Honking quail?

[Cattt123]

I rescued this little man a while back - he’s very happy now and adores his little flock.
He had a bad life before, was horrendously picked on by like 7 other males, and was just a withdrawn little thing when we got him, barely moving or eating.

Although he’s happy now and his feathers have (mostly) grown back, I swear he has ptsd or something. He’ll be fine one minute, then the next he’ll do his ‘danger’ chirp and then honk! He’ll be happy as anything and then randomly do it. Ive never heard a quail honk before - has anyone else?

He’s really bad at crowing too, very quiet and sounds like a cough sometimes he can do a full one but not often!
He also squats for his ladies, I think he assumes all quail want to mate with him... and when he mates he often does it the wrong way round (at the head end)

Anyone ever had similar? Not worried, just curious!

Link to a video of him honking: https://kapwi.ng/c/LoSgBP5f

 

[Quailobsessed]

Aww, I'm so happy for him. I have a few rescue quails. I don't know what their life was like before, but they seem happy now.

Yes, my males 'honk' like that all the time.

 

[Peristeria]

Wow! We have the same exact thing (minus the squatting part)... ours is named Stump Boy because we had a raccoon break in and we found him in a stump the next day asleep. He sounds EXACTLY the same, the chirp before and all. He is horrible at crowing and it is super quiet and basically only half of the crow. I'm not sure why this is but we thought he was a girl until his sad crow came at about 10 weeks old haha. I don't understand what this honking is, can anyone explain it? One of my girls would honk when others got too close in the sand bath but I dont know why. Pecking order? Honking for fun? Anyone know? lol

 

[2020Chickadee]

Wow! We have the same exact thing (minus the squatting part)... ours is named Stump Boy because we had a raccoon break in and we found him in a stump the next day asleep. He sounds EXACTLY the same, the chirp before and all. He is horrible at crowing and it is super quiet and basically only half of the crow. I'm not sure why this is but we thought he was a girl until his sad crow came at about 10 weeks old haha. I don't understand what this honking is, can anyone explain it? One of my girls would honk when others got too close in the sand bath but I dont know why. Pecking order? Honking for fun? Anyone know? lol

I've always taken the "honk" as a growl/show of annoyance.

 

[hedgemoo]

One of mine honks. He's my feisty runt and all round weirdo.