Aggressive female quail

[Rudy93013]

I have a few japanese quail 1 male to 4 females but recently the females have become very aggresive towards the male i have had to seperate them. I came home from work to find my male covered in blood from his head.. Its sooo bad i think i might loose him has anyone else experiensed this?

 

[dc3085]

How do the heads of the females look? is the male breeding any of them too much? Do you notice any sores on the mounting area (where the roosters stands while breeding) or on the tops of the girls heads? If they are in pain when he is breeding them it can cause this.

What is their feed regiment and do they get oyster shell?

THere are a lot of little environmental things that cause aggression in these guys. Plastic tarps or sheeting blowing in the wind seems to cut the fragile thread these little things minds hang by for example.

The problem is usually with only one bird attacking another. Once she made the rooster bleed, their instincts kick in and they'll all try to kill him so he doesn't waste any of their food trying to heal up. When a gamebird bleeds their natural instinct is to kill it because in the wild survival rate of a wounded animal is dismal, not to mention that a bloody bird is practically leaving a billboard saying "my flock is here, come eat it".

If you want to put a new rooster with them, give it a week or so, then move them all to a new cage together (they consider their cage their territory and they'll kill interlopers to their territory). Once they reject a bird like that I've never had much luck getting it integrated back into the flock.

 

[Rudy93013]

How do the heads of the females look? is the male breeding any of them too much? Do you notice any sores on the mounting area (where the roosters stands while breeding) or on the tops of the girls heads? If they are in pain when he is breeding them it can cause this. 

What is their feed regiment and do they get oyster shell? 

THere are a lot of little environmental things that cause aggression in these guys. Plastic tarps or sheeting blowing in the wind seems to cut the fragile thread these little things minds hang by for example. 

The problem is usually with only one bird attacking another. Once she made the rooster bleed, their instincts kick in and they'll all try to kill him so he doesn't waste any of their food trying to heal up. When a gamebird bleeds their natural instinct is to kill it because in the wild survival rate of a wounded animal is dismal, not to mention that a bloody bird is practically leaving a billboard saying "my flock is here, come eat it". 

If you want to put a new rooster with them, give it a week or so, then move them all to a new cage together (they consider their cage their territory and they'll kill interlopers to their territory). Once they reject a bird like that I've never had much luck getting it integrated back into the flock. 

I havent noticed any sores on them and the heads look fine they arent getting any oyster shells.... I just find it soo weird bcz i didnt have any issues at all in the past w these guys it just happened all of a sudden there is plenty of food and water so i know they arent fighting over that

 

[CindyJackJr]

I have the same issue with one side of the breeding cage. There are six females to one male and the females seem to attack ME when I put my hand in to feed or just change the water out. I feed them ALL THE TIME... and then on the other side of the cage, they are just more docile (the whole group) only a couple of "bald" patches but they are doing good. *sigh* I have 95 more quail that will be used for breeding and food. I guess a good question here would be, how many females per male should there be? And should aggressive hens be removed?

 

[dc3085]

I recommend getting as close to 1:7 Roo:Hens, one rooster can easily keep that many hens fertile and having more hens means he won't overbreed any specific one.

I do cull aggressive birds, aggression is a trait that can be passed on. I always use the example of a beautiful line of golden tuxedo's I was working on. I used a very aggressive rooster and within a couple generations I realized his offspring were accounting for all of my problem birds. I ate the whole family to remedy the situation.

 

[dc3085]

I havent noticed any sores on them and the heads look fine they arent getting any oyster shells.... I just find it soo weird bcz i didnt have any issues at all in the past w these guys it just happened all of a sudden there is plenty of food and water so i know they arent fighting over that

What is the protein percentage of their feed? I ask about nutrition because birds that aren't getting proper nutrition will usually try to supplement it by eating feathers, if they do that all it takes is a little blood spot on the victim bird and now everyone is going to try to kill him. Heck he could have even scratch his head on the cage which would cause them to attack him.

Again, these things have a very fragile mind. This is a common problem, so don't beat yourself up. I've been raising them for about 5 years and I couldn't count the number of birds I've had lose a screw in that time.

There is concrete proof that coturnix have been bred in captivity for over a 1000 years. There is evidence that suggests captive breeding of coturnix as much as 4000 years ago. In that time people breeding them helter skelter has done plenty of damage to their instincts and mental capacities.

Do start feeding them oyster shell also, it will help your hens stay healthier longer. They are giving you most of the calcium they are making, when they lay eggs. Just put a full pan in the floor at all times, they'll eat it as they need it. Cost per bag is usually super cheap, I pay like $9 for 50 lbs and it lasts quite a while.

 

[Rudy93013]

What is the protein percentage of their feed? I ask about nutrition because birds that aren't getting proper nutrition will usually try to supplement it by eating feathers, if they do that all it takes is a little blood spot on the victim bird and now everyone is going to try to kill him. Heck he could have even scratch his head on the cage which would cause them to attack him. 

Again, these things have a very fragile mind. This is a common problem, so don't beat yourself up. I've been raising them for about 5 years and I couldn't count the number of birds I've had lose a screw in that time. 

There is concrete proof that coturnix have been bred in captivity for over a 1000 years. There is evidence that suggests captive breeding of coturnix as much as 4000 years ago. In that time people breeding them helter skelter has done plenty of damage to their instincts and mental capacities. 

Do start feeding them oyster shell also, it will help your hens stay healthier longer. They are giving you most of the calcium they are making, when they lay eggs. Just put a full pan in the floor at all times, they'll eat it as they need it. Cost per bag is usually super cheap, I pay like $9 for 50 lbs and it lasts quite a while. 

I have 22% game feed in there for them ... I been kindda hesitant on oyster shells because i have read that it may cause problem w the roosters if they eat it?... So my question is should i introduce another rooster to them?

 

[dc3085]

Calcium is only a problem for a rooster when it is infused into the food. Birds self regulate their mineral intake and know exactly what they need, so the roos won't eat the oyster shell. Whats bad for them is feeding them layer feed which has 3.5% calcium vs. the less than 1% in gamebird feed.

 

[dc3085]

And yes, you'll probably have to give them a new rooster as your other guy probably won't have the confidence to handle those girls again. It's best to put all the birds in a new cage together when adding birds to a flock. Their cage is their territory and they will kill interlopers.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

If you watch them it's probably just 1 hen that's the troublemaker and the rest follow her lead. Culling her may fix the problem or it may take installing a different rooster to keep the hens in line. Sometimes nothing works and the frying pan is the only remedy.
When my birds are young & in the growout cages it's always rooster on rooster violence; after I pick out the best birds for breeders it's always the hens that turn kujo, the older they get the worse they get.