Domestication of pheasants and quail?

[kittycat1356]

Is it possible? I don't mean "taming" but real domestication, as in breeding into the animal calmness.

Coturnix quail are domesticated so I wouldn't see why not?

Is there a reason it hasn't been done?

I recently got 2 California quail chicks, and 2 red golden pheasant chicks. I originally only wanted the quail, ( package deal as they were raised together) but I'm liking the pheasants and they seem tamer than the quail. I've been giving them small mealworms and occasionally touching them gently and putting my hand over them like "mama quail" my coturix loved that, but these guys are skittish, understandingly so.

I had to write a report back in school, about the domestication of foxes, ( in Russia ) and I understand the process, but I'm not sure if the thought is absurd. They took the tamest foxes of the litters and bred them ( they never handled any of the young foxes either so it wasn't "taming" it was real domestication ) and used the others for the fur farm. It took years but they did get domestic foxes, they started looking different too, like curled ears and a upward curving tail, like a dog.

I believe quail and pheasants have what it takes to be domesticated, and both are beautiful birds, or extremely cute if not that. They have properties that would qualify them for pets in normal households, if they were domesticated.

But then again maybe I'm just a crazy chicken lady with big dreams lol

 

[JaeG]

Not crazy but definitely a long term project. I have read that Californian Quail can be calmer if they are raised by a calm, broody hen. I do think friendliness and calmness is genetic to a certain extent.

My original Japanese quail are very calm birds and the majority of their offspring are calm too, and some are very friendly. We have Button quail too and our female is very calm. She's always coming up to see what I'm doing and she'll stroll across my foot from time to time (freaked me out the first time she did it). Her mate is a little more reserved, as is their daughter who we've kept, but they are more than happy to take treats from us. They just don't want to be touched.

I think it has a lot to do with early exposure to people as well as to how calm the chicks are around humans. I've had to hand rear quite a few finch chicks (I have one pair who haven't proven to be good parents so far) and they are bomb proof growing up inside with two noisy children!

P.S. No dream is crazy!

 

[kittycat1356]

I don't want these quail to get killed accidentally or purposefully, i drove a long way to get them, so they won't be going under any hens lol. However I do have some broody silkies and have been considering buying some eggs to put under them.

My original coturnix are fairly tame, though they are mostly just kept for egg laying, and I don't play with them anymore, or give them the copious treats, they still seem to accept I am a thing that can be near their cage and are very calm. They escape their cage daily ( I'm building a new one and they will be In it soon) I catch them and bring them back to their cage, they don't like being picked up, but definitely aren't super terrified either. The younger ones i didn't handle as much are tame, but do freak out when carried, and will scratch pretty bad. But again, they are calm around me, and do get excited for feeding time, and dont run in the opposite direction.

Which reminds me, months ago with my more tame birds they all escaped (only four) and they were at my fathers house, and I was out of town for a few days. When I came back I was furious he didn't care for them and close their cage right. I started searching the property, and calling out for them. I found all of them, some were in yards a few houses down, but they all came to me and made weird noises as they ran toward me. (They were females, and I never heard them make that noise again)
They were very thin, but all did well, and are still alive today, just not as excited to see me every day. ^^

 

[JaeG]

Awww, I'm glad you found your four escapees! Sounds like they were glad you did!

I have my Japanese groups in a set of stacked cages and I often have to catch them as they fall out of the door when I feed them! I have one female that tells me off big time if I'm late - she's becoming rather bossy in her old age.

I'd love some pheasants one day. They are so beautiful. And the Californian quail are very cute. I had a wild one appear in our backyard a little while ago. I'm in New Zealand and they were released here but haven't bred too prolifically (unlike other species released here). I was very surprised to see them in an urban area, although there is a strip of bush running through quite a few of the properties around us. I think he was rather surprised to see me too! I could hear the rest of his group and he took off in rather a hurry to find them.

 

[kittycat1356]

Yeah, never heard that noise again though, was interesting!

I once had males in hanging cages and the only way to keep them in was by putting a bit of food in though the wire and then putting in in the bowl. I did the same with my chickens when a predator was getting them and I couldn't let them out. But i can imagine the quail running and falling out as soon as the door opens lol, gives me a funny image in my head xD.
My current females will jump and bite my fingers when i feed them, out of excitement, especially if they know it's treats. So they are rather bossy too. They are on the ground in a small A frame pvc cage, so I have to bend over and reach down to feed them. When I open the door all the way they just casually walk out looking for grass and food the chickens didn't eat.

They are rather picky though, we don't have game bird feed around here, so I feed them chick crumbles, layer pellets, cracked corn, and whole oats, whenever the food isn't cracked corn they make faces and turn their noses up to it, they do eventually eat it though. I also give kitchen scraps, meats usually go to the quail, and everything else to chickens, what they don't eat turns into maggots, and then the quail get alot of those too.
(Oddly enough they love fire ants, but i keep them far from the mounds in fear of them getting attacked, but every mound that tried to start in their food abundant cage died quickly)

I wasn't planning on owning pheasants until i was much older and lived in my permanent home, but they came with the quail so I guess i have them now.

Wow, I didnt know cali. Quail were in NZ! I have an Ex in NZ lol, guess he wasnt too knowledgeable about the wildlife there, other than the huhu beetles and weta.
I've talked about the quail and he said birds there didn't look like them with the little plume.

 

[JaeG]

Small world! It is unusual to see the Californian Quail here and there are a few people with captive bred ones. Often people raise them to release them for hunting. The only other place I've seen them was at a regional park by the ocean. So I was so surprised to see them in our backyard.

There was someone else on here recently saying his quail loved fire ants. They grew up outside and he'd had people caution him about the ants, but his quail gobble them up.

I can't get Game bird feed where I am either. I give them chicken layer mash that's kibbled grains and they seem to love it. I ferment it for them and they do look forward to it.