Sad Quail- Need Help

[CoturnixComplex]

I would say a month is kind of a long time. I would try to get females asap, QT for ~10 days, and introduce and monitor for ~5 days before the trip. Your boys may do damage to themselves and each other in that long of a timespan.

 

[Lemon88]

I know for certain that they need more females and am building a large enclosed garden bed for them to live in, but I haven't gotten any new females because of this trip and I think 15+ birds would be too much for the petsitter to handle on top of my other animals. I might end up rehomin one or two however.

 

[Lemon88]

It's likely that because of noise complaints I'll have to rehome all of my babies.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

It's likely that because of noise complaints I'll have to rehome all of my babies.

I'm sorry to hear that hopefully your situation changes down the road and you can have them again! They really are only loud when calling for girls. I hear most of my boys call once a week or less. Although I can't say if even that might be a problem in your current situation. Good luck with everything! You should post an ad on byc and cross link it in your state's thread.

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

Loosing any bird is difficult but particularly hard when they were a pair and seem to rely on eachother.

I also have 2 paired Coturnix Quails. The male is very caring of his female, spend all their time together and well, they act like a little old married couple. I did originally buy them as a trio (1 male 2 female) but he totally rejected one and spent his time sleeping with the one he's paired with. Sadly the one he rejected was attacked and killed by a rat so now she's totally out of the picture anyways.

My pair are housed in a home made hutch, their little home. Whenever I remove the female go check her over, the male crows...constantly. She's his lady and he's not happy I've taken her.

Fingers crossed they will be together for a long time. However, if I was to loose one like you did, regardless of them previously being in a pair, I'd buy more females. At the very least, buy 3!

If he decided to pair up with one then remove the other two females and put them with another one of your males.

I wouldn't worry so much about him being 'depressed'. Little Quails cope surprisingly well and I doubt him seeing his mate die will cause him any dramatic lasting effects. Animals cope better than us in these situations and we usually find it harder to lay to rest than what they do.

Introducing new females should put a spark back in his life. His hormones will be telling him to go after them.

Him crowing after the loss will have been him shouting for his original female that died. However, I'm guessing after so long it will generally turn into a 'is there any ladies around here' kind of crow. He'll begin to look for another mate.

Putting him in with males while he's on a search for females is risky. He'll be thinking they are a risk of taking any females that could potentially be around that he could mate with. He will fight with them and potentially kill them.

Likewise, if you are getting complains about crowing, I'd suggest selling on your males and only keeping the male in Question with either one paired female or multiple females. I've had 4 males at once in separate hutches and found that just having males hear one another, causes them to crow more.

One male content with his female(s) should generally only crow a couple of times a day, if any. If they think there is a challenger around, they make themselves known.

I'd also suggest not adding two paired Quail to a larger group that includes other males. I've found paired males to be even more protective.

As for keeping him by himself while you quarantine new females, I wouldn't overly stress about it. He will make noise but just ensure his enclosure is filled with hidden treats and that he has plenty of hiding areas until the females are ready. Maybe give him some additional fruits/veg for some extra vitamins during this time.

Once you are sure the females are healthy and also big enough, pop them in with the male. Keep a close eye on them. All males react different but most likely you will know what to look out for when introducing them.

Good luck with your Quails!