Too many roos and now one is injured. What to do?

[jhalteman]

I have 12 birds (coturnix). 3 are male. This number seemed high but they were getting along great until the six week mark when I noticed that they were on edge, sometimes chasing each other around and crowing at 3am.

This morning my smallest roo has a dime sized bloody spot on the back of his head, making it pretty apparent that someone has got to go.

My question is, who? Do I get rid of the aggressive bird or the one whose head is all bloodied? I have him in his own cage for now so he's safe. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to figure out who did it or if it was a collective effort.

 

[gardenisto]

I would keep them separated for a few days to a week, and determine if the injured one will have any future health effects. They can possibly have future issues, as the result of head trauma. I might opt to keep the non-aggressive one if it heals and shows no weird issues(stargazing, backwards walking, crooked neck). Just my two cents. I am new to participating here. Perhaps a BYC veteran will chime in.

 

[kingmt]

I'd keep the one with the strongest traits that I wanted to breed for. One male needs to go tho. Weakest male might need to be the one that should go tho.

 

[JaeG]

Males aren't fussy about who they mate with and I have had a male scalped due to raging hormones (they will continue to grab the back of the head even when it's down to the bone). He recovered completely. It depends on what you personally want to breed for. I've got coturnix quails from someone and they are the sweetest, quietest, gentlest, friendliest things that are eternally patient with my kids handling them. Quails from another person are noisier, more aggressive and more wild despite us having them from small chicks and handling them a lot. It's up to you who you keep and what you will be breeding for.

 

[313759]

Males aren't fussy about who they mate with and I have had a male scalped due to raging hormones (they will continue to grab the back of the head even when it's down to the bone).  He recovered completely.  It depends on what you personally want to breed for.  I've got coturnix quails from someone and they are the sweetest, quietest, gentlest, friendliest things that are eternally patient with my kids handling them.  Quails from another person are noisier, more aggressive and more wild despite us having them from small chicks and handling them a lot.  It's up to you who you keep and what you will be breeding for.

I want quail like that