Adding females to a group?

[La Casa de Pollo]

I have read that Quail mate for life--I did not have many girls hatch last time, so I set some more eggs to get more females. When these chicks grow out, can I add another female to the existing trio or will the male reject her? I had wanted to keep one male with three females. The two current females are getting bred so much they are missing all their feathers on the tops of their heads. They are jumbo brown coturnix.

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes, you need to add more females to this group. Males can mate the hens to death if there are not enough of them.

It is not the male that will reject the new females, but the females are the ones that might do the damage. Not always, but some times. So wait until the females are completely grown and then add them. I would add about 3 or 4 more. It is never advised to add just one bird, as there is safety in numbers when adding new birds to an existing flock. Keep the new birds separated by wire so everybody sees everybody. Keep them this way for about a week or two so mixing is easier. If you just dump the new birds in too fast, there might be fighting.

Good luck!

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Yes, you need to add more females to this group. Males can mate the hens to death if there are not enough of them.

It is not the male that will reject the new females, but the females are the ones that might do the damage. Not always, but some times. So wait until the females are completely grown and then add them. I would add about 3 or 4 more. It is never advised to add just one bird, as there is safety in numbers when adding new birds to an existing flock. Keep the new birds separated by wire so everybody sees everybody. Keep them this way for about a week or two so mixing is easier. If you just dump the new birds in too fast, there might be fighting.

Good luck!

Thanks so much! I really like my boy, so I did not want to start over with a new little flock. Will try adding a few girls then like you said...when they are 6 weeks old or so.