Now I have a lone gambel. Could use some advice

[Jannbo]

So I made a post yesterday about my gambel chick with a dislocated leg. It didn’t get any better so I had to cull her earlier today. It was hard, but I know she won’t suffer anymore. The issue is that it now leaves her sibling alone. I have two other gambels from that hatch but no matter what methods I have tried to use to join them together, there has been fighting ever since they were a week old and I first tried joining them. I really don’t want to put that stress on any of those three birds anymore after all the failed attempts at peaceful integration. I’ve tried completely new enclosures, doing it inside, doing it outside, different times of day, all the good stuff. No luck. The other issue is those two birds are extremely tame and friendly while the now lone bird didn’t get as much attention when it was first born as the other two did thanks to them having curled toes and needing more help, and it is scared to death of anything other than the bird that had to be culled.

I can tell it’s been confused and scared with it’s sibling gone with the way it’s calling out since they’ve never spent a day apart from each other for two months. I have given it a mirror and a stuffed animal, but it’s not doing much to help. I would try and rehome it but since you need a permit to own gambels in the southwest, I doubt I can just go put it up on Craigslist since most people don’t have one.

What’s the best course of action here? I want to give this one the best life possible, but I know that can’t happen on its own. Should I just wait for next breeding season to get some fertile eggs and hatch it out some friends, trying to keep it as socialized with my other birds as best I can? I’ve got them in sight of each other which I think is helping it a bit, but obviously isn’t the same as it having a partner. If it wasn’t so scared of me I wouldn’t be worried or concerned since I have enough free time to give it that attention it needs, but that would just stress it out even more if I tried.

I have a female coturnix that I’m about to reintroduce to its two hatch mates now that she’s grown all her feathers back after getting scalped by a now gone rooster. Is it possible to get them accustomed to each other? Since the gambel is young and that coturnix is very mild mannered, I’d think there might be some chance, but I don’t want to risk either of their safety by doing something that could be stupid. I know new world and old world quail are very different, but I also know plenty of very different species can live together peacefully, so I figure it’s at least worth asking about.

 

[Nabiki]

They might get along. You could put them next to each other where they can see but not touch to get an idea of how they react to each other. If they get along, being together is better than being alone, tough not ideal since they're different species. It's better than leaving them alone until you can get more of the right species for each of them.

 

[Jannbo]

They might get along. You could put them next to each other where they can see but not touch to get an idea of how they react to each other. If they get along, being together is better than being alone, tough not ideal since they're different species. It's better than leaving them alone until you can get more of the right species for each of them.

I’ll put their enclosures next to each other and leave a camera in there so I can keep an eye on them without freaking out the gambel chick when I’m home. Hopefully that’ll have positive results