Male quail plucking out neck feathers from young female

[koturnix]

I recently added 2 younger quails (still chicks, around 5-6 weeks old) to my flock of 6. The flock has 1 male and 5 females. The male chases the new younger quails (they are much smaller than him) and constantly tries to mount them and they freak out causing him to tear out clumps of bald patches. Should this roo be culled or separated from the flock for his behavior? He has more than enough hens for himself and yet persists on harassing the younger quails.

Everyone else gets along fine, it's just the male attacking the newbies. Also, I made sure to put them all in a new cage as neutral territory and prior to this their cages were side by side for over a week to be acquainted.

 

[DK newbie]

Perhaps separate the male for a while? Maybe keeping him side by side with the main cage so he's not a complete stranger when returned. By separating him you will allow the youngsters to mature a bit more and if you are lucky he will divide his attention more evenly between the new and old hens when he is returned, because they will all be 'new' to him.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Separate him, absolutely. If he doesn't do this with the others, he's probably not a bad roo. If it continues, cull him, you don't want the genetics for that sort of behavior.

 

[koturnix]

Thanks all! I have placed him in an adjacent cage and will try to put him back in in maybe a month when the younger quails are bigger. I don't want to cull him yet as he is a very quiet male (crows quietly maybe twice a day at most whereas the previous male I was forced to cull as he would crow crazy loud at least 20 times a day even at 3 am...).

 

[Erkenstein]

Yes the problem is that the new birds are young. The male is doing what he's supposed to do. He's also especially interested in sharing his DNA with the newbies.

You might hear more crowing now that he's separated.