Bullying at onset of laying?

[KGQuail24]

We are new to quail keeping and have a small flock of 6 Coturnix hens; 3 are brown/pharaoh and 3 are golden/Italian. We got them at 4 weeks of age and now they are 8 weeks old. All has been going pretty perfectly until 2 major changes happened yesterday - nervous activity from the birds overall, particularly sudden onset bullying by one of the goldens against the other 2 goldens, AND the very first 2 eggs were laid.
Allow me to add some background details:
-they are kept in a coop which is attached to 2 ground runs. Everything is totally secure from predators with hardware cloth on all sides, and the entire setup is within a fully-fenced garden and right next to our house. They have 2 large dust baths in their raised wire-floor coop with constant access to a high-quality Mazuri game bird layer feed (they have over 20% protein and 2.5% calcium, plus access to free-choice crushed shell), and water with some ACV.
-they are all speckle-chested and I have vent-sexed to be sure there are no secret roosters.
- there are approx. 14 sq ft of space for the 6 birds. The run is planted with large hostas for cover and shade, and the dirt is raked at least twice a week and topped with a fresh sprinkle of pine shavings to keep it hygienic and dry. They are treated to Timothy hay and meal worms to encourage foraging and entertainment. Basically, I'm trying to do everything right to meet their needs and keep them happy.
SO, that's why I'm so confused and disappointed to find one of the birds suddenly chasing 2 of her sisters around almost constantly. One of the flock mates she is targeting had some blood on her beak and a spot of missing feathers on her forehead yesterday. After discovering that, I put the mean bird in one half of the run with her own food/water and everyone else in the other half (there is a door of hardware cloth between the 2 halves) for 24 hours as a sort of time-out. The victim seemed to heal and basically the other 5 seemed calm and normal with the bully bird separated. As soon as I opened the hatch to put them together again, the chasing started up again. It's fine for a while, but every 10 minutes or so the offending bird will relentlessly chase the other 2 targets around the run, causing everyone to flutter, to jump up, and even start panting for a while until they've gotten away and calmed down.
Today I only got 1 egg, compared with 2 the first day. I can't help but feeling that the stress level being raised is keeping the others from starting laying. I'm quite certain that the bird who is being mean has not laid an egg yet. Could she just be nervous or uncomfortable, dealing with the hormone change that comes with the onset of laying?
Has anyone else noticed birds freaking out or bullying right when they start to lay? Or is some amount of chasing and pecking-order normal? Is there hope that the meanie just needs to lay an egg and then she'll calm down and go back to getting along? Do I have any other options to stop the bullying or am I going to need to send her to "freezer camp"?

 

[Nabiki]

It sounds like you just have a bully. Quail are like any other creature in that each one has their own personality. You've already tried separating her, so the next option would be to cull or rehome her.

 

[KGQuail24]

It sounds like you just have a bully. Quail are like any other creature in that each one has their own personality. You've already tried separating her, so the next option would be to cull or rehome her.

Thank you for your reply. This certainly may be the case, but I'm still struck at the coincidence of the bad behavior starting right on the same day that first laying began. She was a perfectly sweet bird for 8 weeks and then -boom. I'm going to give her a little more time while laying gets more underway and hope that the bad behavior might have just been triggered by those new sensations (?) and she'll mellow back out. It would stink to lose her. I'll update with what happens.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

Thank you for your reply. This certainly may be the case, but I'm still struck at the coincidence of the bad behavior starting right on the same day that first laying began. She was a perfectly sweet bird for 8 weeks and then -boom. I'm going to give her a little more time while laying gets more underway and hope that the bad behavior might have just been triggered by those new sensations (?) and she'll mellow back out. It would stink to lose her. I'll update with what happens.

If you really are attached to her and would hate to lose her, you could try placing some wire in the cage as a divider so she can still see the other birds and let her be on her own for a bit. My roo Blondie got his arse handed to him when spring came around and the other roo (whom I thought was a girl) got nasty. I had him in a divider with a wire fence that he could clearly see the girls through and that seemed to be all right with him, I didn't have a problem with crowing and he healed quickly and was back with the ladies in no time. If she doesn't seem too stressed/anxious with a divider in, that may let her calm down while still "feeling" like she is with other birds.

 

[KGQuail24]

If you really are attached to her and would hate to lose her, you could try placing some wire in the cage as a divider so she can still see the other birds and let her be on her own for a bit. My roo Blondie got his arse handed to him when spring came around and the other roo (whom I thought was a girl) got nasty. I had him in a divider with a wire fence that he could clearly see the girls through and that seemed to be all right with him, I didn't have a problem with crowing and he healed quickly and was back with the ladies in no time. If she doesn't seem too stressed/anxious with a divider in, that may let her calm down while still "feeling" like she is with other birds.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I am still keeping fingers crossed that harmony will return as laying normalizes. If any injuries happen or the chasing increases, I will try what you suggest and divide her again, this time for longer, maybe a week instead of a day. There's a hardware cloth door that already exists between the 2 halves of my outdoor run so it's easy to do this. The only trouble is, it also means the other birds get less outdoor space and is another environment change and therefore potential stressor and egg-laying disruption. It's awfully hard to win with these guys and keep conditions absolutely perfect so they'll make eggs!!!

 

[Green Bean Quail]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I am still keeping fingers crossed that harmony will return as laying normalizes. If any injuries happen or the chasing increases, I will try what you suggest and divide her again, this time for longer, maybe a week instead of a day. There's a hardware cloth door that already exists between the 2 halves of my outdoor run so it's easy to do this. The only trouble is, it also means the other birds get less outdoor space and is another environment change and therefore potential stressor and egg-laying disruption. It's awfully hard to win with these guys and keep conditions absolutely perfect so they'll make eggs!!!

You could also try putting them all together in a new environment, like a large crate (temporarily, like for a half hour and then put them back in their usual home), and see if it calms them down to "reset". if she is being territorial. Being in a new environment all together and then placed back in the hutch has helped me with some mean birds in the past.

 

[KGQuail24]

You could also try putting them all together in a new environment, like a large crate (temporarily, like for a half hour and then put them back in their usual home), and see if it calms them down to "reset". if she is being territorial. Being in a new environment all together and then placed back in the hutch has helped me with some mean birds in the past.

That's a great idea. Just a half an hour and then back again will work? I will definitely keep this idea in my back pocket before doing anything more drastic. Couldn't hurt to try, at the least. Thank you!
Two days ago the flock produced their very first 2 eggs. Yesterday I got 1. Today, nearly 5 in the afternoon, there have been none. I can't help but think the squabbling they're doing is *not* helping things to get going! Maybe I should try this intervention sooner rather than later...

 

[Green Bean Quail]

That's a great idea. Just a half an hour and then back again will work? I will definitely keep this idea in my back pocket before doing anything more drastic. Couldn't hurt to try, at the least. Thank you!
Two days ago the flock produced their very first 2 eggs. Yesterday I got 1. Today, nearly 5 in the afternoon, there have been none. I can't help but think the squabbling they're doing is *not* helping things to get going! Maybe I should try this intervention sooner rather than later...

I don't know if it will for sure fix it, but I have done it before with my flock when I had some new birds that didn't quite mesh and they seem less territorial when they are all in a "new" area. I hope it helps! I'm quite sentimental about my birds as well and also try not to cull unless I have no choice.

 

[KGQuail24]

I wanted to write an update, for the benefit of anyone else who may be going through the same thing. The hen who was being the meanie has mellowed way out now, 2 weeks later. I have a feeling she started laying and isn't so scared or uncomfortable or whatever. She has assumed a place near the top of the pecking order and if she lunges toward one of her "inferiors"they skedaddle out of her way, but no one is jumping or getting pecked, no injuries, and no one is being kept from food or the outdoors or whatever. Also interestingly, the littlest hen who was taking the worst of the bullying initially gained 20 grams in the past week alone, between 8 and 9 weeks of age, which is more than any of her sisters. It seems like the last thing you'd do if you were being victimized is grow well. So - all seems to be well, and I didn't have to take drastic measures in the end!