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I think Mr Q (King Quail) is lonely?

Renae

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I got a pair of Quails a week and a half ago, but the female passed away the next day from head injuries. I have the male King Quail in my Budgies aviary and he is constantly makes these noises that sound like a hawk, and another noise which I can’t even describe. It is non-stop, I don’t know if it is just how Quails are, or if he is maybe needing another friend?
 

Bethany

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I know little about quails, but if he is the only one of his kind he could easily be lonely.
Many birds like a companion, he might like one :)
 

Birdlover

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I would bet he would like a friend :) I know you dont see single quail around here (our natives), I dont know if that is the same for all of them but I would think they are all in at least small groups. I would imagine for birds like that, it is scary to be alone. There is safety in numbers :) Do you have any pics of him? I have never seen a King Quail before. Going to go google them now ;)
 

Renae

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Thanks guys! I found an ad in the newspaper, someone is selling quails, hopefully they live close. I am about to go and ring them up. :)

We don’t see them around here either, well not that I know of! :p

Here are photos of Mr Q:





 

Birdlover

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Awe he is so cute!! Good luck with the ad, I hope it works out :)
 

MollyMouse

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Mr Q is super cute I hope you can find him a friend :hug8:
 

Anne & Gang

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he is precious..hope his little friend works out.
 

Renae

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Well, I rang and spoke to the man. He had 2 female Quails, and lives about 30 mins away. But, I was too late, if I had rang an hour before, I would have got them, someone was picking them up at 5pm. I will continue to look though. :)
 

chompie_puppy

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What caused the head injuries?

When I first started out with my Button Quail (just a different name for King Quail) I couldn't find a lot of information on them anywhere! So I phoned some avian vets and also some native Australian quail keepers for some information.

My girls really are fantastic little girls to have around. And when I say girls, I mean GIRLS!

Male Button Quail can be (and almost always are) exceptionally aggressive. Never, ever house more than one male in an enclosure unless you have an absolutely huge area for them to be in with lots and lots of hiding places. Males tend to kill other males. They peck at the back of another male's head until the peck through the head! :eek:

It is also not wise to house one male with only one female. Males are very... virile... and they will constantly pester the female to mate. So much so that they could accidentally end up killing the female.

If you want to house a male with other Button Quail then you should give him a minimum of three females in his enclosure. That way you can give two of your females a break at a time while he goes off and pesters the other one. :rolleyes:

Single females housed with a male will often have a shorter lifespan as it is very stressful to be constantly chased and pecked into submission.

That is why they best combo to have (in my opinion) is any number of females. They are very docile little girls and they will almost never fight. Just keep in mind that Button Quail love company. My two girls will always sleep on top of each other at night and they will do absolutely everything together. :) Very cute!

What are you feeding him Renae?

Mine's diet consists of:

- A good quail seed mix
- Shellgrit
- Veggies (they love broccoli, carrot, beetroot, cos lettuce)
- Mealworms and Crickets
- Insectivore Mix
- Native plants and branches (paperbark is a big hit because it has all sorts of creepy crawlies hiding in there that they can peck out).
- Calcium supplements

I was also wondering how your Budgie with the broken wing is doing? Any updates on him? :(
 

Renae

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Long story short about the female. :rolleyes: A friend of mine knows a guy who has quails, she told him that I am looking for a pair, and he said he would give me a pair for free, so that is okay, I get the pair, and when he got them out of his car to give them to me (we met him at a bird auction), the females head was bleeding, and he said she probably just bumped it/scraped it. They were in a (tiny) box with mesh stuff over the top. When I got home with the pair, she had scraped her head again, or what I assumed, and I was really worried at that point, there wasn't much blood at all. I went to put the pair in the aviary, and she couldn't walk, and she would drag herself along the ground. I brought her inside and put her in a container with heat and kept giving her water which she happily took. That night, she started getting really active, and I thought she would be good to go in the morning.. I left her in the container over-night, just to watch her, and I kept giving her water, she had refused to eat though. The next morning, I went to check on her and she had passed away.

If I need to get 3 more females to make sure there is more females then males, I will have to put them in an aviary that I am getting tomorrow for my Cockatiels which is a lot bigger then the Budgies. The Budgies aviary isn't big enough for 4 I don't think.

He gets..

Veggies
Seed Mix (I will have to get Quail seed mix, never heard of it)
Sprouted Seed (I don't know if this is okay?)
Grit (I already have a bag of it)
Pellets (no, yes?)

I see I am missing quite a few things. I was told they can have whatever the Budgies have. I will definitely get Crickets and Mealworms too. What kind of "calcium supplements" do they need exactly?


Kero's wing isn't broken, where the primary flight feathers come through (carpal joint?) is where it was injured. The primary flight feathers have come off and will grow back through. Before they came off, he was flying though. Right now, he looks like he has a one wing clip, where all the (primary) flight feathers have been clipped. Rest assured, he is fine, and will be fine.
 

Birdlover

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Too bad that they had already been spoken for. Sounds like you have a great plan though and Im sure it'll work out :)

Nice post Kelsey! I didnt realize they were the same. They sure are cute. I think quail are such neat little birds. I cant imagine how cute it must be to see them all huddled together :)
 

Thugluvgrl187

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He is adorable! I definitely think he is calling because he wants another friend :)
 

Daisy's Mom

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Awww Mr. Q is very handsome... I hope you can find him a friend.. :heart:
 

chompie_puppy

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Long story short about the female. :rolleyes: A friend of mine knows a guy who has quails, she told him that I am looking for a pair, and he said he would give me a pair for free, so that is okay, I get the pair, and when he got them out of his car to give them to me (we met him at a bird auction), the females head was bleeding, and he said she probably just bumped it/scraped it. They were in a (tiny) box with mesh stuff over the top. When I got home with the pair, she had scraped her head again, or what I assumed, and I was really worried at that point, there wasn't much blood at all. I went to put the pair in the aviary, and she couldn't walk, and she would drag herself along the ground. I brought her inside and put her in a container with heat and kept giving her water which she happily took. That night, she started getting really active, and I thought she would be good to go in the morning.. I left her in the container over-night, just to watch her, and I kept giving her water, she had refused to eat though. The next morning, I went to check on her and she had passed away.
Oh. :( That's so sad.

Button Quail also do this thing which I call "popcorning". This is where they shoot up straight in the air when they are spooked or very excited. A lot of BQ get head trauma from doing this and hitting the enclosure ceiling.

Maybe it was a combination of the small carry box and Mr. Q that did it.

I actually lost one of my females in a freak popcorn accident. She popcorned inside the house (from a very loud noise outside - I'm thinking it was a car hitting something) and snapped her neck against our ceiling. She was dead before she even hit the ground. :(

So inside cages (hospital cages) should have fabric placed inside the cage and close to the top. Almost like a hammock type thing spanning the entire top of the cage. This way if they popcorn then they just bounce off the fabric.

*By the way, sorry if you know all this! :o: I just think others might find this interesting as well! Ignore it all if this is old news. :)

If I need to get 3 more females to make sure there is more females then males, I will have to put them in an aviary that I am getting tomorrow for my Cockatiels which is a lot bigger then the Budgies. The Budgies aviary isn't big enough for 4 I don't think.
Bigger is always better. :) My three are in a 3m x 1.5m aviary and they use all the space.

Just make sure you quarantine the Quails before introducing them to your Cockatiels or Budgies because they do share illnesses.

He gets..

Veggies
Seed Mix (I will have to get Quail seed mix, never heard of it)
Sprouted Seed (I don't know if this is okay?)
Grit (I already have a bag of it)
Pellets (no, yes?)

I see I am missing quite a few things. I was told they can have whatever the Budgies have. I will definitely get Crickets and Mealworms too. What kind of "calcium supplements" do they need exactly?
Budgie seed mix is fine! I found a special Quail seed mix that I prefer to use because it has plenty of different seeds in there. My Budgie mix is boring because it is a special low-fat mix. :rolleyes:

Sprouted seeds are definitely OK as well!

Vetafarm told me that their pellets are fine for Quail as well. Mine won't touch it though. So that's why I use other supplements in their water.

I make grit available to them all the time. They swallow seeds whole and apparently need it to digest their food.

Quail in the wild eat a lot of insects! So their diets need to be quite high in protien. My girls get lots of little critters to eat - from mealworms to crickets to fly pupae to maggots. They get some form of protien every day.

I use Calcivet in their water because female Button Quail lay eggs non-stop! They really are like chickens. I get an egg every second day from each of my girls. Because of this a female's lifespan rarely exceeds 18 months. With the proper supplements, diet and exercise they could live up to 3 years.

Males can easily live for 5 years.

So I constantly top up their calcium reserves with supplements just because the egg laying takes so much out of them.

Kero's wing isn't broken, where the primary flight feathers come through (carpal joint?) is where it was injured. The primary flight feathers have come off and will grow back through. Before they came off, he was flying though. Right now, he looks like he has a one wing clip, where all the (primary) flight feathers have been clipped. Rest assured, he is fine, and will be fine.
Oh that's really good!! :) I was so worried about the little guy.
 

Blackford

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Really interesting and informative post guys!! I love quail!! and definatley have more research to do before I get any :D
 

*Lochie*

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Old post but so informative!
My quails or finches dont seem to touch the pellets either, would crushing the pellets slightly help at all ? :)
 
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