Integrating Gambel's Quail Juveniles

[eveliens]

Have 1 lone hatched quail that I'm trying to integrate with a group of 8. The 8 are about a month younger than the lone quail but they're all still juveniles (7-12 weeks). I've tried to integrate them before without a lot of success when they were younger and they wouldn't let the lone quail join them. Took a step back, put the lone quail in a pen next to the flock, let them get used to each other. Lone quail is a hen, group of 8 is evenly split - pen is a 10x4' flight aviary. What next? Do I put her in at night and hope for the best? Or is a daytime introduction better. Once she goes into the aviary, I will not have an easy way to withdraw her in things go sideways. They weren't particularly brutal last time, just some pecking and chasing, but she's a very nervous and flighty individual so I removed her to prevent self-harm. Situation changed and she can't stay in the tiny pen anymore (something keeps breaking into it so I'm removing the surviving/remaining quail until I figure out what/how). Suggestions?

 

[Nabiki]

@007Sean may have some good advice for you.

 

[eveliens]

Thanks for the tag. I decided to do it in my middle of the day during their resting time. It is too hot for chasing, so hopefully by this evening she will be allowed to hang in the cage without harassment. I was worried if I did it overnight they'd wake up before I did and I couldn't keep an eye on things.

 

[007Sean]

I make all my transitions or reintroducing at night, that way when morning light arrives their all on new ground, so to speak. I always transfer the whole group to a new pen, even if it's just the the next pen over....it's still 'new' to all the birds. They will begin a new 'pecking order' and hopefully it goes smoother.
This is the way I do things but you may find a different way that will work out for you.

 

[eveliens]

I make all my transitions or reintroducing at night, that way when morning light arrives their all on new ground, so to speak. I always transfer the whole group to a new pen, even if it's just the the next pen over....it's still 'new' to all the birds. They will begin a new 'pecking order' and hopefully it goes smoother.
This is the way I do things but you may find a different way that will work out for you.

Thanks! Its actually really helpful to hear that normally works! That's pretty similar to what I did the first time (moving to the new area together and let them hash it out in the morning) hoping to disrupt the pecking order and have new territory to establish. I'm relatively new to outdoor birds but this works well with other social but territorial animals like fish and rats.

Unfortunately, it didn't work this specific time - the flighty loner's siblings were killed by a 117F heatwave (my mistake - the growout run had a house and they cooked in it during the hottest part of the day instead of hanging in the sand under the house) and she was house with button quail while the 2nd batch hatched/brooded. I think it messed up her social skills Introducing 1:8 probably isn't helping either. The funny thing is she's quite a bit bigger than they are, especially when they were younger.

I saw some hopeful interactions this afternoon - as I said, I think this particular quail is just poorly socialized and doesn't know how to behave, which freaks the others out and they go after her. Now she seems to have realized if she doesn't run around ballistically slamming into everything while screaming and just lets them discipline her while being submissive it goes better. She's still keeping to the other side of the cage but comes out to eat with them or mingle when they'd otherwise distracted or edges over to hang out in the holes during snooze time. Only the other hens seem interested in disciplining her (last time it was the roosters) so I'm going to assume this is specifically pecking order stuff this time.

Fingers crossed, something keeps getting into the smaller pen (and can open simple latches) and I lost 2 of the buttons this morning, so I don't want to keep anything in the cage until it is fortified/fixed.

 

[Santos dalba]

Have 1 lone hatched quail that I'm trying to integrate with a group of 8. The 8 are about a month younger than the lone quail but they're all still juveniles (7-12 weeks). I've tried to integrate them before without a lot of success when they were younger and they wouldn't let the lone quail join them. Took a step back, put the lone quail in a pen next to the flock, let them get used to each other. Lone quail is a hen, group of 8 is evenly split - pen is a 10x4' flight aviary. What next? Do I put her in at night and hope for the best? Or is a daytime introduction better. Once she goes into the aviary, I will not have an easy way to withdraw her in things go sideways. They weren't particularly brutal last time, just some pecking and chasing, but she's a very nervous and flighty individual so I removed her to prevent self-harm. Situation changed and she can't stay in the tiny pen anymore (something keeps breaking into it so I'm removing the surviving/remaining quail until I figure out what/how). Suggestions?

Hello there I have some baby quails that I'm trying to get rid of you know anybody in PA let me know..

 

[Ntsees]

...

I saw some hopeful interactions this afternoon - as I said, I think this particular quail is just poorly socialized and doesn't know how to behave, which freaks the others out and they go after her. Now she seems to have realized if she doesn't run around ballistically slamming into everything while screaming and just lets them discipline her while being submissive it goes better. ....

Interesting to hear. I would think that it is 8 younger ones who will get bullied. Either way, Gambel's quail are social birds and so it'll work out eventually (until spring that is).

 

[eveliens]

Interesting to hear. I would think that it is 8 younger ones who will get bullied. Either way, Gambel's quail are social birds and so it'll work out eventually (until spring that is).

Yes, I plan to separate in the spring when they pair off! This is just for the fall/winter to have them as a covey. It was a nice split, if you don't include the loner, so I was happy not to end up with a ton of roosters from the hatch (eggs hatched from 3 unrelated pairs so hopefully there's some diversity in the genetics - there's definitely a noteable size difference between a few of them so I think I got a decent mix).

 

[eveliens]

Hello there I have some baby quails that I'm trying to get rid of you know anybody in PA let me know..

I actually live on the other side of the US. However you might try posting in the classifieds section of the forum. Good luck!

 

[eveliens]

Well, it was looking promising last night. She went to bed with them up on the roost (as a bookend but hey not alone on the ground!), which I wasn't expecting. Particularly since she's never roosted in her life before. But this morning the roosters are now chasing her pretty persistently with feather yanking and she's back to slamming around in a panic. Thankfully without the screaming. If there are still issues this weekend when I fix the other cage I'll pop her back in with the remaining button quail (+replacement buttons from the breeder) and call it a wash. Thanks again for the help and discussion everyone!