Button quail chicks handling

[Person123]

Hi i have just hatched two button quail chicks who are quite skittish and needed some advice. Should i pick them up regularly to socialise them or not as when i have they got very scared and hid. How should i tame them without scaring them too much. I would really like to have a good relationship with my button quail, but am not sure on how to get them comfortable with me.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Button quail are just skittish, like all quail

 

[Person123]

Button quail are just skittish, like all quail

Do you have any advice on how to make them more people friendly?

 

[Peskypigeon]

Do you have any advice on how to make them more people friendly?

I know this is a few months old now, but if no birdie has given you further advice- you are right to handle them often, especially as chicks. They are naturally skittish, but so are doves. Handling them for a few minutes a few times a day will get them to be friendly. They'll be nervous at first, but as are birds that live only 3 years in the wild.

Some other factors to consider- unlike their closest relative the Japanese quail- Button/King quails are incredibly social and monogamous little birds. They may have taken to each other rather than you. This also increases if you get many of them! I hear often when there's only one, the baby needs a lot of attention from humans. Which means, handle them individually. They'll like each other fine- but they need to like you.

I once got a hatchery pigeon (mistake), and he hated humans so much I had to rehome him so he could have a better life with other pigeons and not hurt my emotional state at the idea I'm torturing him with my presence. Sometimes... birds are racist.

When they're chicks, hold and pet them in a quiet, calm atmosphere. Holding them more on their back will relax them in a sort of sleep state, but they're fast and slippery (oh, quails...), so do be careful.

Another thing you can do as they get older, putting them in a relatively small, empty(ish) space and spend time around them, offering them treats and petting them as you do when they're babies.

 

[Julie45]

Hi i have just hatched two button quail chicks who are quite skittish and needed some advice. Should i pick them up regularly to socialise them or not as when i have they got very scared and hid. How should i tame them without scaring them too much. I would really like to have a good relationship with my button quail, but am

 

[Julie45]

Do you have any advice on how to make them more people friendly?

Yes talk to them alot alway in out cage handle them alot this is mine now 2 weeks

 

[Julie45]

Yes talk to them alot alway in out cage handle them alot this is mine now 2 weeks

And I got work as 13 to spend time with all getting there

 

[Button Krista]

I know this is a few months old now, but if no birdie has given you further advice- you are right to handle them often, especially as chicks. They are naturally skittish, but so are doves. Handling them for a few minutes a few times a day will get them to be friendly. They'll be nervous at first, but as are birds that live only 3 years in the wild.

Some other factors to consider- unlike their closest relative the Japanese quail- Button/King quails are incredibly social and monogamous little birds. They may have taken to each other rather than you. This also increases if you get many of them! I hear often when there's only one, the baby needs a lot of attention from humans. Which means, handle them individually. They'll like each other fine- but they need to like you.

I once got a hatchery pigeon (mistake), and he hated humans so much I had to rehome him so he could have a better life with other pigeons and not hurt my emotional state at the idea I'm torturing him with my presence. Sometimes... birds are racist.

When they're chicks, hold and pet them in a quiet, calm atmosphere. Holding them more on their back will relax them in a sort of sleep state, but they're fast and slippery (oh, quails...), so do be careful.

Another thing you can do as they get older, putting them in a relatively small, empty(ish) space and spend time around them, offering them treats and petting them as you do when they're babies.

"sometimes birds are racist"

 

[Canina]

Yes talk to them alot alway in out cage handle them alot this is mine now 2 weeks

Aren't they going to get cold out of the brooder?

I am a first time button quail mother of 3. I hatched them in a vivarium which is also the brooder. it's a bit different for me because I was the first thing they ever saw and they've never had to be taken out of the first environment they saw. Because I have been changing food/water and skipping out about 4 times a day each time they get more and more used to the fact I'm in there and they finally seem to catch on to the fact that I am busy doing things like bringing the goods rather than being particularly 'interested in them. Obviously I am, but you know what I mean. If I was going to catch and kill them I could/would have done it when they were walking over my palm9I say that but then I realise that lots of people here do raise them for meat and that ind of relies on breaching that trust/destroying the logic in that you haven't killed them YET, therefore it means you're not going to kill them. ever..). I also started just leaving one side of the glass doors open for few minutes after refilling food water and just staying with my arm fully in so they get comfortable resuming their eating and drinking with me so close, but there's still a 'barrier' between us. I would just hover around the front of the glass as son as they were reliably coming to eat and drink to begin with and then progressed to leaving my arm in. i just try to be deliberate with my movements I don't rush or move suddenly but I m moving with purpose when rearranging things, like I put a little hide in there for them and moved the heat mat under it instead of loser to the food to encourage exploration and they just had to deal with waiting in the corner until I was finished. They flapped a bit to start with and then ended up just watching me until I was done.