are Japanese quails monogamous

rita

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i ask this question because my male only mates with one female, even tho there are 4 to pick from, he sticks to this one female like her shadow, and it's the same as my other male.
i thought that they would mate with all the girls and not just stick to one, has anyone else found this in their Japanese male.
 
All mine just raped everything in sight, male or female made no difference! Obviously you have a more gentlemanly and better- brought-up male than mine,Rita!
 
Hi Rita, I'm not an expert in Quails but I have a boy called Tillman & 2 girls called Tammy & Tilly. Although Tillman does try to mate with both of the girls he does seem to prefer Tammy & always tries it on with her first before giving it a go with Tilly if Tammy "gets away". I have also found that if he is sitting snuggling with just one of the girls it will always be Tammy, him & Tilly only snuggle if Tammy is with them. I haven't yet decided if this is because he prefers Tammy or if it is because Tammy tolerates him more than Tilly does :)
 
well today he did have a little try with my cream coloured one but she wasn't having any of it so he gave up, so far he has not got nasty with anyone of them, but he does rule the roost and they all keep their distance from him, except my range she not bothered by him as she mates with the other male but he doesn't hang on her tails like my redhead male quail.
i could sit and watch them for hours and hours, (oh i did today) he he :lol: . they are just adorable little birds. I have not made up my mind about keeping the males as yet, i think i will take the cream coloured male back to the lady i bought them from as she said it was a female and i definitely do not want two males in my group.
 
They are adorable little things, mine live indoors & I always seem have one eye on them & I love the little noises they are continually making :D
I think my little Tillman may be a bit special. He most certainly does not rule the roost. He is getting quite old now & spends most of his day trying to snuggle. It is adorable. Right now he is snuggling with them, they have their heads facing one way & he is facing the other squashed inbetween them :D
Having said that, after all I have read I think he will be the last male I get. It's a shame that you will have to return yours because you get attached so easily but I guess it would be even worse to see them fighting.
 
I agree about watching them. I just moved my run on to fresh grass, gave them new food and lettuce leaves and mealworms, and it's lovely to see them all tucking in and getting 3 at a time into the sand bowl and chucking it right up over their backs.
When two of mine got spooked a few days ago I think it was at that time the run was next to a large shrub, for natural shade, and they possibly didn't like the way the low branches were waving in the wind and 'attacking' through the mesh. Doesn't explain why only two of them were worried, though. All back to normal now I've moved it on to a more open space.
 
Marigold i recon the two that got spooked are probably a little bit more nervous than the other one's, they are all different in their personalities, but glad to hear that they are all settled again.
i had the top open in their run to put in fresh food and clean water, we had friends staying at the time and he lean't over to look at the quails and two just flew straight up and into the field, he spooked them as they are not use to any one else but me, i thought that i had lost them but they just sat in the field not moving thank goodness that i got them back ok. :-)17
 
how old are your quails tillman, i also love there little noises that they make even the male i don't find his little crow intrusive, it's more like a warble then anything else.
how long do they lay eggs for, and what is a normal life span.
 
I'm not sure how old mine are. I brought them just over 18mths ago & they were already laying. I was under the impression that a normal life span is about 2 years but I might be wrong & I have no idea how long they are meant to lay for. Tammy & Tilly are still laying nearly every day & are boisterous little things but Tillman seems to be wanting to spend most of his day resting now, he looks like a old man :?
Tillman doesn't crow much anymore but we do have a routine that whenever he does I have to respond "Hello Tillman". It seems wrong to let his efforts go unanswered :) My girls are now much louder than he is. TIlly is particular makes a really loud riveting noise. She woke us up at 4.30 this morning she was so loud. My husband thinks that they stop when he tells them to shush. I think they just look at him quizzically when he does it but i don't lke to disillusion him :D Do your girls rivet loudly too?
 
mine don't make any noise just a gentle twitter to one another, i can't get over how quiet they are compared to my ducks.
maybe because they live out side they are quieter i really don't know.
i wonder if any one else on here keeps them indoors.
they will go indoors in a shed when winter comes, but i love seeing them outside on the grass.
having them indoors i expect they are a lot tamer then mine.
 
Well, yes, mine twitter, (couldn't think of the best word to describe it, Rita!) but never crow or warble.
Am now thinking / researching about how to keep white doves for the garden, following a post about them on Practical Poultry Forum by Graham, who also posts on here. Have found a company that makes nice- looking dovecotes to go on a wall. I started on quail a year ago because no room for more chickens, so birds you could house on a wall might be the next step......
 
How strange that mine are so noisy. They also twitter almost constantly. Tammy used to make a lot of noise when she laid. I assumed she was showing Tillman she was fertile but the riveting is a fairly new noise. I had wondered if it was because they sense Tillman getting old & are trying to find another mate.
It may be because they are inside that they are so noisy, I have been wondering if they can hear the birds outside & are calling to them but then if that were the case your birds outside would also try to communicate with the wild birds wouldn't they?
They are fairly tame. The girls will let themselves be held & "stroked" by my young niece but not Tillman, he panics if your hand so much as brushes past him.
The doves in a dovecote sound lovely.
 
i have one that is really tame if i put my hand in the run she will come and nibble my finger nails (because they have red paint on them) she thinks i am giving her some tomatoes.
my brother has got a dovecote and beautiful doves, really nice.
i have 3 laying now two lay under the conifer branches and one that always lay in the house, i think she is the boss lady. :lol:
 
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