Oh my goodness! My new adult Coturnix....

[ccoomber]

2 days ago i received 2 one year old female Golden Coturnix Quail. They are a pain in the backside already. I have never kept them before but my 4 3 week old babies are much better behaved.

Firstly they won't go in their house at night so i had to catch them as they were just sitting out in the rain, in the dark. Are they not like chickens, who put themselves to bed at night? I am always going to have to catch them to put them away?

Secondly, when i let them outside this morning, one has all its feather from the top of its head missing and its all bloody! Is this probably caused by its sister? This 2 have been together, just the 2 of them for at least a year. Is it common for them to start bullying at time of stress? They are really quite skittish, am i likely to tame them at this late stage?

They have a run similar to this one except the run is larger, at least 6ft sq, with 2 ft sq house and an enclosed wicker nesting area.
(https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=315861)

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
THEY LIKELY WILL NOT USE THE WICKER NESTING AREA... AT LEAST THEY WONT RELIGIOUSLY LAY EGGS IN THERE, COTURNIX KINDA JUST SLOW DOWN A LIL AND DROP THEM WHEREVER THEY HAPPEN TO BE WHEN THE URGE STRIKES.



The big thing that sticks out in your post is "are they not like chickens?" the answer is no. But it sounds as if they do act exactly like coturnix quail tho....

Quail, coturnix included tho easily the most docile and handleable of the quail speces, are gamebirds. They havent changed much from their original wild state. While chickens were domesticated 1000's of years before jesus was in diapers.... Most attest the behavioral differences in the 2 to this fact. Or it may just be the difference in speces and will never change? Either way they are not like chickens in any way. That very train of thought often leads to ill conceived notions, housing and even diets for these birds. Sorry to say but if your keeping quail you might want to turn off your chicken knowedge base for a while until you are comfortable with the new speces --- it may help you to just learn their habits and requirements more easily than fighting your chicken brain saying "what are they doing? That isnt right. Why are they doing that..." Because thats what most chicken familiar people end up doing once they get quail--- quail have completely different habits, needs, and behaviors and it will often times "go against the norm.." for someone familiar with more domesticated poultry. If you judge what they are doing by chicken standards your frustration will continue to grow. Try not to judge and just observe and get used to the "quail way of doing things" and it gets easier

 

[jenjscott]

The picking was probably from being locked in the box together. If you don't want them sitting in the rain, try tarping the top of the run. Then it won't matter if they don't go in their box.

 

[crash0330]

Mine have a little house they can go to at night but they rarely use it, only when its really windy theyll use it, they rather sleep on top of it, so going with what JJMR794 said "there not chicken"