Gambel's Quail being Aggressive

[Advocat]

I'm fairly new to the Forum still -- I have a young male Gambel's who was hatched a day or two after Easter Sunday. So by now he is getting in some adult plumage and is about the size of a robin.

He has a large Sterilite tub as a home, with hardware cloth on one side for ventilation and social stuff, and a mesh top in case he flies up suddenly. In the later evening when the dog and cat are put away for the night, I have him out for about an hour and he runs around on my computer desk, my legs, up and down from my shoulders -- makes short fast flights from 6 inches to 3 feet, gets up on other things like lamp tops and looks around, etc. He also runs after me on the floor when I put him down there and will follow me all over the house. He calls for me when I walk out of sight, things like that.

My question has to do with his recent "aggression". Up until about 3 weeks ago, he ran around a lot and I encouraged that as it was good for him, but also I could gather him up, hold him still between my hands on my lap and he would drowse a while cuddled in my hands. Now he doesn't want to do that, and also he has started to peck me on my hands and even grab a pinch of skin in his beak and pull on it. If I push him away or move my hands away, he comes after them with open mouth. At times when he's on my shoulder, he will lean around and peck me hard on the cheek.

I understand that pecking is in part his way of investigating things, but he knows my hands are not FOOD. He doesn't seem to have any particular reason to do it -- for example, I try cuddling him as described above and he doesn't want to and struggles to get loose, but he doesn't then come back and peck at me as if being held made him angry, and he's not afraid if I try to hold him again.

I want to raise him as an indoor pet and would like to have a good relationship. I don't mind some pecks -- it's understandable that he'd peck at a dark spot on my skin -- but the "going after my hands to peck and bite" is what concerns me a bit. I can distract him with something else, or move him away from me, but I am wondering why the aggression in the first place.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is there anything else I should do or not do about this?

Thanks!

 

[sourland]

He's male - he's growing up.

 

[Ntsees]

Your experience reminds me of when a friend of mines hatched a wild mallard male (as well as some people on here who has pheasant males that attack). It was very tame but when it became adult, it attacked everyone. It must be a wild bird thing coupled with it being male.

 

[Advocat]

Re him growing up -- I kind of wondered if it could be hormones. I suppose he's at the age when human teenagers argue with their parents all the time, lol!

I'm working on telling him NO in a loud voice when he does it and lifting my hands away from him. He stops and looks at me for a little bit as if trying to figure it all out. So this may work after a few days of being consistent.

 

[TwoCrows]

It is hormones. I have some very calm male quail that are just the sweetest things. And some males that "turned on" at 8 to 10 months old! I have a male, who has finally settled down now, that at 10 months old tried to kill every female hen he came into contact with! They are just full of hormones at this age and some of them go nuts. Chances are your boy will always be this way. My most calm males were calm from the start. My crazy boys stayed crazy all their lives, although did calm down after several years.

 

[Advocat]

Okay, hormones gets the vote! Fortunately, this is not his only behavior. In all other ways he's very sweet, often comical, and always interesting to watch and interact with. He plays "keep away" with objects he fancies, doesn't want me to take them and runs around keeping his back to me. He also plays "tug of war" with pieces of cloth or string ... I let him win at least half the time

 

[Quail Jailer]

Theres always negative reinforcement if all else fails, every time he pecks you thump him on the beak, not hard, just enough to jostle him, he will find this unpleasant
and eventually learn that when he pecks you he gets made to feel unpleasant.

But two crows is absolutely right, the calm ones are usually always calm and the wild ones are usually killed, err I mean always wild...lol

 

[Ntsees]

My solution to avoid raising (wild) birds that attack people is to never tame them from the beginning (for some bird species). They will keep their distance because of their instinctual fear of people.

 

[Sill]

You can always try to caponize him if you can find someone in your area that does it. That will take care of the hormones right away.

Next time you want a tame pet quail try a conturnix from someone that breeds for temperament. They are usually friendlier, but then they too can have issues when their hormones click in. If you can get one that has gone through the puberty faze you will know more or less if they are an aggressive bird or not.

 

[Advocat]

Looked up "caponize" and I think I won't risk him that way ... he's not harming me with his pecks and bites, they hurt and I'd rather he didn't do it but he's not leaving bruises and cuts I'll work on the negative reinforcement along with distracting him and see how that goes.