Will my roo be ok alone for a couple of weeks?

[hedgemoo]

I've got a trio of adult quail. I had more but I lost a few to cats before i figured out how to secure them. So its just the three, and the hens are looking a bit bald and overmated.

So today i took the hens out and put them in the second hutch im using a grow out hutch for the four week old chicks. Everyone is getting along fine. The hens are chillin. Its a spa break for them.

But Walter is not happy I've taken his wimmin. He's pacing up and down the cage, fluffed up and outraged, crowing for his girls.

I don't want to cause him real distress, and I've read quail are unhappy alone. Will he be ok for a while? Id planned to put his hens back along with some from the new batch of chicks in a week or two.

 

[violajack]

How many 4 week olds do you have? Do you think he'd be safe with them in the grow out while the ladies chill in the original pen? When I had to pull a hen out single to recover from injuries, she was okay for a few days but really started to go nuts on me after like 5 days. I ultimately had to cull her. But she was a bit neurotic to begin with. Your male may be okay, but for that long, I'd do things the other way around as long as he won't pick on the littles.

 

[Ravenlover]

I've got a trio of adult quail. I had more but I lost a few to cats before i figured out how to secure them. So its just the three, and the hens are looking a bit bald and overmated.

So today i took the hens out and put them in the second hutch im using a grow out hutch for the four week old chicks. Everyone is getting along fine. The hens are chillin. Its a spa break for them.

But Walter is not happy I've taken his wimmin. He's pacing up and down the cage, fluffed up and outraged, crowing for his girls.

I don't want to cause him real distress, and I've read quail are unhappy alone. Will he be ok for a while? Id planned to put his hens back along with some from the new batch of chicks in a week or two.

Are both hutches near each other so he can see them and they can talk ? It helps some times when people separate quail so they don't get lonely

 

[hedgemoo]

The hutches are close enough they can hear but not see each other. There isn't room to move them.

I will try carefully putting Walter in with the littles, but he's pretty nutty and the whole reason i bought the second hutch is that he attacked the littles when i tried to put them in his hutch. He might be different in a new hutch. Theres six young in there, unsexed so far.

What i might have to do then is just give the hens a couple of days holiday rather than weeks. So hes not alone for long.

 

[Ravenlover]

I would not put him in with the little ones

 

[hedgemoo]

I would not put him in with the little ones

Yeah. I don't want any of them to get hurt.

 

[Nabiki]

He'll be noisy, but as long as he can see the others, he'll be okay for a week or two.

Don't put him in with the 4 week olds. He'll try to breed the poor things and will probably cause injuries.

 

[hedgemoo]

Well that lasted an afternoon.

Then the dominant hen, Snowflake, started harrasing the younglings.They'd been fine for a few hours before she started chasing everyone round the cage and delivering some nasty pecks. Idk what changed, perhaps she got stressed when Walter settled down and stopped crowing for her.

So i put her back in with Walter. He was happy.

Omg, these birds are so funny. But making two peaceful coveys out of my trio, the younguns and the hatch in the incubator is going to be...interesting.

 

[Ravenlover]

Well that lasted an afternoon.

Then the dominant hen, Snowflake, started harrasing the younglings.They'd been fine for a few hours before she started chasing everyone round the cage and delivering some nasty pecks. Idk what changed, perhaps she got stressed when Walter settled down and stopped crowing for her.

So i put her back in with Walter. He was happy.

Omg, these birds are so funny. But making two peaceful coveys out of my trio, the younguns and the hatch in the incubator is going to be...interesting.

I reqd about this a lot on here some times one of the females of the group will suddenly become alpha queen when the boys are gone

 

[marsmallowthesilkie]

I have never raised quail but I think yours needs some slight assistance