Raising a Bobwhite with Coturnix??

[Quail4Fun]

Hi! I have a new batch of baby corturnix, mixed colors about 2 weeks old in the brooder box. I picked them up about 48 hrs ago from a farm. There are 12. The woman said one was a runt so she threw in an extra to have 13 incase the runt didn't do well. But after close inspection and watching, pretty sure the "runt" is a bobwhite chick. The woman said with her kids home from school right now, they have been helping and maybe mixed them up coming out of the incubator, as she raises both. The farm is about 2 hours away so I really don't want to drive back there to swap or return 1 chick who otherwise seems healthy. I haven't ever raised bobwhite but hear they are flighty and can be aggressive. But most of what I've seen is people trying to raise mixed flocks. What I have is an "Ugly Duckling" situation. I am wondering if I raise them from the brooder up and there is only one, if I might get away with having one oddball bobwhite or should I plan to separate him/or her to their own cage eventually? Right now he is the smallest but snuggles right in the middle of the pack and runs around with the group as if he too were a coturnix. Anyone else tries to raise these 2 together from the brooder stage?

 

[Quail4Fun]

That little bobwhite is...

Thanks! S/he has the prettiest feathers growing in! My husband got home from deployment and cuddles with this one every night. I think he's changed his mind from putting him in the grow out pen haha

 

[Quail4Fun]

UPDATE: We are at about 5 weeks. The coturnix are almost mature (some are crowing and almost all their yellow baby feathers are gone). I have not yet separated out the extra males from the pack but not a lot of fighting yet. I did put one in a cat cage in the bathroom over night for being mean but by morning he seemed to have learned his lesson and no issues since. Little Bob is still catching up but has doubled in size this week. I have been worried about him/her getting picked on for being so tiny compared to the others but haven't witnessed any mean behavior towards him/her. Because of the attempt to see if they can be kept together and get along from the brooder, I moved them to a 'half way house' which is a two story rabbit hutch. I can still have the heat lamp at a distance on one corner of one level for Little Bob and the others can get away from it (though most of the time they still enjoy basking in it). As you can see Little Bob isn't ostracized for being different, yet and they prefer to be in a gaggle rather than enjoying the space they now have. So far it seems to have been ok. Wondering how this will change as Little Bob hits maturity.

 

[Quail4Fun]

I miss owning bobwhites. I had some, but they died They're also hard to get here.

Aww! I'm sure you miss them. This is my first bobwhite. And completely by accident but what a personality! Stolen everyone's heart.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Aww! I'm sure you miss them. This is my first bobwhite. And completely by accident but what a personality! Stolen everyone's heart.

Who couldn't love that little darling!?!

 

[Quail4Fun]

Little Bob is growing up to be beautiful.... about 10wks old now. Any ideas if male or female? Or still too early to tell? No calling. Sweet with my coturnix, less sweet to people... definitely my husband's bird

 

[mdees88]

Looks like a male. Males have white stripes on their face, females have tan/light brown stripes...

 

[Quail4Fun]

Asking for one more bit of advice since I believe Little Bob is in our family to stay at this point...

Out of our 12 Coturnix chicks, we have 3 females and 2 males left. I have my rosetta male divided from the group but within the same cage so they don't forget him and my Tibetan tuxedo is in with the ladies and Little Bob. I have 4 more female adults arriving on Tuesday to help even the ratio out a bit to see if we can add the rosetta back in.

That being said, they are in a rabbit hutch currently and all seem happy and content with the set up. Though Little Bob is outgrowing the coturnix and seems like he needs more space than the others. I know the recommended space to coturnix is at least 1 sq ft and bobwhite is 3 sq ft . I have thought about moving them all to a larger pen and just leaving the herd together, which is difficult because I live in a townhouse and these are indoor birds. Or to put Little Bob in his own pen which would be easier to accommodate. Though he isn't aggressive with these guys ( he is only 11 weeks old) and has been with them his whole life since day 1 in the brooder. I'm worried he would get lonely. Also unsure how he would be once he reaches maturity, would he likely still get territorial if he has no bobwhite mate? Would it be safer to separate him anyway? Any thoughts from bobwhite experts would be helpful!

 

[Quailobsessed]

I'm not a bobwhite expert by any means, but I have kept bobwhites and japanese quails together successfully (and they weren't raised together). It can be done, but just keep a close eye on them if you do.

 

[mdees88]

The 1 in the middle is definitely a bobwhite. The coturnix should grow a lot faster than him. I don't know how well they'll do growing up together. At the end of the day, you'll have 1 lonely adult bobwhite, I would think, unless he binds well with the coturnix. Hopefully someone else will chime in that has actually raised them together.