# do quail and doves get along



## droper (Apr 27, 2011)

i was thinking of getting some quail and putting them in the new cage i built its 10' by 10' but i got 7 doves in there they are pretty tame.


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## honeyrobber (Apr 28, 2011)

Quail and Doves should get along. Button quail are kept with finches and parrots to eat all the food that fall to the bottom of the cages/aviaries. Doves fly more than walk. I may mix a few courtnix quail with my homers(pick up later today). With the fantail pigeons I think they would fight over territory as neither really like to fly. Only thing I can tell you is you need 2 feeders. Get the doves used to eating off the floor like on a table. This way they will not squable over food, and the quail will actually clean up any grain dropped by the pigeons.


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## whites (May 10, 2011)

yes i heard they are fine together


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

I have heard the opposite from people on this site.. the large quail are protein based bug eaters..and can peck at young squabs and kill them.. and they need a high protein feed.. they really are kind of like small chickens.. pigeons are grain eaters... also quail can be flighty and get scared easy as they are wild like..that may make for a stressful pigeon loft.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

I have a pair of coturnix in my dove loft and everything is fine. The nest boxes are out of reach of the quail and there is plenty of food and water in there all the time so that they don't fight over it.

When putting quail with doves, make sure you either get Buttons or Coturnix. Buttons are smaller and definitely won't hurt anything. And Coturnix are super easy to tame. I have to nudge mine away with my foot so I don't step on them. I can pick them up and they don't care.


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## honeyrobber (Apr 28, 2011)

spirit wings said:


> I have heard the opposite from people on this site.. the large quail are protein based bug eaters..and can peck at young squabs and kill them.. and they need a high protein feed.. they really are kind of like small chickens.. pigeons are grain eaters... also quail can be flighty and get scared easy as they are wild like..that may make for a stressful pigeon loft.


I agree with Mary. I would not use bob white or any of the wild type quail. The ones we mentioned are more of pets than my fantails. My fantails stay back when I feed them, the quail jump into the feed scoop as soon as they see/hear the door open when we had them. Just make sure there is plenty of room for both in your loft.


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