Introducing Quail Chicks to 3 week old Quails?

[Little Byrd]

Hi, I have 32 coturnix quails that are almost 4 weeks old, and now I've just hatched some new baby quails. I put the babies in a tank inside of my quail pen, so the older quail can see them without touching them. The babies and the juveniles are very curious about each other, but I know I can't set them loose in the quail pen because I think a few of my quails might attempt to eat them. When would it be safe to put the babies in with them? And how do I go about it? Thanks

 

[CascadiaRiver]

I would personally wait until the babies are at least two weeks old, coturnix chicks can be kinda dumb in my experience and so they could get hurt pretty easily especially in with older birds, we have a lot of other threads on here about how to integrate safely as well ^^

 

[DK newbie]

In general it's recommended to wait until the birds are similar in size - basically meaning the chicks should beat least 6-8 weeks old. Even then they will be the new guys in the enclosure and thus likely to be bullied, but the fact that there are several of them and that they are already living in the enclosure so they are used to seeing each other will probably help.
You could try placing one of the older birds with the chicks when they are around 2 weeks old and a little more hardy as CR suggested, just to get an idea of how the older birds react to the chicks. If it doesn't seem aggressive you could try with another, then maybe 2 at a time. I find it highly unlikely that it will work and I wouldn't leave them alone for a minute unless I'm absolutely positive nothing will happen, but if everything is still fine you could place a few chicks with the older birds and see what happens then.
Also, you are going to need to separate the males soon, or they will start fighting (usually happens when they are around 6 weeks old). If you remove the big males just before introducing the chicks, you might have messed up their pecking order enough to allow the chicks to just blend in.
Keep in mind though that I've never had coturnix and most of what I know about them is from other posters on this forum.

 

[Little Byrd]

I've got 19 day-olds so far and I expect a few more will hatch tonight and tomorrow. Once I release the new chicks in a couple of weeks, would they have safety in numbers? My enclosure is 60 square feet on the first level, and then the other levels (only a few of the quail use the upper levels) add at least 25 more square feet.

 

[Binki]

I've got 19 day-olds so far and I expect a few more will hatch tonight and tomorrow. Once I release the new chicks in a couple of weeks, would they have safety in numbers? My enclosure is 60 square feet on the first level, and then the other levels (only a few of the quail use the upper levels) add at least 25 more square feet.

Long story short, I bought/rescued an old quail hen who was so overmated and scarred with neurogenic issues and I wouldn't allow a male in with her. She kept calling (flapping her little bald head like Beaker from The Muppets) to the chicks I was raising so with all caution I put her in with them, prepared for anything.

Well the chicks ignored her and she just looked tickled pink to be in the thick of things, with friends who weren't going to hurt her :3

Now, she was old, hurt, a female and alone which made her crave other quail attention. I wouldn't trust healthy bigger quail with smaller quail, in my mind anybody who isn't a part of their group is taking away their resources in their territory so rando little quail wandering about even in a big open space... I would think they would be attack targets? I would wait til they're all the same size to introduce them (6-8 weeks) and use the introduction method of seeing hearing but not touching for a few days or weeks beforehand so they can get used to each other without a bloody fight.

You may be able to use bird netting (the plastic hard-ish kind that protects tree fruits from birds) to make a see through partition in your large cage while keeping the smaller chicks safe.

 

[JaeG]

Keep them separate until they are all sexually mature - otherwise the older males who are maturing will start trying to mate with everyone, and that will not go well for the younger quail. They can be merciless. Males should be separated off when they are around a month old anyway, or as they start crowing, as they mature faster than the females and will start to harass them, potentially causing injury to females who are not ready to mate yet. If they can see each other in their separate cages or partitions, when the time does come to put them all together things should go reasonably smoothly. But sometimes personalities clash and you get some that just want to make trouble. Separate any bullies - a week separated from the others (but where they can still see the group) usually straightens them out.

 

[Little Byrd]

Thanks, will do.

 

[Little Byrd]

Update: Well, something interesting happened. The chicks outgrew their tank so I fenced off a small section in the juvenile quail pen and put them in it. The fenced in section has no covering, but I thought it'd be unlikely that the bigger quail would fly into their area. I was wrong. The juveniles jumped the fence during the night! I woke up to find them chilling together under the heat lamp.

This has happened a few nights so far. A couple juveniles jump the fence at night (apparently to get to the chicks' lamp) and spend the night with the chicks. Even a few minutes ago I went to check on the quails and found that one of the chicks managed to fly over the fence and was eating food with the juveniles.

The chicks are 2 weeks, the juvies are 6 weeks, and I know it's early, but I'm really tempted to just put them together already. They sure seem to get along just fine, and the males are crowing but are not aggressive besides the occasional threatening chirp given to another male that means "get out muh face, or else".