Quail scared of mealworms

atecom

Chirping
Feb 4, 2021
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I have 2 quail hens. One is a little more bold, and happy to eat from my hand, the other is a lot more skittish, and used to avoid my hand at all cost, even with food. Whenever I tried to give meal worms, the bold one would always take hers (almost agressively so), then would always take the one for the other quail because the other one was too scared. Even if I managed to put up a temporary barrier and drop the mealworm in to the skittish one, it would refuse to touch it, until eventually the more bold one would knock down the barrier and would swoop in and eat the meal worm. I don't want to leave them separated for too long as it causes more stress, seemingly making the timid one less likely to eat the meal worm.

I thought for a while that it was the fact that my hand was there, or the fact the worm came from my hand that bothered the quail, however, I have recently gotten the timid one okay with eating kale and watermelon from my hand, but when I bring the mealworm box out, it starts to panic, running back and fourth and if I can keep the other one distracted long enough to drop the mealworm in without it immediately being stolen, it sits in the corner quivering from the worm. Eventually the more bold one gets it anyway.

Any other ideas for how I can more fairly distribute the mealworms, or could it just be that one quail has a fear of mealworms?

~Atecom
 
What age are they? I have read that young quail can be scared of mealworms, before they realize it's food.

Hopefully some experienced quail-keepers will join in, but I'm wondering whether the skittish one is afraid of the worms or actually the coming "attack" from the bold one.
 
If the timid quail is eating enough other food, I wouldn't worry about the mealworms. 🤷‍♀️

Maybe try a different treat? Not sure what quail eat, but my chickens looooove cooked eggs.
Yep, they have game bird layer finisher and they both will eat kale and watermelon from my hand, which is enough nutrition wise. Would prefer they both get an equal amount of treats, but I guess if one doesn't like them, its not considered a treat fo rthem.
What age are they? I have read that young quail can be scared of mealworms, before they realize it's food.

Hopefully some experienced quail-keepers will join in, but I'm wondering whether the skittish one is afraid of the worms or actually the coming "attack" from the bold one.
14 Weeks. It only ever eats mealworms when I am present, and the bold one hasn't attacked or even bumped into the timid one while getting at the mealworms yet. I move them to a temporary cage when cleaning out their main cage, and I have tried moving the timid one first and offering a mealworm, but it will not take it. Eventually I have to move the other one in as well at which point it will happily take the uneaten mealworm.
 
Shouldn't be age then. Have you tried small/young mealworms as well? Maybe some quail just remain scared of them?

@Nabiki Do you have any thoughts?
 
The problem here is acclimatization. Young bird do better with intorduction of live whole prey. The skittish bird may be intimidated by the size of the mealworm. I have a bunch of birds and inteoduced mealworms a ton. Even my skittish birds like them enough to eat when provided.

How to acclimate birds: Warning this takes effort and is a little gross.
If you really want to give skittish bird a treat, I would recommend grossly cutting them up into their food sized peices, waiting until they are hungry aka run low/out of food for an hr or 2. Then mixing it in with a known treat. The mealworm should be in equal quantity than other treat by volume & the .... entrails specifically the White portion of it should have touched the other treat when mixed they eat. (quail love bite sized portions) They will try the known treat and discover a better taste on it, and get excited. it should create a feeding mindset. Over time, slowly change the treat size to larger over 5-6 feedings until you have recognizable mealworms that have a slight injury to help the bird associate it with previous treats.

This a lot of work, but the only way I know to introduce the food source to wary birds.
Cheers for the response.

In my case I think it was just generalised quail skittishness, it was a fairly new acquisition back then, and about 2 weeks after I posted this, the more timid one started accepting meal worms straight from my hands:


Only thing is now they get scared of each other cause they think the other quail is going to steal their worm and thus run around the pen like headless chickens. But that isn't really a problem.
 
Cheers for the response.

In my case I think it was just generalised quail skittishness, it was a fairly new acquisition back then, and about 2 weeks after I posted this, the more timid one started accepting meal worms straight from my hands:


Only thing is now they get scared of each other cause they think the other quail is going to steal their worm and thus run around the pen like headless chickens. But that isn't really a problem.
I love the way they run around crazy, it makes me giggle every time mine do this 😆 they are really beautiful! I love how light the coloring is ❤️
 

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