Quail experiment at birth

[sunshine ducky]

Hey everybody, so I decided to hatch about 50 quails this summer and I wanted to separate one of the chicks into its own brooder right when it hatches. Reason being is I wanted to see if it was raised by itself that it will grow up to be a very tame and docile bird; basically to see if it enjoys human interaction. If any of you tried something similar to this please feel free to post your experience and any reccmomondations you might have. Thanks!

 

[gpop1]

Hey everybody, so I decided to hatch about 50 quails this summer and I wanted to separate one of the chicks into its own brooder right when it hatches. Reason being is I wanted to see if it was raised by itself that it will grow up to be a very tame and docile bird; basically to see if it enjoys human interaction. If any of you tried something similar to this please feel free to post your experience and any reccmomondations you might have. Thanks!

personally I would wait until I know that its learn to eat and drink first, There not very cleaver so it works out easier if they copy others. You just hope that at least one works out what food/water is to show the others. I have even had to throw in a adult so they can learn where to go and what to do. It is possible to teach one so with a little effort you may be able to show the single chick yourself.

It might also be noisy being separated as they do better in a flock where they can share body heat and they seem to feel more secure but with a lot of interaction it might consider you its flock. Ive had single quail chicks and im not sure they can be classified as a interactive pet. It would be interesting to see the results from this experiment

 

[sunshine ducky]

Thanks for the feedback I'm definiatly interested if the single chick will accept me as it's flock. And thanks for telling me they need extra care alone.

 

[JaeG]

I've found that the friendly ones are friendly and the not so friendly ones aren't interested in people no matter how many or few chicks you have. Each will have a distinct personality. Just handle them a lot in the first week and the friendly ones will be your best friends. Boys are always less friendly than girls once they mature. They prefer not to be touched.

We have a gold girl who was very friendly right from the word go. My son wanted to call her Fluttershy, but there was nothing shy about her so her name became Flutter. She loves attention and being patted. Her gold sister, Dumpling, is very sweet and friendly too.

The adults seem to be more comfortable being scooped up under their tummies with both your hands cupped round them, facing you and their legs left to dangle. Grabbing them across the back makes them panic a bit, especially your more highly strung individuals. Our daughter picks ours up all the time and they don't mind too much, and even the anxious ones barely struggle if you hold them this way.

 

[Irajoe]

Please post the results of the testing...should be interesting findings. I've done this much less purposefully by default when only one quail has hatched. The quail seemed to like the company of me being near the brooder but it was flighty and nothing close to friendly.

 

[sunshine ducky]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Once I hatch these birds this summer I'll post the results of my experiment right away.

 

[Binki]

I've found that the friendly ones are friendly and the not so friendly ones aren't interested in people no matter how many or few chicks you have.  Each will have a distinct personality.  Just handle them a lot in the first week and the friendly ones will be your best friends.  Boys are always less friendly than girls once they mature.  They prefer not to be touched. 

We have a gold girl who was very friendly right from the word go.  My son wanted to call her Fluttershy, but there was nothing shy about her so her name became Flutter.  She loves attention and being patted.  Her gold sister, Dumpling, is very sweet and friendly too. 

The adults seem to be more comfortable being scooped up under their tummies with both your hands cupped round them, facing you and their legs left to dangle.  Grabbing them across the back makes them panic a bit, especially your more highly strung individuals.  Our daughter picks ours up all the time and they don't mind too much, and even the anxious ones barely struggle if you hold them this way.

I agree when you approach the brooder after a few days there will likely be some that will slam themselves against the walls and some that are maybe just following the pack and aren't actually terrified of you.

I think smaller batches of about a dozen hatches is ideal for getting to know the birds, then again if you hatched 100 and took out a few of the "most chill" birds I think it would be very likely that those few would get very used to you and even interested in you and your attention.

Petting or pressure on the back of chickens and quails initially makes them think you're trying to dominate them as that's how they do it to each other so a single soft pet along the sides or back once while they're distracted (not staring at you in fear) then retract and it becomes a safe thing to happen and eventually you should be able to pet them more and more and they may even crave "leg tickles and belly rubs" Basically I tickle pet their soft feathers there which I think are more sensitive and my tame ones will close their eyes and snuggle in to my double hand cup cuddles hehe maybe even tuck a leg up

It especially helps if you speak to them in a pleasant sing song way - they will recognize that and it makes you not seem like a silent staring predator.

You can tell if the quail likes you even if it doesn't want to be touched if when you sing song to them, you may notice some stretching - it means they feel comfortable and may even be showing off for you, a scared bird will huddle, frozen or pace away from you into the wall/cage.

I do my "handling" inside the cages - they feel most comfortable in there. Oh and do you know about The Popcorn Dance?

 

[sunshine ducky]

Update

Hi everybody! So the quail I singled out from the rest grew up to be extremely tame and docile. Although the first few weeks were tough. That quail would always cry for attention and right when we came to her brooder she tried jumping out and jumped instantly in our hands. She’s very adorable, but I must say she acts really differently compared to the average quail. For starters she dosent really forage through the ground she just sits there and runs around. And Seconed she’s a lot more louder and verbal and has a cute personality. These types of experiments are very fun and I think it is something worth trying. Thanks for looking everyone!

Ps important note
If you are going to try this I would’nt recommend integrating your “lone chick” with the rest of the flock you hatched. Reason being is mine was bullied instantly when we tried to introduce her. And you can tell she was flustered and wasn’t used to more than one of her. This is just my experience. And many people may have done the same experiment with completley different results. After all we are playing with nature at that point! Thanks for reading!