I need Help!

[HarleyQuailison]

is it possible that they are just jumpy quail? Dont have any quail but it dosent seen that anything is too wrong. @ButtonquailGirl14

It's a pretty big hutch for two quail, and it has an upstairs room too. They are actually pretty happy and come out onto the table I have the hutch and bottom I built onto it and visit me every day. It has been quite a good thing up until yesterday. I do think there were some issues though with the whole seasonal mating thing. They seem to have no perception of seasons, and I hatched the female myself and got the male at only 2 weeks old. So they have lived inside with me in total harmony for quite some time, and she has been laying eggs all winter. They are tired and just a bit jumpy today, but it seems as though he tried to mate with her and she was done with all that for now so she probably attacked him, which scared the piss outta him, and the chaos began. It appears he has carefully worked himself back into her good graces, and they were together when I woke this morning, he was cleaning her neck like he does. Another thing I have recently noticed, is that the male was a little jealous of my relationship with the female for the last month. She would climb up in my hands and close her eyes while I pet her head, or if she was having difficult time laying her eg I would gently rub her tummy and she loved that. So he has been getting a bit more dominant with her, and even tried to challenge me once but he backed off. I think she just got mad at him trying to dominate and I didn't see it. She is a few weeks older than him and slightly bigger, so when she attacked him back, I think it scared him. I've kept it really ZEN in here since yesterday evening. Low lighting, as quiet as possible. Seems to be getting back to normal. They are very spoiled quail. Diet of live mealworms every day, fresh plants and milkweeds, quail and dove seed feed, fresh water every day, oyster shells for calcium, vitamins. They get pet and loved on every day and have been very happy. Just crazy yesterday like they lost it, I dunno. But I think for two quail they have a pretty good life and their area is pretty big with 2 stories and the upper level is dark and has black light heat lamp, the rest on the bottom is 4 ft long and 3 ft high. I've seen so many people having much smaller areas with way more than 2 birds. Do you really think that is too small for them? Everyone else I've spoken to said that is way plenty of room. Do they need more? Thanks for the help by the way. But I am not giving my babies up. We are close. Just freaked me out and was hoping for some help figuring out why this suddenly happened.

 

[Fishkeeper]

You don't need to post that many times to all the answers. Anyone who's answered in the thread will get a notification when you post, so they'll know even if their answer isn't in it.

It's very difficult to properly balanced a homemade feed. You should give them a proper gamebird food with at least 20% protein, and can give them the mealworms as treats. Their health will suffer long-term otherwise.

You have bobwhite quail. Bobwhites need a lot of room to move, and it should be horizontal, wide, not vertical, tall. The quail you've seen in less space are coturnix, which are a completely different species. Coturnix were domesticated to live in small spaces, but bobwhites are a wild species of bird, not domesticated. Even captive-bred ones need a lot of room. People usually keep them in small outdoor aviaries. They aren't good indoor pets unless they're running loose in the house most of the day. Also, bobwhites pair off during the breeding season. Your female is going to choose 1 male, and her and the male will drive off the other male. Since he can't run away in a cage, they'll kill him.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

is it possible that they are just jumpy quail? Dont have any quail but it dosent seen that anything is too wrong. @ButtonquailGirl14

They are Bobwhites and they tend to need more room than other type's of quail, than they have....I understand your situation, I'm not condemning, just stating a fact. If they have calmed down today, I wouldn't worry too much about it. With more room they have places to get away from eachother and 'line of sight' can be broken up.
They also could have just been 'feeling their oats' and just being rambunctious.

Bobwhites are seasonal breeders / layers, so I wouldn't worry about the lack of eggs. He may have been feeling frisky, she may have been saying 'wait until next season'... and let the fireworks begin. I'm sure it will sort itself out soon.

AFAIK, Bobwhites are not exactly the best "inside" pets. They need more space than the easily-domesticated quail and have more specific cage/pairing requirements during breeding season. I'm sorry you're having trouble with your birds.

If these quail don't settle down or they become very violent, the kindest solutions for you and the birds are either A) to get them a bigger cage with more spaces to hide OR B) to find them another home. Japanese quail might be a better fit for your situation.

I hope you and your quail get some peace soon!

If I were you, I'd rehome those, and I'd get coturnix instead. Bobwhites aren't good indoor pets, they need a lot of room and panic very easily. That's probably what's happening.
It's also possible that they're starting to pair off. Bobwhites live in 1M/1F pairs during the breeding season, and will drive away anyone who's not in their pair.

You don't need to post that many times to all the answers. Anyone who's answered in the thread will get a notification when you post, so they'll know even if their answer isn't in it.

It's very difficult to properly balanced a homemade feed. You should give them a proper gamebird food with at least 20% protein, and can give them the mealworms as treats. Their health will suffer long-term otherwise.

You have bobwhite quail. Bobwhites need a lot of room to move, and it should be horizontal, wide, not vertical, tall. The quail you've seen in less space are coturnix, which are a completely different species. Coturnix were domesticated to live in small spaces, but bobwhites are a wild species of bird, not domesticated. Even captive-bred ones need a lot of room. People usually keep them in small outdoor aviaries. They aren't good indoor pets unless they're running loose in the house most of the day. Also, bobwhites pair off during the breeding season. Your female is going to choose 1 male, and her and the male will drive off the other male. Since he can't run away in a cage, they'll kill him.

X2! Sorry everyone... I have been gone for 2days.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

You don't need to post that many times to all the answers. Anyone who's answered in the thread will get a notification when you post, so they'll know even if their answer isn't in it.

It's very difficult to properly balanced a homemade feed. You should give them a proper gamebird food with at least 20% protein, and can give them the mealworms as treats. Their health will suffer long-term otherwise.

You have bobwhite quail. Bobwhites need a lot of room to move, and it should be horizontal, wide, not vertical, tall. The quail you've seen in less space are coturnix, which are a completely different species. Coturnix were domesticated to live in small spaces, but bobwhites are a wild species of bird, not domesticated. Even captive-bred ones need a lot of room. People usually keep them in small outdoor aviaries. They aren't good indoor pets unless they're running loose in the house most of the day. Also, bobwhites pair off during the breeding season. Your female is going to choose 1 male, and her and the male will drive off the other male. Since he can't run away in a cage, they'll kill him.

Yeah the bobwhites, gambels, other domestic quail need a lot of room, a large outdoor run! They of course can live in a smaller pen but they need larger to be really happy...

HarleyQuailison,
Your setup and ability to spend so much time with them would be so perfect for coturnix!
I know you love your bobs, but as they are reaching adulthood, their needs and wants change, unless you can give them a larger outdoor area, then it could be better for THEM to try to find a good home for them, and get yourself a pair of coturnix, who I promise are wonderful quail too!
I had some gambels quail that I hatched and raised myself, but I could not build them a large enough home and realized for their sake I had the rehome them.

 

[HarleyQuailison]

You don't need to post that many times to all the answers. Anyone who's answered in the thread will get a notification when you post, so they'll know even if their answer isn't in it.

It's very difficult to properly balanced a homemade feed. You should give them a proper gamebird food with at least 20% protein, and can give them the mealworms as treats. Their health will suffer long-term otherwise.

You have bobwhite quail. Bobwhites need a lot of room to move, and it should be horizontal, wide, not vertical, tall. The quail you've seen in less space are coturnix, which are a completely different species. Coturnix were domesticated to live in small spaces, but bobwhites are a wild species of bird, not domesticated. Even captive-bred ones need a lot of room. People usually keep them in small outdoor aviaries. They aren't good indoor pets unless they're running loose in the house most of the day. Also, bobwhites pair off during the breeding season. Your female is going to choose 1 male, and her and the male will drive off the other male. Since he can't run away in a cage, they'll kill him.

 

[HarleyQuailison]

They actually ate 99% of the time fine. I take them out every day twice a day and spend time with them for about an hour each time. But yeah, even with that, every once in a while one gets really skiddish and freaks and the other then chases them until all calms down. We just successfully hatched a little baby and the chaos is back! Mom freaked I guess when the baby came out, I'm not sure, it happened over night, and now she's freaking and he's chasing her. He's taking care of the baby. I tried to take the baby out and he had a fit so I'm trying to find a solution. I've given them more hiding spaces so she's always going to one, but he hunts her down and she freaks until she's hiding again. Not sure yet what to do but I think baby and eggs have to go. Sad really, as she's been on then 3 weeks and they are all due to hatch. But I don't have anywhere safe for them outside. It has been great with Just the two for a while. I thought I'd see what happens but think that was a mistake now. We'll see in 24 hours if things change, otherwise I'm calling wildlife for relocation and repopulating efforts for the little one. How long do Bobwhite quail normally live? I'm planning on moving to a great home in Arkansas Ozarks next year and it has an outdoor run already.

 

[DK newbie]

Oww, that's so cute! Pictures please! Am I reading it correctly - dad is both caring for the baby and chasing her around? I think he's trying to protect the baby from her, though if he leaves it to chase her around all the time it can kill the baby. Any chance you could keep her in the upper level of the cage for a while, to give him time to calm down?
Otherwise, piles of hay seems to have a calming effect on my button quail - sometimes I put branches or something below the hay to make sure there are pockets of empty space in the pile for them to hide in. It seems to be harder to chase a bird in a pile of hay than in most other hideouts.