One quail died, what to do with the other one?

[RedCoopOnWheels]

Background: We've had seven Coturnix quail living in three cages. They are about 14 months old. One coop has one male and two females, the 2nd coop has one male and one female, and the 3rd coop had two females (one blind). They were separated like this a long time ago because of fighting and injuries (lots of quail drama that I won't get into here! It was a total soap opera.)

Question: The blind quail in the 3rd coop died last night in her sleep. She came from a different brood than the other quail, and we don't know how old she was. So now there is only one female left. I'm wondering what I should do with her. I know quail shouldn't be alone, but she has a track record of a) being rejected and picked on by the quail in cage #1, and b) she hates the male quail in cage #2. She's very friendly and calm with me (because I nursed her back to health after she was nearly killed), so one possibility might be to bring her inside and keep her as a pet.

These quail are pets, so culling is not a possibility.

Any suggestions welcome - thank you.

 

[RedCoopOnWheels]

Anybody?

 

[DK newbie]

It's a tough one. How did you go about it when she was introduced to the other quail before? It's recommended to first keep them right beside each other for a week or so, so they can see and hear each other and then do the introduction in a cage that is new to all, as large as possible and has hiding places. And perhaps add some treats to the cage at the same time so they have something else to think about for a while. I'd try this with both groups and if it doesn't work out, you can try the house pet thing, but if she's calling for the others I'd put her back outside in a cage where she can see them.

 

[RedCoopOnWheels]

She came from the same brood as the other quail, and they were all living together at first - until the fighting started. But that was a long time ago (over a year). One roo was really mean so they all turned on him. We nursed him back to health, then put one hen with him. When we tried to add this hen, she attacked him. But after she was with him, the others rejected her. That's how she ended up living with the one blind hen. So .. I don't know if they would get along now or not.

I will try your idea - thank you. We don't have another cage that's big enough, but perhaps I can put her next to them in a temporary carrier, then transfer them back to her original cage?

 

[DK newbie]

Perhaps, definitely better than putting her in their cage

 

[Tony K T]

Move them all around so everyone is in a new cage and add her where you would like her to be.Or take her and put her with the hen for pen 2 and put them both with male from pen 1 and his 2 hens from pen 1 to pen 2 with the other male,but still put them all in pens that they haven't been in.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Sill]

When you want to put quail together, whether or not they had been house together previously or not, you must cage them as near as possible so they can see and hear each other for two weeks. After this introductory period put them all in an enclosure new to all the quail so it is new territory to all of them. It helps to have many hiding places and novel items to explore so they don't focus so much on the new covey member. After a few days you can put them into their previous accommodations as it will have become fresh "new" territory.