Aggressive male quail

[quailyroo]

Hi ,
we have one male jap quail in with 4 female Chinese quail in what has been a very happy living arrangement for some 6 months . Recently I've noticed him becoming very aggressive with the females , grabbing their feathers and chasing them around. Is this normal behavior or is there something wrong with him? They're all mature adult birds but have never exhibited this behavior before and the females are not aggressive towards him. He has also started calling in the evenings. Am just a bit worried as the females have bald heads now from him and so am wondering if I should be removing them but then he would be on his own which is perhaps less than ideal as well.

any ideas??

please note , it is spring/early summer here if that hinges on behavior at all?

 

[TwoCrows]

Breeding season can bring out the aggressiveness in male quail. But sometimes males are a bit "off". So it sounds like you need separate him and get the girls another male. That is if you want fertile eggs. If you only wish to keep the girls for the eggs, you can keep them by themselves and eat this crazy boy! Good luck!

 

[The Critter Place]

By Chinese,
Do you mean "Chinese Blue Breasted Quail" AKA Button Quail?

If so,
Yes, they need to be separated.

Sounds like he is ready to mates, as the spring season begins, and will end up hurting them. The size difference is too great.

 

[quailyroo]

Im not sure what kind of chinese quail the girls are - they were sold to us as 'chinese quail' , they're brown with yellow feet if that helps any??? We bought them as pets. The male is about twice the size (alittle larger than a tennis ball perhaps?) and is white with black spots on him. I'm afraid we were perhaps not the most well advised pet purchasers but we are trying to sort it out now.

Im hesitant to get rid of them as they are our son's pets but if that is what is best for them than we will have to do that - I don't want them getting more hurt as that isnt fair on the birds. The hutch they live in is rather large , would it help if we bought some females the same sort as him - would he leave the little ones alone then?? It is a shame as they are so very tame and he is a nice little bird otherwise , comes up and lets himself be stroked etc. He is very people friendly - so are the females , although they will not hop in your hand like he will. They give our son a lot of pleasure.

 

[The Critter Place]

Can you post a picture of them for us?

What you describe sounds like Button Quail, but they are rarely tame, so I'm not sure what you have.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

if they are the same age, and the male is twice the size of the females...then yea, the females are button quail and the male is a coturnix quail. check out some stickies at the top of the quail forum, there is tons of info on both types.


other then that, i have never seen a female quail twice as small as the male. of the same type

 

[chickbird]

Quote:
IN ODER FOR THE MALE TO MATE, HE DOES HOLD ONTO THE HEAD FEATHERS, AND THEY DO CHASE IF NECESSARY TO CATCH THE FEMALE. THIS BEHAVIOR CAN BE SEEN DURING ACTIVE BREEDING.

 

[quailyroo]

yes they are different type of quails. They were sold to us as female chinese quail and a male japanese quail - will take a photo in the morning if I can figure out how to get it up here.

so is he breeding with them?? would such an egg hatch?? we have had several eggs from them and they're all happy cuddled up together except when he is grabbing feathers and chasing them - usually when we put the food in , he pounces them when they are distracted.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Quote:
i um...don't think that will work, but really never heard of a coturnix mating with a button....wouldn't he like..kill it during the mating process lol(size DOES matter in this case lol)

 

[The Critter Place]

Quote:
i um...don't think that will work, but really never heard of a coturnix mating with a button....wouldn't he like..kill it during the mating process lol(size DOES matter in this case lol)

I agree with Mibotsu. I've never heard of the 2 mating. And considering the size difference, it could end up a disaster for the Button (Chinese) quail. Even if they were to mate, she could end up with a egg too large for her to pass which could kill her.

You really need to separate that male out of the group.

To post a picture here, you will need to uplaod it to a free hosting site like Photobucket , and then copy and paste the img link here into your post.

When you look at the preview it will show your picture, if not something was done wrong.