HELP - Reintroducing quails

[Nabiki]

It might not be a bad idea to remove him or put a divider towards one end so he has his own space where he can see and hear the hens but not touch them.

 

[Esc_Quaily]

@BillyBeans good luck with the reintegration. I'm sure they'll be fine once you implement those changes. Mine are much happier now. The girls may stop laying for a day or two after they are housed together, that's nothing to worry about, they'llstart up again once they are comfy in the new set-up.

 

[BillyBeans]

@BillyBeans good luck with the reintegration. I'm sure they'll be fine once you implement those changes. Mine are much happier now. The girls may stop laying for a day or two after they are housed together, that's nothing to worry about, they'llstart up again once they are comfy in the new set-up.

Thank you all for all your help and advice! We put them all back together again. This time with a very rearranged coop, more food and water stations, and did it at night. They all seemed pretty chill. I’ll get up early and see how they are fairing. Thank you again for the help! Glad to have joined the club lol

 

[BillyBeans]

Hello again to all, the reintroduction went much better than last time. I just have one further question. The one little quail (female) is still hanging out by herself and doesn’t seem to be integrating with the other three (2 female and 1 male). And unfortunately there was a bit of blood smeared on one of the hidey holes. I have witnessed the male chasing her around a little, but it didn’t seem that bad. I guess my question is, how long do I give it until I need to separate one of them, and which one is best to remove? The male, or the one getting picked on? I don’t want to disturb the peace with the 3 that do get along, but long term, maybe this is too much pressure on the other two hens? I don’t currently have anywhere to get anymore hens, but I could find somewhere if a few more hens would help the situation.
Thank you all in advance.

 

[Esc_Quaily]

Hopefully someone more experienced will come along but until then I'd suggest checking to see who was bleeding and assess the damage. As I said in a previous post, remove the male. If you want to keep the boy then you will need more girls. Are you in the US? If so try Tractor Supply. It appears a lot of American quail keepers get birds and supplies from this shop. Alternatively, you could purchase an incubator and some eggs and hatch your own, but you're not guaranteed to get hens. So it is a riskier option. Perhaps you could try FB or Craigslist for hens?

It's pretty common for a quail to be isolated by the group especially if they haven't been segregated where the other quail can see it. They will hopefully welcome her back in a few days.

M to F ratio for quail is 1:5. Hens can be kept without a male in groups of 4 or more as they are flock birds. But some people keep them individually with a plush for company, so I guess it's not an exact science .

If I were you I'd remove or segregate the male and look at getting a couple more hens. Good luck. All this upheaval will be worth it. I promise.

 

[Nabiki]

I would separate or get rid of the male. If you just want eggs, you don't need a male at all.