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
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