Let's talk about quail roosters

[scyllarus]

One of the biggest differences I've seen on the forums between chickens and quail are how we treat our roosters. People are so much more willing to try to train or rehome a chicken roo vs a quail roo, and most people would argue that chicken roos have a purpose in the health of the flock, vs quail roos - most keepers even say that their hens are happiest without a roo.

We finally hatched out some amazing quail roos and I'm starting to think they're potentially beneficial to the covey? So I thought it might be interesting to discuss what makes a worthwhile rooster in quail.

What traits do you breed for? Do you have green (or red) flags for roos? How long do you keep juvenile males? Do the new boys change as they get older and more mature? How do your hens react to the roos?

 

[scyllarus]

To get the ball rolling:

I suspect that quail roos function somewhat similarly to chicken roos in the wild. They're there to fertilize eggs, protect the covey, and manage the hens. Quail are too small to fight predators, so a roo is only going to warn hens and/or get eaten instead - in the case of a human-kept covey, "protection" isn't meaningful. Thus, we're left with breeding/fertilization and social flock dynamics.

Note: all of my claims are from observing my own flock. It's a single flock kept in a semi-natural setting, in a cage off the ground with a ton of enrichment. They're honestly more pets than production animals, but we do cull or rehome birds that aren't good breeding prospects.

I've personally found that quail roo don't really get better with age - an aggressive male will not "mellow out." He might calm down a bit during winter, but he'll continue to be as aggressive as he was once spring hits. No amount or length of time outs has helped for us - and frankly, it seems like the roo is more frantic and pent-up after he's been let out of bad bird jail.

I've also found that there seems to be two routes to successful breeding with roos. All roos will try to breed, but some are more passive and aren't as likely to be successful - in this case I'm focusing on the more active breeders. Aggressive roos will chase a hen down and hold onto her feathers to prevent her from escaping, sometimes even plucking or scalping her if she runs or makes distress calls. Romantic roos will tidbit for the hens, who seem to then be more receptive to breeding attempts overall. I've noticed they rarely mate when tidbitting, but when they do mate they're more gentle and efficient - possibly because the hens are more receptive. For us humans, a romantic roo is probably preferable because it's very cute and also upsets the hens less.

And finally - I've noticed my most dominant new roo, Tiramisu, will try to manage the covey. I'm still not sure if he's actually trying to keep everyone in line, or if he just has a few favorite hens he's trying to protect, but when we're a bit late on refilling their dry food (they're also getting a fermented mash + treats) the covey gets riled up and birds will fight to get to the food. Tiramisu will make angry growling noises and occasionally peck at hens who are scuffling, and he does this until everyone has eaten and the covey is calming down.

Most of our males prior to our current two were aggressive about breeding but otherwise very passive within the flock. One was very passive all around. Our current boys are Tiramisu (more dominant but a good breeder and tidbits for the ladies) and Tidbit (more submissive but still a good breeder and loves to tidbit all the time). I'll probably never tolerate an aggressive male again - I just wasn't aware of the whole spectrum of male quail behavior and assumed that chasing and plucking were always normal.

 

[Nabiki]

I think that quail males are purely for breeding in a controlled environment like we keep them. I will only keep active but not aggressive males, though I have started looking for ones with nice voices because I'm just starting to try to breed a songbird line. Originally in Japan they were bred as songbirds, but the songbird lines were lost during WWII.

Which male you choose depends on what you're looking for. If you want big birds, you pick big males. If you want a certain colour or pattern, that's what you choose. One of the males I'm keeping has beautiful patterns and a nice voice, but he's small.

My growouts (they're actually full adults, but haven't been active since they were a winter hatch) are just starting to become sexually active and I got my first egg out of there yesterday. I've been pulling males out as they crow since I don't see any that I really want to breed.

 

[scyllarus]

I think that quail males are purely for breeding in a controlled environment like we keep them. I will only keep active but not aggressive males, though I have started looking for ones with nice voices because I'm just starting to try to breed a songbird line. Originally in Japan they were bred as songbirds, but the songbird lines were lost during WWII.

Oh, that'll be a fun line! My two current roos have horrible raspy crows, like they've been smoking all their lives. We had a male with a much nicer crow, but he was very passive and his chicks were delicate.

Thank you for your input! I'm mostly interested in hearing people's experiences because I had kind of assumed a certain degree of aggression was normal, but with our two new roos I'm really questioning that. Obviously everyone will have different tolerances for quail behavior, as well as different breeding projects, but I remember being very hesitant about culling because I was worried I would be removing a good candidate and ended up keeping aggressive roos for way longer than necessary.

 

[scyllarus]

Bumping!

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

I have started looking for ones with nice voices because I'm just starting to try to breed a songbird line. Originally in Japan they were bred as songbirds, but the songbird lines were lost during WWII.

WOW this blew my mind, I had no idea, how neat!!

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I like the romantic roo part. It's always best when they've got the right size and color, but I also breed for manners. Happy hens make happy pens.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

All I was concerned about was that they didn't scalp hens. Of course my last male was infertile, but I was getting out of quail anyways and he was just a companion for the lone female at that point anyways

 

[Nabiki]

WOW this blew my mind, I had no idea, how neat!!

Westley and Buttercup's eggs are going to be going into the incubator tomorrow or Monday along with a bunch of others to see how fertility is going. They will be the first of my hopeful songbird line.

 

[scyllarus]

I think Tiramisu might have bumblefoot or something. He's walking oddly and he's been especially mean - unsure if this is because he's in pain or if it's because he's struggling to successfully mount the hens, or both, or just because he's getting older. I've put him in our isolation pen for now and strangely enough, despite being distressed at not being with the rest of the covey, he hasn't been crowing more than usual.

Tidbit is still a perfect gentleman and I look forwards to his chicks.