Aggressive quail hen

[Darzoveja]

I had my first 7 quails in enclose for a few months now and a few days ago I noticed one suddenly became a bully. Pecking at others and chasing them (all are female) quite aggressively, not a regular peck. I separated it for some time on the other side of the enclosure to calm down, thought the heat might have annoyed everyone. Released it after all got to chill - same thing after a few hours. Then I separated her for a few days and reintroduced at night, they spent the night well and I was getting excited, as in the morning they still seemed to get along. Few hours later and she started straight ramming other quail. Did she became dominant because they live too good of a life ) and not crammed into a small cage? If that is a case, im worried to get rid of her as it will make space even bigger for the rest of them.
I have now separated her again.
Nothing changed trough those months - same quail specific feed, plenty of water.
Any suggestions?

 

[Jener8or]

Do they have any hiding places? I usually just use a cardboard box and cut an entrance and an exit in them. You could try taking them all out of the pen, rearranging it, then placing them back in to see if changing things up distracts her enough, plus they can be territorial.

When you are separating her, do you keep her next to the group? I would make sure she can still see everyone, but not be able to get to them, just to preserve the pecking order.

If you are able to reduce their light, sometimes this calms their hormones down (but it will also usually make them stop laying, if they are laying.)

Last and worst case scenario, of course is to remove her from the flock permanently, but I hope you find some luck in these or someone elses' solutions!

 

[Nabiki]

I don't see hiding places in your picture, so that would be where I start. The next question is how much space do they have?

 

[Susan Skylark]

We just ate a bully hen, three months old and was doing great but suddenly decided she was the boss (even with the boys) and no number of pen moves or rearranging or time outs helped, she just was mean.