Since chickens aren’t the best flyers, you might quickly assume that quails aren’t good flyers either. But how well can quails really fly?
Quails can fly surprisingly well, with many species able to fly up to 90 meters without any problems. They can also fly almost vertically from a standing start if startled.
Despite this, quails usually prefer not to fly and stay on the ground. To make sure your quails don’t fly away, you should clip their flight feathers or keep them in an enclosed aviary or quail coop.
Contents
How well can quails fly?
Although quails usually don’t fly long distances, they can fly up to 90 meters without problems. They can also fly 500 to 1000 meters high, due to their light weight.
How do I prevent my quails from flying away?
To prevent your quails from flying away and probably becoming victims of a fox or hawk fairly quickly, there are two possible options: You can clip their flight feathers or keep them in an enclosed aviary.
Wing clipping
Feather, or wing, clipping involves shortening the flight feathers of one or both wings to prevent the birds from flying.
For birds that cannot fly well, such as domestic geese or large chicken breeds, trimming one wing on one side is usually sufficient. With quails, it should also be enough to clip only one wing, so they get off balance when they try to fly off.
For wing-clipping it is best to have two people, one to hold the quail and one to clip the feathers.
After you have captured the quail whose feathers you want to clip, you carefully stretch out the wing. The second person can then gently use scissors to trim the wing feathers.
Trimming wings does not hurt the quails, as they have no nerve endings in their feathers.
However, it is important to make sure that the feathers are no longer supplied with blood, otherwise you can seriously injure your birds. Feathers that are still supplied with blood can be identified by their dark or reddish quills.
Another method of not cutting the feathers is to cut off the barb around the quill, leaving only the quill. However, this can require some skill with quails due to their fragile physique.
Since quails molt and get new feathers twice a year, in spring and fall, you will need to clip their flight feathers again after each molt.
Aviary or enclosed quail house
Even birds with clipped wings may be able to fly, although usually not very far or elegantly. That’s why it’s much safer to keep quails in an enclosed aviary. This saves you and your quails the sometimes stressful task of wing clipping, and your quails are protected from predator attacks.
When can quails fly?
Quail chicks cannot fly yet with their chick down, but as soon as they grow into young quails and get their first flight feathers quails are ready to fly. Since quails grow up quickly, they can make their first attempts to fly after only 2 weeks or 11 days.
Are quails migratory birds?
Yes, some wild quail species are migratory and head south in the fall. European quails spend the winter months in Africa and Egypt.
Will my quails try to fly away?
No, domesticated quails usually don’t have much of an urge to escape or fly away. However, they are very shy and startle easily. Then they try to escape by flying and can get away quickly.
Also, if there are fights in the quail flock for positions in the pecking order, or if your quails have too little space, they may try to expand their territory.
Conclusion
Even though quails can fly well compared to other domesticated poultry, they usually only fly when they are frightened and want to escape. To make sure your quails don’t fly away, you can clip their wings or keep them in an enclosed aviary or quail coop.
