So last night I noticed one little quail was being badly picked on. Being dragged around by its foot. It was limping and holding its little foot up. I took that one out and put it in another small crate next to the other crate so they couldnt share the heat lamp. The bars on one crate door are large so its covered with hardware cloth, the second crate had small holes on the door and I didn't think it could fit thru the bars. Well surprise surprise! I got up to get the baby a bottle at 3 am and found a quail sitting on my counter eating off my sons dinner plate that he didn't take care of. I ended up using a screen dkor material and zip ties to keep the little booger in. I've read about them being quite savage and I'm wondering if I try to put this one back, are they going to do it again? This one is much smaller than the others but all hatched the same day.
Well, first of all..you must have yummy dinners and the quail that got out couldn't see it being wasted The one that is being picked one. It seems as though it may be the runt? I have seen quail pulling legs of others, picking at toes, etc...You can try putting lettuce in the crate. I have heard that it distracts birds from picking on each other. It works for me for the most part. I still have some birds that are still obsessive pickers. If the little one is badly injured, I would keep him isolated until he heals. I would hate to see him killed because he is little.
I put some grit and brocolli in when I cleaned the crate today and slipped the little one back in unnoticed. They seem to be ok now. The one that did die was the smallest and I think they killed it. When the little booger got away, I thought oh no, we have a cat and dog.
they are crafty little ones, aren't they? I had one sneak right past me while I had the pen open for refilling the water...dogs got to it before I could in my experience, it's been best to find the pick-er, not the pick-ee and cull 'em...once I culled the meanies I now have a happy pen full of calm and sweet quail best of luck with yours!
You are right!!!! We have Bobwhite and Coturnix and the Bobwhites are savages!!! lol We have to trim their beaks when they are about 2 weeks old. If they start picking, they will do it till the death!! I have removed the "picker" before also...
I know it's wasteful, but about 1/2" or so of feed along the bottom of the brooder (I use rubbermaid boxes for the frst week) does slow picking. Toes are hidden more easily and there's something else to eat RIGHT THERE
We had a picker in this batch of bobwhites. I'd find a couple more bloodied on the nares every day. I kept separating and separating, then finally, when there were only 7 left in the original brooder and only 1 wasn't bloody, I kinda figured he was the problem. He was culled, we've had no more picking problems. So far, no new picker has been established, and the pick-ees have recovered. Em
I've one had two quail...got a couple coturnix eggs as a bonus with some Serama eggs. Well as fate would have it they both hatched and was a pair. The two of them lived happily together for many months till one day momma bird got tired of pappa birds advances and my poor daughter who had taken them in as pets in her bedroom found the results of her admonishment! She had completely scalped the male...nothing but exposed bone on the top of his head down to his earlobes. The inside of the cage was covered in blood and she was relentlessly tearing off strips of flesh. Well, amazingly enough the poor male survived the attack, and after a couple of months he was back to "normal" less any feathering on his nuget...just scar tissue. We gave the male to a friend for processing and the hen remains my daughters pet. I don't think she will ever have another room mate, but she seems content being my daughters alarm clock with her creepy giant cricket noises, so all is well.
