Friendly Quail?

[nayeli]

Alright, so maybe friendly isn't so much the word as is brave or sturdy. I have always read about how flighty quail are and them shooting straight up in panic... Since I have got mine they have no problem with me touching them. They don't move away from me or anything. I'm rather impressed. Anyone else have quail like this?

 

[dc3085]

We don't have true button quail here in the states, so thats a lot of why king quail are called by that name here. Our poultry/fowl importation laws keep up relatively restricted as to what species we can have. We are not even allowed to import the silver coturnix from Canada or the UK.

The quail we can get here are

Valleys
Gambles
Mearns
Bobwhites of every mutation
Coturnix japonica in rosetta, range, roux, italian, manchurian, autumn amber, pharaoh, A&M, english white, tibetan, tuxedos of most varieties, and a few more
Coturnix chinesis (king quail/button quail)
Mountain quail

Having raised coturnix for as long as I have, I have often wondered about the many Australian breeds of coturnix and how they are to raise. Have you ever raised the brown or stubble quail Urucubaca? If so how do they compare to coturnix?

 

[luvburds]

Haha, it depends. Sometimes mine will just sit there and let me pick them up and move them off of an egg or eat out of my hand. Sometimes they take off if I come near. I think they sense things going on around them that we don't and get skitty. Mostly calm though.

 

[nayeli]

=) I am wondering if its because of the breeders handling them more often. I read ducks imprint easy too, so although my current adults are skittish I'm hoping when I have ducklings they will be friendlier.

 

[clawstar]

My quail were sweet and cuddly (they were razed in a school) but once I let them out of there pen it took 1 week and they went skittish I have no idea why???

I miss my sweet quail that didn't scratch me to death every night I put them to bed

 

[WaterfowlWierdo]

Alright, so maybe friendly isn't so much the word as is brave or sturdy. I have always read about how flighty quail are and them shooting straight up in panic... Since I have got mine they have no problem with me touching them. They don't move away from me or anything. I'm rather impressed. Anyone else have quail like this?

What kind of quail do you have? My coturnix dont mind me touching them at all and they were raised with minimal handling whereas my bobwhite were handled almost everyday but they are very flighty now

 

[USAmma]

The guy I bought mine from said he culled the aggressive ones and bred only the docile ones. My quail don't exactly panic when I go in the coop but they do mostly try to avoid me. I have never had one attack me or scratch me or peck at me. Even when I was grabbing them and turning them upside down to treat some foot problems, they just struggled and then sat still after about 3 seconds. I wonder if personality/tameness is more nature or nurture.

 

[Urucubaca]

All mine are tame with minimal handling.

It all depends on the species as well. You didn't list the species.

 

[nayeli]

I have cortunix, although I did see one that looked like he/she was trying to peck me today. Mine aren't skittish at all, I have to push them to get them to move.

 

[WaterfowlWierdo]

I have cortunix, although I did see one that looked like he/she was trying to peck me today. Mine aren't skittish at all, I have to push them to get them to move.

Coturnix are the more docile quail....I think of them as small chickens