What Kind of Behaviour is This?

[pterry97]

Okay guys, want some opinions on behaviours. My main flock of misfit hens are incredibly tame and always have been. Occasionally they will peck me because I often bring treats so they’re used to pecking into my hand to get them, which is fine, however!!

Lately Plum, my wry neck, has started getting... bossy? Grumpy? Vocal? A lot more than she ever has been.

She’s almost 4 months old now, has been laying for a very long time. I’ve left eggs in there plenty of times and although she would be very interested in them, she’d never lay on them, so I don’t believe she’s broody.

Anyways, every time I come into the cage now, she does the behaviour in the video, and I can’t tell if she’s:

-enjoying being petted and being playful

Or

-telling me off for intruding and just getting confused when I pet her

I’d like to THINK she’s enjoying it but every time I retract my hand she’ll follow through with a flying peck attack. The noise she makes is also similar to the grumpy noises my roos make when they’re unhappy with being handled, although much higher pitched (and no, she’s not a roo, was my first egg layer of the bunch).

So, any quail behaviour experts out there?

 

[SpotTheCat]

Okay guys, want some opinions on behaviours. My main flock of misfit hens are incredibly tame and always have been. Occasionally they will peck me because I often bring treats so they’re used to pecking into my hand to get them, which is fine, however!!

Lately Plum, my wry neck, has started getting... bossy? Grumpy? Vocal? A lot more than she ever has been.

She’s almost 4 months old now, has been laying for a very long time. I’ve left eggs in there plenty of times and although she would be very interested in them, she’d never lay on them, so I don’t believe she’s broody.

Anyways, every time I come into the cage now, she does the behaviour in the video, and I can’t tell if she’s:

-enjoying being petted and being playful

Or

-telling me off for intruding and just getting confused when I pet her

I’d like to THINK she’s enjoying it but every time I retract my hand she’ll follow through with a flying peck attack. The noise she makes is also similar to the grumpy noises my roos make when they’re unhappy with being handled, although much higher pitched (and no, she’s not a roo, was my first egg layer of the bunch).

So, any quail behaviour experts out there?

I don’t know, maybe she is grumpy you stopped stroking her?

 

[eveliens]

Pretty sure she's just grumpy that you stopped petting her and would like you to continue, hence why she's running back to your hand. I'd agree she's probably top hen in the cage and used to getting her way. I suspect the wryneck is simply messing with her balance/depth perception and pecking is just how quail interact with the world since they don't have hands.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Okay guys, want some opinions on behaviours. My main flock of misfit hens are incredibly tame and always have been. Occasionally they will peck me because I often bring treats so they’re used to pecking into my hand to get them, which is fine, however!!

Lately Plum, my wry neck, has started getting... bossy? Grumpy? Vocal? A lot more than she ever has been.

She’s almost 4 months old now, has been laying for a very long time. I’ve left eggs in there plenty of times and although she would be very interested in them, she’d never lay on them, so I don’t believe she’s broody.

Anyways, every time I come into the cage now, she does the behaviour in the video, and I can’t tell if she’s:

-enjoying being petted and being playful

Or

-telling me off for intruding and just getting confused when I pet her

I’d like to THINK she’s enjoying it but every time I retract my hand she’ll follow through with a flying peck attack. The noise she makes is also similar to the grumpy noises my roos make when they’re unhappy with being handled, although much higher pitched (and no, she’s not a roo, was my first egg layer of the bunch).

So, any quail behaviour experts out there?

I've never had quail before, but that's usually how a young aggressive rooster acts.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Definitely not a rooster, she's been laying an egg every day since 11th of June. I do have an aggro rooster in my other flock but I find there's a bit of a difference between them, such as he will bite my from under my hand and will step away from being pet in comparison.

Whereas Plum here often pushes herself up further into my hand once under it, as if wanting to be pet, but the moment I pull away she chases with a little peck. She has flown out of the cage door multiple times after my hand though which always catches me off guard. But is completely placid and still whenever I pick her up to put her back in. So very mixed messages I'm finding haha.

She is probably the ‘big mamma’ in other words, she’s at the top of the pecking order.

 

[pterry97]

Going placid/still is a survival mechanism for them. Some fight when picked up, some play dead. I think your bird is showing aggression and fear, but also has a bit of understanding that treats also come from the hands and doesn’t want others getting the treats. They’re not terribly bright and I think it has trouble with the duality of food and terror coming from the same place.

I highly doubt she's in fear, I have birds in my other pens who are genuinely hand fearful and run all over the place to avoid me. Plum seeks me out and plays her (likely grumpy) little tune. She again pushes into my hand and I don't restrain her whilst doing so. I also don't grab when I pick my birds up, they are scooped and thus have free reign. The birds that are scared we have a fiasco with because they will fly out of my hands. Plum is completely placid when held. Definitely not a fear response, but thanks.

 

[FloorCandy]

I highly doubt she's in fear, I have birds in my other pens who are genuinely hand fearful and run all over the place to avoid me. Plum seeks me out and plays her (likely grumpy) little tune. She again pushes into my hand and I don't restrain her whilst doing so. I also don't grab when I pick my birds up, they are scooped and thus have free reign. The birds that are scared we have a fiasco with because they will fly out of my hands. Plum is completely placid when held. Definitely not a fear response, but thanks.

Most aggression is a fear response, it can look like confidence, but that is a defense mechanism. The flying peck attack you describe is an aggressive fear response. Remember that bravery is not lack of fear, it’s being afraid and not letting that fear control you. The bird at the top of the pecking order is often the most brave, making it the most likely to defend the covey in danger.

Pushing up into a stationary hand is a different situation than a response to a moving stimulus like taking a hand away. Many prey animals are tame and friendly when approached from the front or side, but become fearful and/or aggressive if the same person or limb approaches from above. Many prey animals are tame and friendly if they approach you, but if you move toward the same animal that was just eating out of your hand, it might run for its life or attack you. Animals don’t have the logic and problem solving abilities that people do, and a hand in different shapes is processed differently in each shape or situation, like a feral cat that will sleep in your bed after you fall asleep, but runs the second you start to wake up, and won’t ever let you pet it.

My uncle has a dog that would literally lay down it’s life for him, but if he puts on any hat at all it runs in fear, and will bite him if cornered, because it was adopted from a very abusive situation, and instead of associating the person as the one who hit him, he processed at a young age that the only one who beat him was the one who wore a hat, and that has stuck with him for over a decade after he was saved.

 

[pterry97]

Most aggression is a fear response, it can look like confidence, but that is a defense mechanism. The flying peck attack you describe is an aggressive fear response. Remember that bravery is not lack of fear, it’s being afraid and not letting that fear control you. The bird at the top of the pecking order is often the most brave, making it the most likely to defend the covey in danger.

Pushing up into a stationary hand is a different situation than a response to a moving stimulus like taking a hand away. Many prey animals are tame and friendly when approached from the front or side, but become fearful and/or aggressive if the same person or limb approaches from above. Many prey animals are tame and friendly if they approach you, but if you move toward the same animal that was just eating out of your hand, it might run for its life or attack you. Animals don’t have the logic and problem solving abilities that people do, and a hand in different shapes is processed differently in each shape or situation, like a feral cat that will sleep in your bed after you fall asleep, but runs the second you start to wake up, and won’t ever let you pet it.

My uncle has a dog that would literally lay down it’s life for him, but if he puts on any hat at all it runs in fear, and will bite him if cornered, because it was adopted from a very abusive situation, and instead of associating the person as the one who hit him, he processed at a young age that the only one who beat him was the one who wore a hat, and that has stuck with him for over a decade after he was saved.

I'm going to explain what I can here, but just note I'm not very good when it comes to making myself clear. I am trying though, promise.

You mention that the action of the animal coming to you willingly is the positive response, such as approaching to be fed, but approaching them with a hand activates the fear response that would have them either flee or attack. Plum exhibits the opposite behaviour. She attacks when I leave, not when I approach. And she seeks out my hand when I approach, not vice versa.

Secondly, your uncle's dog had a situation that associated his trauma with men in hats, which gives reason to his instinct to result to a fear response. Plum has never had trauma or a fear setting that has resulted in her emitting a fear response. She isn't fearful of hands because she was hand reared and I've never dropped, grabbed, or hurt her with those hands. Just as she has absolutely no response or reaction to my cat hanging around her. Naturally, she should be wary and fearful of a natural predator such as a cat. But because she's been reared indoors her entire life, with exposure to a cat hanging about without any sort of repercussions, the fear isn't there.

I did try to explain "better" with a video but as it turns out I think I explained it worse haha. Trying to make sense at 6am straight out of bed does that I guess. I'll post it anyways just because there's the visual example available to show the differences I can see in a fearful quail, and aggro quail, and Plum.

I'm not saying Plum isn't potential showing some aggression in her cage, possibly wanting to protect her space and or her flock. she could very well have become the Boss Bird without a roo in there to order everyone about, after all, I did ask on the group for a reason because I wasn't sure. But I'm pretty certain that Plum is not exhibiting fear.

Also in the video I failed to explain Rocky's situation well at all so lemme fill in some gaps: While he is fleeing from being held, it's in much a less reaction compared to Honey. He often lands right next to me, and doesn't show any fear being around me, he just exhibits dislike for being picked up. In comparison, off camera when Honey flew off she wedged herself into the farther corner of the table, trying to make herself as small as possible. Also, he didn't do it in the video, but usually Rocky bites and doesn't let go of your skin. Tries to rag you a bit like a doll haha. Doesn't hurt of course, but those are the major differences I see from the fear and aggression examples, I jut didn't capture them very well on camera. In comparison, Plum looks and acts like an absolute saint haha.

 

[Chip76]

My vote is that she enjoys your presence.

My Pedro plays with people she likes similar to that. She has a big patio, but she chooses to hang around people she likes and crawls on them, bites, pulls on socks/clothes, snuggles, lays / sleeps on them, etc. She also likes to participate in card games.

If she doesn't like someone, either person or another bird, she avoids, paces, screams, and/or viciously attacks (esp now that she has babies).

 

[pterry97]

She is probably the ‘big mamma’ in other words, she’s at the top of the pecking order.

I could probably see that tbh haha