Sick animals can alter their behaviors dramatically by reducing activity, food and water intake, and social interactions. Certain species, however, are able to overcome these sickness behaviors when presented with advantageous opportunities, for example mating. It is hypothesized that increases in testosterone (T) during mate exposure may be the mechanism of sickness behavior suppression in these species. We tested whether male Japanese quail injected with a sickness behavior-inducing antigen (lipopolysaccharide or LPS) were able to increase T upon a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) challenge. Contrary to many other bird species, male Japanese quail decrease T when initially presented with females. We therefore also characterized sickness behaviors before and after interaction with a female, when T is expected to be naturally lower. The time males were resting was assessed by observers blinded to the treatments, and plasma T levels were quantified using ELISAs. As expected, LPS-injected birds rested for significantly longer periods of time relative to those injected with saline, demonstrating that LPS induces sickness behaviors in this species. Sickness behaviors were not changed upon the introduction of females. We found that LPS-exposed birds were unable to increase T upon a GnRH injection, in contrast to non-LPS exposed birds. T levels were not associated with sickness behaviors in any of the treatments. Combined, these results indicate that, in Japanese quail, an elevation of T during an immune challenge may not be possible and also that T is not associated with the severity of sickness behaviors in this species.