Why are they doing this?

[Jus1]

I have my males separated from the females because I don't want fertile eggs just yet. This is the ONLY male that looks like this. Are they picking on him for some reason, or are they trying to mate thinking he's a female? I read males can be kept together just fine when they were born and raised together as these have, but now I'm starting to wonder if this is a bad idea?

 

[sourland]

Sex is a strong drive. Frequently when no females are present males of many species will target the weakest male in the group.

 

[Jus1]

Sex is a strong drive. Frequently when no females are present males of many species will target the weakest male in the group.

So it's basically both? It's maybe driven and he's the target? That was my thought, but I wasn't sure. I have him separate in the house now because I was worried. Does this just mean they will go down the line? Is there a need to separate them when this happens or am I fighting a losing battle???

 

[Alaskan]

Quail can be impressively vicious....

 

[Jus1]

So I've noticed. Survival of the fittest o suppose, but I feel sorry for this guy

 

[Alaskan]

I would either eat him.... before he is eaten alive..... or eat the instigators.

 

[Erkenstein]

I'm wondering why it's a problem for you to have males with your females? Being fertilized or not will not affect the quality of the eggs and will not affect production generally. If you have the right ratio of males to females, why not keep them together?

If you have too many males and are planning on culling, this might be the time to do it.

I have males separate from my breeding groups, but they were removed from the groups before they had reached maturity. They also have no artificial light and plenty of space. Your situation is what I call Thunderdome.

 

[Jus1]

I'm wondering why it's a problem for you to have males with your females? Being fertilized or not will not affect the quality of the eggs and will not affect production generally. If you have the right ratio of males to females, why not keep them together?

If you have too many males and are planning on culling, this might be the time to do it.

I have males separate from my breeding groups, but they were removed from the groups before they had reached maturity. They also have no artificial light and plenty of space. Your situation is what I call Thunderdome.

 

[Jus1]

Ok, I don't have them together because people said " oh yuck, I don't eat farm eggs because they may be fertile." So we decided females for eggs and males for meat, but a few on hand when I want to incubate. The females are in a ground pen where they can dig their holes for eggs like I've seen happening here. The males are in a wire bottom hutch outside under a shade tree with a HUGE closed in sandbox if they want off of the wire. Both the males and females have solar lights in their houses to help them find their way in at night as I noticed they stayed out until light was shining inside. I am aware I may be making mistakes as I've never done this before, but I don't know what mistakes I am making if any. I don't know what thunder dome is, but it sounds bad. I want all my birds happy and healthy. Just because the males are for meat I have no intentions on not caring about their well being. They deserve respect of they are meant for our nourishment

 

[JaeG]

An all male cage needs a lot more space than 1sq/f per bird so the more space you can give them the better. Males will mate with each other and beat each other up if there aren't enough hiding places and things to do. A lot depends on their personality as to whether they can co-habit reasonably peacefully so remove the worst offenders and certainly don't use them for breeding. Breeding aggressive birds leads to aggressive offspring. Work on breeding sweet, mellow birds as you will have a lot less problems when keeping them as large groups. Females can be just as nasty if they want to be so remove any female trouble makers from the gene pool as well.

Aren't people funny! An egg is an egg and tastes the same fertile or not!