Keeping more than one pair of Button Quail - How to stop the males constantly calling to each other?

[CuriousCreature]

They're in a wire cage, not glass, so there's nothing obstructing the sunlight.

In update, since moving the cage away from the window there has been a notable decrease in noise though it hasn't stopped completely, and the males are still often seen running against the walls trying to get at each other. But generally speaking, the atmosphere seems a bit more relaxed and the hens aren't hiding away as much as they were before. I'll keep them where they are for a week and see if they take to it.

 

[CuriousCreature]

Spoke too soon about the noise, I think they had been lying low due to recent thunderstorms. It's as bad as ever again, though they remain less jumpy in the new location which is something at least.

In worse news, I put all four quails together in the run while I cleaned out their cage, and the growling and crowing is continuing just the same as when they were in the stacked cages. So I must assume that the noise is actually nothing do to with the males not being able to see each other as I originally thought.

The males didn't make noise like this when it was just the two of them together in a cage or run. Maybe it is directed at the hens after all? But if that's the case, then what should the hens ideally be doing in response? All the hens are doing currently is standing motionless and silent in the centre of the run while the males pace and growl around them.

 

[DK newbie]

Hmm.. I really don't know about that. My quail never made much noise. When I just got them, at least one of the females were actually attacking the male, but this subsided within 1-2 weeks and little by little the male started taking on the role as roo, mating with the hens, offering them food and so on.
The only time they really made noise in the beginning, was when one of them had managed to fly up to the hole intended for my budgies to get to the outside of their aviary, and ended up outside, separated from the others. Then they would call loudly(well, loud for them). They did this for the first week or so, but have since learned to stay inside.
I think it is quite strange that they continue to call when they are all together. Mine never do much but the occasional crow when they can see each other. But perhaps yours just need a little more time to get used to their new life.

 

[GrandmaBird]

The information on communication in Jodi McDonalds book, A Closer Look at "Button Quail" is as follows:

males have a 3 pitch call pee pee pew for sounding their territory and a growl rhhh rhhh rhh looking for a mate. Hens have a 1 or 2 pitch call pew pee pew for both and also both chork chork to each other and chicks as well as the eggs before hatch.

that said I wonder if you do indeed have territorial males or if one is a hen and they are a mated pair already I know we talked about this before but could you be mistaken on the sex of the first two birds? Do you have a photo of them? Other than that I really cannot offer much help other then put them out side or in another room where you can not hear them.
good luck

 

[CuriousCreature]

I've attached some photos of the two assumed males. (Taken a few days after bringing them home, back in April.)

Funnily enough, for the longest time I thought that Squirm, the smaller male, was actually a hen, because in the past he was always flattening himself in the ground submissively in front of the other male who would mount him. However Squirm also; crows, growls, puts on courtship displays, has mated with the hens, has red-tinted vent feathers, sometimes mounts the other male, and has never laid an egg.

All in all they just seemed really confused and frustrated which is why I got them hens. But they remain all in the run together with the hens and the males still just mounting each other! After that very noisy afternoon (and it was mainly Squirm making all the noise), Pop, the larger more dominant male, chased Squirm around for a while, and then suddenly, miraculously, everyone was quiet and content. There's been no crowing or growling ever since. The hens are starting to dust-bathe and enjoy life. So I'm just leaving them in the run until I can get a ramp to link the two levels of their cage.

Pop and Squirm seem to have a mate-like bond, that much is clear to me now. Before I adopted them they had been living in a completely bare cage and I guess all they had was each other. Maybe what I had been viewing as territorial fights was just frustration at the lack of space in their first cage.

I hate to say it, but getting the hens may have been a bit pointless. I don't have any regrets though - they're both very quiet and sweet, and hopefully now that things have calmed down they'll lay some tasty eggs. As DK suggested, maybe they all just need more time to warm up to the changes. At least in the mean time I can concentrate on my work again.

Thank you so much to everyone for your thoughts and advice so far - I am a quail-keeping newbie but I have always been passionate about birds. There's not much more that can be done for now, except continue to keep an eye on them and make sure no serious fights break out. But if anyone has any thoughts on my crazy gender-confused males I'd love to hear them.

 

[GrandmaBird]

It does sound like they are just bonded. Give it some time. It is very hard to tell sex in the silver/white birds. guess if you haven't had any eggs they are both males. Good luck and at least the other ones will have a good home.