when can I put my baby quail with the older ones!

[floppawap]

When I first bought my quail @6weeks I intended to have 3 hens. Only after a few weeks I realised I had 2males 1 hen. So I went to buy another hen around the same age & got 2baby hens. They are 4weeks old now & the others are 11 weeks. Ive got a run of 6.5ftx6.5ft & got a hutch inside the run where of a night I put the babies in the hutch. (4ftx1.5ft) . During the day I li I e the babies to come outside & explore so I have a mesh door that I put in as a devider. So they are still separate from the others, though I have put the older females together with them for a while each day. Im scared the males are going to be too rough with them. As I made that mistake the first day I got them. My male was right in there...it was quite daunting for the babies. So im not sure what age I should introduce the males & babies together. Please advise as im new to keeping quails. Im not breeding either I just love keeping them as pets for myself & my kids.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to the quail forums!

I would wait until the younger ones are 6 weeks old or more so that they are not only the same size, but are fully feathered with adult feathers and have their wits about them.

The best way to introduce new birds to a flock is to keep the new ones separate from the old flock. Keep the new ones in a cage or area within sight of the older birds, so that everybody sees everybody but nobody touches. Leave them this way for 2 or 3 weeks. By this time, the younger birds will have grown up enough and everybody is familiar with each other being around the others.

On release day, watch everybody. Do not let anything turn bloody and always intervene if somebody is being bullied. Mixing them in this fashion usually keeps the fighting down since the introductions have been going on for weeks.

If these are Coturnix quail, make sure to keep the ratio of 1 male to 5 to 7 females. New world quail...pair them male to female.

 

[MrNappy]

Yea, your males might kill each other or the babies when selecting mates. They won't have full time mates, just mostly she's my mate but you can bump her if you want sometimes, that kinda thing. My males eventually fought to the end and there were 8 females, 1 ended up dying, and one male was successful

 

[floppawap]

Thanks for the feed back, so I guess I need to get more females then???? Right or leave it? . Yes they are all coturnix quails. I didnt really want to get rid of my males as im so attached to them they are fine at the moment. They dont fight sometimes the males chase each other as a warning to keep away I suppose but nothing serious. The breeder I got them off said they will be fine once the babies are bigger so then I'll have 2 males 4 hens.

 

[MrNappy]

If you have space you want to get more hens. If you are keeping males together you want around 6 hens per male. I know you can easily get attached to these guys, but once they start fighting you gotta take someones side.

 

[Garrisonkidsduo2]

I was redoing my breeding flock about 5 months ago and only keeping some to winter and the rest were going in the freezer for us to eat. I noticed that when I put the young ones in the pen with the breeding flock even at 7 weeks we were having to separate them because the original breeding flock was hurting the new ones. I found that is we put then in another cage and kept them right next to the wire on the breeding flock cage and kept them like that for about 2 weeks which makes them 9 to 10 weeks old it is easier for an introduction. and a lot less injury.

 

[oktx]

I have 12 quail: 8 female, 4 male all together and none of them ever fight. Some of them did at first but as it is a large cage there is somewhere for them to get away from each other if someone isn't playing nice. Wish they were giving me eggs now, though. Nothing since late August and the great rat scare where 7 were killed in a week and I had to take their cage apart and redo it to make it stronger and rat-proof.

 

[Garrisonkidsduo2]

None of mine fight if they were raised as babies to adults but it was adding more later that gave us a problem.

 

[FenDruadin]

In agreement on the male/female ratio. When you add new, you'll have a bigger problem than when working with a flock that was raised together.

Also, be very very sure not to put juveniles--even adult-sized juvies--in with adults. For some reason, adult quail find immature-but-full-sized companions to be extremely aggravating and will bully them--often to death. I'd wait till the young'uns are at least 8 weeks to be sure they've completed their puberty before full introduction.

Good luck! They are sweet little guys. I've got an old guy we raised from an egg three years ago who is having trouble standing and walking. I don't expect him to live much longer, and we're all sad about it. We brought him in the house to hand feed him and keep him warm. I totally get how hard it can be to let one go! Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[floppawap]

Okay so I spoke with my breeder where I got my quails from she said they should be okay to put the nearly 5week old in with my older (11 weeks). I observed them all straight away. My dominant male pounced repeately onto the chicks. I grabbed him but he wouldnt let go. It was scary I can't bare to watch. Funny thing is he is the tamest out of them all. I can pick him up & sit him on my lap. He loves cuddles and wont struggle to get away. So I ended up putting him the guinea pig/rabbit hutch on his own. I dont know what to do because I don't want him locked up in the hutch for the rest of his life. My other male seems relaxed now knowing hes not getting hassled. He is also okay with the new chicks. I guess he would be now having 4 fenales to himself. I am thinking of building some sort of run for the dominant rooster & put him with some new hens around his age. Or mix the females up a bit. I'm attached to this rooster & want to give him the best. If anyone can help im open to suggestions.