, like how high the cage is, how large it is, how calm the birds are and what kind of hiding places they have.

 

[JaeG]

Even with clipped wings there's a good chance that they will still be able to jump out - they are light enough that jumping rather than flying can get them quite far. And they can fit through surprisingly small gaps. I've had full grown adults jump and squeeze out a 20mm gap between the cage bars. And, as DK said, at a very young age they can escape their cage - I think mine were 2 weeks old when they started to get out of the very deep plastic storage tote I had them in.

Wing clipping is no guarantee that they can't get far. I've got cockatiels whose wings are clipped. They can still get a surprising distance to get where they want to go. Buttons are so light I don't think wing clipping will be much of a disadvantage to them.