Quail crowing collar

[K C]

Hi,

I'm new to quail myself now (just since mid-March 2022) and am wondering how your birds are after this amount of time? I had to eliminate two very noisy males a few weeks ago, and now another one seems to be getting more and more noisy too now that the other two are gone. My ratio has been 3:1 and I have a five-section cage that is somewhat similar to the photo you included. I started with three females and one male per section. I'm wondering if I get rid of another male if yet a different one will decide to establish himself as the top crowing bird and that will likely happen with each remaining male till I've eliminated all of cockerels?

I intended to have fertilized eggs so that eventually I could hatch meat birds. I also live in town, and the first two that were culled were because of a neighbor complaint about the noise at night. This newest noisy male seems to ramp up for about 20 minutes around dusk, which I don't think is really an issue. His biggest offense is for about half an hour around daybreak, around 5:00 to 5:30am. I counted around 20 crows just this morning and was so tense over concerns of another complaint I couldn't go back to sleep myself. He may become an ongoing issue. Thankfully, most people are now closing their windows and using their air conditioning units, but once the weather cools off, it's very likely I could receive complaints again.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kim

 

[Kiki]

Hi,

I'm new to quail myself now (just since mid-March 2022) and am wondering how your birds are after this amount of time? I had to eliminate two very noisy males a few weeks ago, and now another one seems to be getting more and more noisy too now that the other two are gone. My ratio has been 3:1 and I have a five-section cage that is somewhat similar to the photo you included. I started with three females and one male per section. I'm wondering if I get rid of another male if yet a different one will decide to establish himself as the top crowing bird and that will likely happen with each remaining male till I've eliminated all of cockerels?

I intended to have fertilized eggs so that eventually I could hatch meat birds. I also live in town, and the first two that were culled were because of a neighbor complaint about the noise at night. This newest noisy male seems to ramp up for about 20 minutes around dusk, which I don't think is really an issue. His biggest offense is for about half an hour around daybreak, around 5:00 to 5:30am. I counted around 20 crows just this morning and was so tense over concerns of another complaint I couldn't go back to sleep myself. He may become an ongoing issue. Thankfully, most people are now closing their windows and using their air conditioning units, but once the weather cools off, it's very likely I could receive complaints again.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kim

Hi Kim! The person you're asking the question to hasn't been online in over a year.


I have quail. My males never crow and by never I mean never.

I currently have only three separate cages of quail in each cage is one male.

I can tell you what I believe keeps my quail from not growing...
They cannot see each other.
My cages are completely blocked from one another.
I have hiding spots and dirt.
It's not just my current quail that don't make noise... All of my quail are quiet. For years.

An example of how my cage is set up:

 

[K C]

Hi Kiki,

Thanks so much for your timely response. Much appreciated. I wonder if the type of quail makes a difference? I got the jumbo Coturnix variety. I tried for nearly three years to find someone to build me a "community" cage to keep all the birds together with a higher ratio of females to males, but after so long and three people telling me they would do it (and not cheaply either, I might add), but never coming through, I finally bought a used cage on Craig's List. It's one large, five-section cage, so the birds can't see each other (unless they stick their heads out the front to eat from the trough at the exact same time). I have NO space for any other kind of set-up. I wish I did. The only thing I could switch to would be a large undivided cage to keep all of them together, but it would have to have the same footprint/size as this existing sectioned version (I think it was designed for breeders primarily).

It's good to know it might be possible to have no crowing, but for now, I am on pins and needles due to the previous neighbor's complaint. It's taking some of the joy out of having the birds. I may end up with only females, but that is not what I prefer.

Thanks again. It's great to find someone with quail in common to chat with.

Kim

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Hi Kiki,

Thanks so much for your timely response. Much appreciated. I wonder if the type of quail makes a difference? I got the jumbo Coturnix variety. I tried for nearly three years to find someone to build me a "community" cage to keep all the birds together with a higher ratio of females to males, but after so long and three people telling me they would do it (and not cheaply either, I might add), but never coming through, I finally bought a used cage on Craig's List. It's one large, five-section cage, so the birds can't see each other (unless they stick their heads out the front to eat from the trough at the exact same time). I have NO space for any other kind of set-up. I wish I did. The only thing I could switch to would be a large undivided cage to keep all of them together, but it would have to have the same footprint/size as this existing sectioned version (I think it was designed for breeders primarily).

It's good to know it might be possible to have no crowing, but for now, I am on pins and needles due to the previous neighbor's complaint. It's taking some of the joy out of having the birds. I may end up with only females, but that is not what I prefer.

Thanks again. It's great to find someone with quail in common to chat with.

Kim

I have solved the issue for myself, covering their cages with towels overnight and now they do not make a noise until their lights are turned on or I have opened their shed lights. Just got to make sure it's completely dark and they crow a couple of times and then stop completely until light is reintroduced.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I will add my previous males never made a sound even without the towels and darkness. I think it could possibly be a genetically inherited trait to crow at certain times (mine would crow the second the sun comes up around 4am). Yet my previous lads wouldn't care if the sun came up at 4am, they'd stay perfectly quiet!

 

[K C]

I have solved the issue for myself, covering their cages with towels overnight and now they do not make a noise until their lights are turned on or I have opened their shed lights. Just got to make sure it's completely dark and they crow a couple of times and then stop completely until light is reintroduced.

Thanks, Brandon, for your input. Adorable baby in your profile picture.

So interesting. I hadn't considered it a genetic trait regarding crowing. Also interesting about covering the cage. That's definitely more of a possibility during late fall, winter and early spring, but it gets so hot here in summer (and is now even hot early this year) that covering the cage would really hold in the heat, and likely not be as healthy for them. If things get worse though, I may try it on a cooler evening.

I can hear the one little guy right now as I'm typing. He seems to need to announce the end of the evening around 8:00 to 8:30pm nightly, and then again between 5:00am and about 5:30/45am, but I heard him at 3:15 and at least one other time before 5:00 this morning, which was disconcerting. Makes me grateful that most people are using their air conditioning units now and their windows are closed.

It's interesting to me that there seems to be that at least one male needs to sound off regardless. The noisiest two had to be culled after the original complaint, and it was quiet for a time; then about two weeks later this one started to assert himself. First he was fairly quiet and his voice was small, but the longer he's been at it, I've noticed he has gotten louder and longer in his crowing. If I get rid of him, I suspect yet another one may start up a few weeks later, like he did. And I'm guessing once he's gone, yet another will pipe up till they're all gone and I'm left with unfertilized eggs. Not how I want things to go because I suspect we will need to raise meat birds in the future before all is said and done.

Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.

Kim

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Thanks, Brandon, for your input. Adorable baby in your profile picture.

So interesting. I hadn't considered it a genetic trait regarding crowing. Also interesting about covering the cage. That's definitely more of a possibility during late fall, winter and early spring, but it gets so hot here in summer (and is now even hot early this year) that covering the cage would really hold in the heat, and likely not be as healthy for them. If things get worse though, I may try it on a cooler evening.

I can hear the one little guy right now as I'm typing. He seems to need to announce the end of the evening around 8:00 to 8:30pm nightly, and then again between 5:00am and about 5:30/45am, but I heard him at 3:15 and at least one other time before 5:00 this morning, which was disconcerting. Makes me grateful that most people are using their air conditioning units now and their windows are closed.

It's interesting to me that there seems to be that at least one male needs to sound off regardless. The noisiest two had to be culled after the original complaint, and it was quiet for a time; then about two weeks later this one started to assert himself. First he was fairly quiet and his voice was small, but the longer he's been at it, I've noticed he has gotten louder and longer in his crowing. If I get rid of him, I suspect yet another one may start up a few weeks later, like he did. And I'm guessing once he's gone, yet another will pipe up till they're all gone and I'm left with unfertilized eggs. Not how I want things to go because I suspect we will need to raise meat birds in the future before all is said and done.

Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.

Kim

Haha, thank you!

I am only guessing it to be genetic, I'm far from a scientist, but it would make sense as to why some males feel the need to and others don't, especially when they're in the exact same environments but from different places.

You would only need to cover the cage during the nights, from just before sundown until when you choose for them to wake up but it's true it can hold in the heat. The way in which I deal with that issue is I have put sort of a tray on top which has feet on its corners so air can come out the sides but it still blocks the light. Got to be creative with what you've got lol.

Yeah mine would announce sundown around 10pm-11pm and sun-up around 4-4:30am, but also sometimes just make noise around 3am (possibly thought it was morning before it was? I'm not sure why). But all crowing has stopped.

That is exactly what happened with my boys! I had to cull our biggest male as he was too loud and we had a complaint, 4 days later another one started up but if I cull anymore I will lose a breeding group!

No problem, good luck!!

 

[K C]

Haha, thank you!

I am only guessing it to be genetic, I'm far from a scientist, but it would make sense as to why some males feel the need to and others don't, especially when they're in the exact same environments but from different places.

You would only need to cover the cage during the nights, from just before sundown until when you choose for them to wake up but it's true it can hold in the heat. The way in which I deal with that issue is I have put sort of a tray on top which has feet on its corners so air can come out the sides but it still blocks the light. Got to be creative with what you've got lol.

Yeah mine would announce sundown around 10pm-11pm and sun-up around 4-4:30am, but also sometimes just make noise around 3am (possibly thought it was morning before it was? I'm not sure why). But all crowing has stopped.

That is exactly what happened with my boys! I had to cull our biggest male as he was too loud and we had a complaint, 4 days later another one started up but if I cull anymore I will lose a breeding group!

No problem, good luck!!

Hey Brandon,

Thanks for your message.

I only had six males to begin with, so now that two are gone due to noise issues and at least one more is becoming more noisy, and maybe actually two more, I'm really eliminating my ability to breed any birds, which is definitely a concern. It was difficult to find the birds here to purchase, so I'm not liking how this is heading.

I covered the cage last night and it didn't change the crowing, which was a huge disappointment. I used an old thick bath towel. I'll try it one more time with a darker colored towel tonight. I'm pretty discouraged today, but there's one more thing I might also try. I have a couple of light/motion-sensing solar lights out there and I'm going to turn them off tonight and see if that makes any difference. Maybe he/they are seeing those when cats come around or the wind blows the trees and they're thinking the sun is coming up? That's my last hope to get this situation turned around. Otherwise, I'll end up with females only. Not preferred.

The neighbor that complained about the first noisy bird (directly to me with a note over the fence) has apparently reported me to the city. I got a letter yesterday. Quail are legal here, but I'm not sure with this neighbor what it all means. It's distressing.

Thanks for your suggestions and input. Much appreciated. Please don't hesitate to give other input. I can use all the wisdom and help I can get.

Thanks,

Kim