Keeping more than one pair of Button Quail - How to stop the males constantly calling to each other?

[CuriousCreature]

I started out with two male Button Quails that I adopted from a woman who had bought them impulsively from a pet shop and no longer wanted them. It is safe to assume that the quail had spent their whole lives together and were good friends to start with, but after a while they were squabbling almost constantly. Or rather, the larger male would bully the smaller male until he was a squawking, cowering nervous wreck. When they weren't doing that, they were displaying, calling and offering mealworms to non-existent hens, and I just felt really sorry for them.

So more recently I decided to separate the males and get them a girlfriend each. As I have limited floor space, I bought a two-level cage and modified it to be two closed off levels - essentially two cages stacked on top of each other. I place one male/female pair on each level. This is where the trouble started.

The males are consistently agitated by the fact that they can hear other quails above/below them. They pace in unison, on their respective levels, against the walls of the cage, seemingly desperate to get at each other. They spend the vast majority of the day making that 'revving' noise at each other. The occasional crow I don't mind, I think it's a cute noise. But the revving is driving me round the bend. It just goes on and on, and I can't concentrate on anything - it's like trying to sleep with someone snoring loudly!

The hens are largely ignored by the males - they sit around calmly watching the males fuss. That is until the poor things get trampled on by the males and that starts them off pacing as well. All the courtship behaviour that the males had been practising when by themselves has seemingly been forgotten, and when I give them some mealworms the males immediately gobble them all up themselves and leave none for the hens.

They just seem to be going against everything I've read in the care guides. They've been in this set-up for a week now, and have shown no notable improvement. All I want to do is make them happy, but I seem to have made things worse - it's like they can't live together or apart. I've seen plenty of people on these forums keeping several pairs of buttons in separate stacked cages, so how do you avoid this agitation? Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

 

[DK newbie]

That's actually a good question, I'd like to know the answer as well. Right now, I do not have multiple pairs, but I think I will in the future. I probably won't have to stack them on top of each other, but will it be better if they are beside each other so they can see each other?
Perhaps those two just need time to get used to their new cages, or maybe they are only behaving the way they are, because they have been together for so long and can't see each other anymore.
I have a hen which is currently separated from two other hens and her roo, she will call if she can't see them but most of the time she is fine if she can. I'm not sure it would work the same way with two males though. Being able to see each other might reduce the need for calling, but could also lead to more rivalry.. I suppose.
Perhaps those who stack them on top of each other, are usually people who has a separate place for the birds(sounds like you have them in your house?) so they don't have to deal with the noise?

 

[The Quail Guru]

Hmm... I have heard that males are unhappy unless they have a certain amount of female quail. 2-5 female quail per 1 male quail is the ratio that most people recommend.

 

[CuriousCreature]

DK - Yes, they are house pets. Putting the cages next to each other rather than stacked is definitely worth a try. Luckily the cage is an expandable system so the two levels will just come apart. If it works, I guess losing a bit more floor space will be worth it for the calmer atmosphere!
The other thing I had considered, if that fails, was just putting all four of them in one big cage together and see how they get on. I know that's typically not recommended, but I have read about some people keeping all their buttons together without too much trouble. I'm going to have to put them all in the run together while I clean their cage tomorrow anyway, so that will be a good opportunity to see how they behave.

Quail Guru - Are you sure that theory also applies to Button Quail specifically? All the care guides I've read state that they are a monogamous species.

 

[DK newbie]

I second reading about them as monogamous species - however, I have 1 male and 3 females together, because the owner of the pet shop where they came from, said the males mated the female to death, if he had just one. But I strongly suspect he is biased because he wants to sell more females - they cost about 10 times as much as the males around here. I have read about many breeders keeping them in pairs with great success.
I can certainly say that if you want them to hatch their own chicks, more hens in the same enclosure is a lot of trouble - some lay eggs in each others nests, so eventually there will be too many eggs for one hen to cover, others are so aggressive they get their nest for themselves, but then they won't stand for another hen nesting near them and will chase her from her eggs and steal them. And now I finally got chicks, and one hen was still incubating on another nest but she couldn't stand for all the pipping going on around her and left her own nest to help care for the chicks - which their mother doesn't appreciate, so there is a lot of chasing going on. And I caged the last hen, because she was pecking the chicks' feet when they were standing under their father.

 

[CuriousCreature]

That's true... My understanding is that you certainly can keep several button hens with one male, but unlike with other quail species, it's not necessary for them to be happy. And certainly not necessary in the case of my males who are barely giving any attention to the hens there already.

My hens haven't start laying yet (I guess they're still settling in) so I won't start worrying about the complications of brooding just yet. For now, I just want the males to calm down a bit and actually start to appreciate the hens that they had previously been pining for so much.

 

[GrandmaBird]

Always keep Buttons in single pairs if you can. They are monogamous in the wild and live longer happier lives if kept this way.

Well lets see f I can shed some light on to this problem. First off are you sure, I mean really sure, that the first two were both males? If so then it is best that the have been separated. How long have they been in with the new hens? Pacing is a show of anxiety. What forms of enrichment do they have, places to hide and things to forage through. Do they have a sand bath in the cage? Boredom can make them more vocal as well as wanting to mate and having a non receptive hen. Do you know the ages of these birds?

Okay with all that here is my suggestions. First try putting some form of enrichment in the cages to give them something to do even a small pile of hay to dig through, if that fails then place the cages next to each other rather then on top of each other. And lastly be sure they are not just talking to the hens. Is it the call or just soft chatter? Mine talk all the time but most of the time I cant even hear them it is so high pitched. The males will crow once or twice in the afternoon for the female to lay and she calls after laying. But for a majority of the time I don't even realize they are in the room. Now I have mine in my living room by the TV which they are used to so I might not notice as much noise as you.

Hope this helps a bit and good luck.

 

[CuriousCreature]

Hello, GrandmaBird!

While the original two have never been officially... vent sexed I think is the term, they both have the tell-tale crimson feathers on their rumps, and they've never laid any eggs. They crow, 'rev', and put on courtship displays such as strutting around with their wings fanned. And I've recently witnessed both of them mating with the hens.

As mentioned they've been in the new cages with the hens for just over a week now. Both pairs have hiding places (though only the hens tend to use them), pine shavings for substrate, and sand baths. They get millet seed, grit, vegetables and a few live mealworms daily to forage for in the substrate in addition to their staple quail feed. This is the same environment that the two males had when it was just them together, and they seemed very content (before they started getting territorial). It's only since I've separated them and put them in with the hens that this pacing and noise has started, despite the fact that this cage is notably larger than what they were in previously.

I hadn't considered hay though - I'll pick some of that up next week.

I think the males are about a year and a half old. The hens I'm less sure about, I forgot to ask the breeder, but he said they were from his breeding stock, so they must be mature.

I can't say for certain, not being an expert on quail society, but the calls do not appear to be directed at the hens. The hens certainly don't respond to it. It appears to be a back-and-forth conversation between the males - one makes the loud revving whooshing noise, then the other replies, and this goes on for a while before they both crow 'pew pew pew' at the same time. I'm familiar with the chirruping noises they make while holding a food offering to coax hens near, and this definitely isn't that.

I am definitely going to try placing the cages next to each other. But before I do that I want to try simply moving the cage to a different location. Currently, it's stood on a table opposite a window, because it's really the only suitable spot in the house that gets decent light throughout the day for the hens' calcium production, and also I thought they might like to see out into the garden. But maybe that's the very thing that's spooking them. We do have a lot of herring gulls around...

 

[GrandmaBird]

yep they seem to be picky little buggers...lol do offer a dish of crushed oyster shell for the hens and the males will eat some too as needed. I run it in a old blender for a bit and my hen eats it as she wants it. Hope the males settle down soon for you could just be the changes.

 

[DK newbie]

I am definitely going to try placing the cages next to each other. But before I do that I want to try simply moving the cage to a different location. Currently, it's stood on a table opposite a window, because it's really the only suitable spot in the house that gets decent light throughout the day for the hens' calcium production, and also I thought they might like to see out into the garden. But maybe that's the very thing that's spooking them. We do have a lot of herring gulls around...

I'm assuming the light the hens are getting from the window, passes though glass before it reaches the hens? Glass supposedly removes 90% or more of the UV light from sunlight, so if the intention is to assist the production of vitamin D to aid calcium uptake, the position in the light probably doesn't do much.. My hens don't get sunlight at all, but I've started feeding them game bird feed with vitamin D. Don't know for sure if it helps the hens, but I sleep better