Question on Quail behavior

[ShadyGlade]

I have these half dozen Cortournix Quail in a twenty gallon long tank in our computer room. One of them is almost constantly making noise. It stands as tall as possible and makes this chirping noise for long periods of time. None of the others even seen to make noise. It is also the smallest in the tank and not growing at the same prodigious rate as the others. Is this normal baby quail behavior? Is it defective or sick? I've never raised these guys from hatchlings before and don't know if this is something I should be concerned about or not?

 

[monarc23]

that's the "omg something is wrong or im scared' noise

Hold on i'll take one of my coturnix chicks out and vid it to show ya

it may be unthrifty and not feel well. I've had a few lke that. It's norm for them to cry like that when scared or upset.

 

[peepsnbunnies]

I have raised lots of these sweet little birds. There is one "town crier" in every hatch!

I keep my hatchlings in an aquarium next to my computer desk for the first couple of weeks. Sometimes I can find nothing amiss at all and all of the other quail are sleeping peacefully.

Lisa

 

[ShadyGlade]

Well monarc thank you for the video, that woke up the whole tank and I don't think I've seen them all awake AND standing still before.

My lil' one has a much more shrill/distressed sound when she/he is going off. But its about the same stance & sound otherwise.

peeps I'll take your word on the town crier thing. I only got my first quail in Dec as adults. These are my first hatching and they are very different from chicks. How old do thy have to get before I can sex them reliably?

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
if they are browns or goldens you can sex them as early as 3 1/2 weeks old....other colors, gotta wait until they are sexually mature unless you can vent sex.


and haha sorry for it waking up your whole tank.

 

[ShadyGlade]

They are just the regular color, brown I guess. I am in awe of how fast these things are growing.

It's one thing to read about it and another to watch it daily.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
It's one of the main reasons i love them so much, I am a big genetics fan so I love being able to breed generations in just weeks instead of months.

Also, if you're interested if you havent already you can see all of the most common colors on my BYC page. But if your chicks look like the one that woke all of yours up,then yep a brown.

 

[emsevers]

I've hatched 2 batches of quail so far and I think that the "town crier" comment is true. I always have one that's extremely vocal for the first week. I thought maybe it was a couple different ones and at different times but I always go back and see that it's the same one. I don't know why they do it but they always stop about a week after they hatch and then they are really quiet. The one from the first batch was so loud that we had trouble sleeping at night and they were in a totally different part of the house.

 

[monarc23]

I dont think you'll always have a town crier. I dont this batch. If anything my ameraucana cockerel peep happily too much at night (his I'm looking for food peep). my coturnix chicks only do their yelk if i take themout and keep them away from their buddies of if theres a loud noise that freaks them out.


It's jus tlike when a chicken chick peeps insesantly. They "need" something, warmth, the pain to go away, food water, snuggled under mama, etc.

Even the adults do it whenthey hear me coming daily with food I get the "YELK YELK YELK" cept it's in adult yelk form lol!