HELP - Reintroducing quails

[BillyBeans]

Hey all! Thank you for taking the time to read. I am new to the community, and also new to Quail keeping and raising.

We got our first flock from our neighbours, 1 male and 3 females, all the females were laying when we got them, but I’m not sure exactly how old they are. We noticed one lady was getting picked on quite heavily right off the bat (missing head feathers and scabby, some blood under her wing). We separated her within the larger enclosure to let her rest and hang out for a little (she has no line of sight to the other birds and has healed up nicely, and has been there about 2 weeks) But ultimately, from all the reading I have done, they are social birds and I wanted to integrate her back into the flock, also because the ratio is off and the male might start to overbreed the remaining females?

Yesterday morning we pulled the three birds (1 male and 2 females) to a new cage, cleaned and rearranged the old cage, removed the barrier holding the isolated one back and then put the 3 back in the main enclosure (the one that was isolated that I wanted to integrate was always in the main enclosure, I never moved her into the temporary cage with the others while I cleaned and rearranged things, problem?). Immediately upon integration the same bird was getting picked on, pretty much exclusively by the male, a bit by another female. We removed her and went back to the original setup, but all hell has broken loose with the other three birds now. The male was picking on a different female, and then one of the ladies was beating up badly on him. So currently, they are all separated individually to ovoid injury or worse. I’ve definitely messed with the pecking order, and didn’t do the reintroduction properly. I’m wondering if now I face a whole other problem, as I have separated all 4 birds individually, Or if I should just try again and be patient. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all!

 

[CliftonQuail]

It sounds like you did the right thing. Out of curiosity, did you wait till after dark to reintegrate them after cleaning the cage? That's the usual suggestion so that they wake up in a "new" place with "new" companions. It doesn't always work. Alternatively, you mentioned that the injured bird didn't have line of sight to/from the other birds. Usually, it's best to allow them to see, but not touch, each other during the isolation time. Quail are social birds and don't like being alone. @Nabiki could probably provide additional suggestions.

PS.

 

[Nabiki]

I agree with @CliftonQuail about putting all of the birds in at night after cleaning and rearranging the pen.

By any chance is the one that is getting picked on a different colour than the rest? Quail will often pick on one if it's different. Do you have any source to pick up a couple more hens as well? Introducing more than a single bird at a time can also be helpful.

Edit:
How much space do they have?
Do they have enough hiding places? Adding a few might help.

 

[Esc_Quaily]

Hello. My situation is slightly different to yours. I'll share what I did. I had 2 hens and 4 cocks. They were all happy together until puberty hit. I removed all the confirmed cocks from the pen and popped them together in a much larger space to see who the main aggressor was. Once detected I segregated him so he could see the other boys but not attack them. The boys calmed down.

I then slowly introduced my hens to the greenhouse in separate pens until they all calmed down. I must admit I didn't do this in the dark, I did it in the evening when there was still light but it was dim. Now I have 4 confirmed hens and a maybe hen in a pen in the greenhouse with 1 confirmed cock and the 3 extra boys roam around the greenhouse where they can see the hens but not attack them. I had 3 in one pen, 3 cocks in a large space together and the aggressor in another pen where he can see everyone but not attack them. Everyone has reintegrate except the aggressor.

Your covey is small so perhaps you could rehome or freeze the cock and let the girls live in harmony? I notice a big difference in serenity if there isn't a rooster around. The hens still lay.

It's recommended to let the segregated hen see the rest of the covey. Can you keep her separate but let her see the others? I think that will help when reintroducing. I remove the birds when I'm cleaning because it makes the task much easier for me and less stressful for the birds.

Did your neighbour say why she needed to rehome them? Perhaps the boy has been mean for a while. Easiest solution is to remove the boy but you're going to get a bit of feather pulling regardless. Hope this helps until someone more experienced comes along.

As a side thought how many feeders and water dispensers do they have? Some birds become territorial over food. You could try adding an extra source in the coop to reduce the risk of attacks.

 

[BillyBeans]

I agree with @CliftonQuail about putting all of the birds in at night after cleaning and rearranging the pen.

By any chance is the one that is getting picked on a different colour than the rest? Quail will often pick on one if it's different. Do you have any source to pick up a couple more hens as well? Introducing more than a single bird at a time can also be helpful.

Edit:
How much space do they have?
Do they have enough hiding places? Adding a few might help.

Thank you for your expertise. The one quail is not a different colour. They have about 16 square feet. The coop is 2ft deep by 8 feet wide by 18” tall. I think I will be adding more hiding places before the next reintroduction. They didn’t have too many before, I now have enough for each of them. I do not have a source just yet for another hen or two. But I could look into it if maybe the ratio is off @ 3-1. Thank you kindly for the info.

 

[BillyBeans]

It sounds like you did the right thing. Out of curiosity, did you wait till after dark to reintegrate them after cleaning the cage? That's the usual suggestion so that they wake up in a "new" place with "new" companions. It doesn't always work. Alternatively, you mentioned that the injured bird didn't have line of sight to/from the other birds. Usually, it's best to allow them to see, but not touch, each other during the isolation time. Quail are social birds and don't like being alone. @Nabiki could probably provide additional suggestions.

PS. View attachment 4204727

Thank you very much for the info. Adding a line of sight would make sense for a slower introduction. Which I think is our preferred way of doing it. I have heard about a “hard reset” by sticking them all in a dark box with air holes, and limited light, for about 20 minutes and then reintroducing them to the main coop. I guess what I’m fretting over is that I have now separated them all individually, so no one has any cohesion. Most of my reading has been how to introduce new birds to an already established flock. Not start one from scratch. =)

 

[BillyBeans]

Hello. My situation is slightly different to yours. I'll share what I did. I had 2 hens and 4 cocks. They were all happy together until puberty hit. I removed all the confirmed cocks from the pen and popped them together in a much larger space to see who the main aggressor was. Once detected I segregated him so he could see the other boys but not attack them. The boys calmed down.

I then slowly introduced my hens to the greenhouse in separate pens until they all calmed down. I must admit I didn't do this in the dark, I did it in the evening when there was still light but it was dim. Now I have 4 confirmed hens and a maybe hen in a pen in the greenhouse with 1 confirmed cock and the 3 extra boys roam around the greenhouse where they can see the hens but not attack them. I had 3 in one pen, 3 cocks in a large space together and the aggressor in another pen where he can see everyone but not attack them. Everyone has reintegrate except the aggressor.

Your covey is small so perhaps you could rehome or freeze the cock and let the girls live in harmony? I notice a big difference in serenity if there isn't a rooster around. The hens still lay.

It's recommended to let the segregated hen see the rest of the covey. Can you keep her separate but let her see the others? I think that will help when reintroducing. I remove the birds when I'm cleaning because it makes the task much easier for me and less stressful for the birds.

Did your neighbour say why she needed to rehome them? Perhaps the boy has been mean for a while. Easiest solution is to remove the boy but you're going to get a bit of feather pulling regardless. Hope this helps until someone more experienced comes along.

As a side thought how many feeders and water dispensers do they have? Some birds become territorial over food. You could try adding an extra source in the coop to reduce the risk of attacks.

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, we definitely don’t need the male, as we are collecting and eating eggs only. We recently moved into a new house, and our neighbours have quail. We have become somewhat close, and when I mentioned always wanting chickens, but can’t cuz we are in the city, he suggested we could have a couple quail when we were ready. My daughter loves them, and I like that she has a connection to some of her food, and to animals and nature. So I don’t think he was rehoming them because of issues. But you could be right about the one being a jerk for a while as we did separate one girl right off the bat when we got them cuz she looked a little rough and had some blood under her wing.

We only had the one feeder and the one water when trying to reintroduce them the first time. Thank you for the great suggestion, we will add a few more stations, and also add some more hides as also suggested. Thank you kindly.

 

[BillyBeans]

I also would like to ask if anyone has any advice, but what does excessive aggression look like when I am reintroducing them? And how long do I need to watch them for before being confident that they are harmonious. I will reintroduce them all back together at night as suggested, but how long into the night do I have to sit there on my lawn chair before I should be confident it’s all good? We are new to this, and we love animals, and we don’t want to see anyone hurt, maybe I am being a little too sensitive with what is considered aggressive? I hear that some pecking is normal, and probably necessary. But the male was climbing up on top of the female from behind, and pecking at her head, she was trying to get away and hide behind the water dish, and then the other female went after the male pretty hard. So I think we did the right thing by isolating them all. But it’s just a tough integration now, as I have no quail that get along. But as all of you wonderful people have suggested, I will add more food and water stations, some more hides, and let them all see eachother before the reintroduction, as well as do the reintroduction at night. Thank you all so much. I will keep watch for your replies, and see if there is any tweaking to the plan to be done. I will update on the integration!!! Lol. And thank you all for welcoming me and helping me out.

Much appreciated!

 

[Nabiki]

You shouldn't need to watch for long at night. They will settle down and go to sleep quickly. You will want to watch more closely in the morning.

The behaviour you're describing from your male is pretty normal, especially if he doesn't have enough hens. It sounds like they will definitely benefit from more hiding places.

 

[BillyBeans]

You shouldn't need to watch for long at night. They will settle down and go to sleep quickly. You will want to watch more closely in the morning.

The behaviour you're describing from your male is pretty normal, especially if he doesn't have enough hens. It sounds like they will definitely benefit from more hiding places.

Thank you. I’ll make sure more hiding places happen! If they still are at each other, and drawing blood, do you think removing him would be the best move? Maybe until I could find another hen or two. Thank you for all the help!