Introducing button quail male to his chicks.

judithfoster62

In the Brooder
10 Years
Oct 20, 2009
38
1
32
I have a male and female button quail, I incubated their eggs as she wouldn't sit on them. They are now a week old, and I have introduced the mum to them, and after a few days she seems to have accepted them. The question is, how do I introduce the dad to them? I tried to introduce him with the chicks, while mum was in with them, but he only seemed to be interested in mating with her, and went for the chicks. Do I try when they are a little older and without mum in there? I was hoping to keep a male so that he has company when I have to separate him from the female when I don't want them to mate, but on his own he calls for her, which is quite loud and often.
 
Last edited:
You shouldn't keep several males in the same enclosure, if there are females in there - they are very likely to fight, even if they are father and son. And the son might try to mate with his mother when he matures, causing over breeding and - if you incubate more eggs - inbreeding.
Males that have been raised together, can be kept together in bachelor groups, but if there are females in the group, they are likely to start fighting when they are a couple of months old.
So I really wouldn't attempt introducing the chicks to their father. There might be some benefit in keeping them with their mother - she could keep them warm if you loose power - but I'd separate her when they are around 5 weeks old.

Why would you want to prevent them from mating? She will lay eggs regardless, unless the separation really stresses her, in which case the separation might hurt her more than the constant egg laying. If it's because she looses feathers from the constant breeding, I'd consider introducing an additional female instead. That way she won't be mated as often. But there is no guarantee the pair will accept an additional female. A larger enclosure might also help prevent over breeding. It will give them more things to do to keep the males mind off breeding and it will give the female more room to get away from him.
 
I wanted to keep a male chick just to keep the older male company, it won't be staying in with its mum. I wanted to stop mating for a while to let the female have a break from the male, as he mates her several times a day, and she is going bald. I am also hoping to get another female chick from another set of parents to keep my older female company too.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom