I don't think my quail got the memo!

[Sumatra503]

I don't think my coturnix quail got the Memo. The one that says they are calm and gentle quail who are supposed to cuddly.

Ever time I walk into my quail pens they flush. They hit the roof of the 6 foot pen and run around like spazzes until I leave. They must think they are Button Quail and not Coturnix quail.

I think I need to have them read a few of the posts on here about coturnix quail.

The only one that doesn't Flush is Killer. He's my Brown roo who attacks my feet when I walk in the pen.

 

[Omniskies]

One of the individuals I got my Jumbos from started off with much smaller quail. They said their first quail were small and spastic - they would do exactly as you described. After a year of breeding and eating the smaller culls they ended up with big fat lazy Coturnix that are nowhere near as jumpy.

It may have something to do with the strain you have. Just keep the largest birds back and cull the smallest and most aggressive.

 

[Sumatra503]

Agressive doesn't bother me as much as the flighty part. Killer is my biggest and best bodied male, so he'll be staying.

i'm not really concerned about a 4" tall quail attacking me. If he were a chicken i'd worry, though.

I'm more a fan of the smaller and daintier birds myself. Especially in my Ew's and others that aren't browns.

 

[mhwc56]

it's probably those "spastic" E.W.'s that i sent you that are teaching everyone else to be crazy.....sorrrrrrrrrrrry....for some reason, all my whites are like that while all the browns have been pretty laid back even though they're not fatties or Jumbos ....

 

[Rozzie]

How old are the nutty ones? My 2 year old birds are nice, calm, and friendly. My 3 month old birds are settling down but aren't as tame as the others. My 3 week old babies are lunatics, still. They still panic over the slightest thing. That may slow down when I get them out of their brooder so that I don't appear to be a monster hawk overhead...

 

[Robo]

My 2 1/2 week olds are crazy. When I try to water them they peck at my hand and then they peck the jar. My plastic jar was too soft and top heavy so I now use mason jars.

 

[Stellar]

The older the calmer. They get to know you and realize you aren't a big monster. My 5 year old Coturnix likes to follow me around the house, mainly because he knows where the fridge is

 

[shelleyd2008]

Color plays a big part in it too, though I have no idea why. My whites are okay, but all my tibetans are nut cases!! Eventually they do figure out that you aren't going to eat them though. I don't think I"ll ever have a coturnix pen that I can walk into though, mine like to try and eat me when I feed them, I'm sure I'd have some quail pancakes if I were wandering around with them

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
Go barefoot & shuffle your feet!

 

[Sumatra503]

But then you'll step in Quail Poo!