do females ever display mounting behaviour?

[firefowl]

Just wondering I culled what I thought was one of my two males. Then during feeding time one hen stood in the feeding dish and another one, which should be a hen, did the mounting, claw grasping thing. It looked like the mounting that the males do, so I'm confused do females do it too? My dog is a female and used to mount ... things as a male would, although in doggy-style not quail-style obviously :\

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t have quail but chickens certainly do it. It’s not a sexually twisted thing. You don’t have a freak. The mating ritual is not just sexual, it’s also about dominance. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. It doesn’t happen nearly as much with hens, but I’ve had hens go through the entire mating ritual, including touching vents, when no dominant male was in the flock.

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes, females mount males and other females. Even males will mount males. This is a dominance thing. Has nothing to do with sexuality.

 

[Ntsees]

It happens. I've never witnessed it until I had quail. All the male mountains I've ever own mounted with another male (if present). Just last year, one of my female valleys mounted another valley hen.