3 quail can’t get along

[Qquails899]

Hello everyone, yes, it’s me again…

I have an old quail (about 2 years old) and I bought 4 chicks back in june, out of which I only kept two, a silver one and a tibetan (the most unproblematic ones, or at least I thought they were). All 3 of my birds are females. And they can’t get along.

The youngsters are mutually scared of each other. Silver bird sometimes wants to kill the tibetan, other times she’s mad at my old girl, tibetan also hates silver most of the time and the old bird has something against the tibetan. Oh, and tibetan tries to hump everyone…? I get it, it’s dominant behavior but please? And the silver bird even makes angry noises at me when I offer her a few mealworms and I refuse to give her an entire bag of them. There was one time when they got along in the cage for two entire days, but I had to separate one due to a minor injury and since then they’re mostly separated because they fight all the time. So why do I even have 3 quail at this point?? I’ve been keeping quail as pets for 5 years now and this has never happened before (I always had 2 at a time, is the problem that there are 3 now?)

Also, the young ones drink an EXCESSIVE amount of water. The bedding gets wet in just 2 days. They also pace a lot, even if I let them out into my room. Is it boredom? Fear? What can I do about it? I want the best for them but they’re driving me insane.

 

[GodLovesU]

I’ve heard they do best in pairs.Maybe you should try that.

 

[Qquails899]

I’ve heard they do best in pairs.Maybe you should try that.

Aw :c I’m not culling anyone, I love them all so much :c

 

[GodLovesU]

I have three button quail males that live together,but they were together from day one.I would get another quail and try to figure out which pairs would work out best.

 

[Qquails899]

I have three button quail males that live together,but they were together from day one.I would get another quail and try to figure out which pairs would work out best.

I’ll consider that…but also, who knows when my old girl decides to leave us…so I’m not sure about this yet. The space wouldn’t be enough for 4 of them either.

 

[Nabiki]

I’ve heard they do best in pairs.Maybe you should try that.

That's for button quail. Coturnix quail do better in a 1:5 ratio

@Qquails899 I suspect that your tibetan is actually a male. If that is the case, you will want another 2-4 hens to keep him happy. That would also explain all of the aggression issues that you are having.

 

[Qquails899]

That's for button quail. Coturnix quail do better in a 1:5 ratio

@Qquails899 I suspect that your tibetan is actually a male. If that is the case, you will want another 2-4 hens to keep him happy. That would also explain all of the aggression issues that you are having.

But it lays eggs every day. Both young birds do.

 

[GodLovesU]

That's for button quail. Coturnix quail do better in a 1:5 ratio

@Qquails899 I suspect that your tibetan is actually a male. If that is the case, you will want another 2-4 hens to keep him happy. That would also explain all of the aggression issues that you are having.

Oops my bad,I thought the same principle applied for both.

 

[Nabiki]

But it lays eggs every day. Both young birds do.

It sounds like you may just have a bully, then. Personally, I've never seen a hen mount another bird.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I don’t get quail social mores either! I’ve only had them 8 months but I’ve already culled over half my hens for temperament issues. The most recent was a nice hen that suddenly decided to be mean to everybody, and she’s been in the same pen with the same birds for months with no changes, just decided to be a bully. I had a 6 week old hen (gorgeous!) that was awful to her hatch mates and had to go. I’ve tried moving them, separating them, more space, hidey holes, rearrange at night…but some birds are just mean. I’ve tried different pen mates and they just beat up the new pen. I’m even afraid it is contagious (or learned) as I had a whole pen that had a bully, removed bully, new bully and so on until I just culled the whole pen in despair. It is frustrating but not much you can do about it, some chickens seem smart enough to learn manners but I have yet to see a quail mend its ways. And separating them only makes them anxious and stressed out too as they are social birds, except they want to kill all their friends?!