Anyone ever had an agressive female quail?

[yallapilko]

I've just had yet another encounter with an agressive FEMALE quail who jumped onto my hand and pecked it twice as I put my hand towards the feeder. Her usual trick is to flap her wings in my face when I open the cage doors, but lately she has jumped on my hand and now as I said she has taken it a step futher and pecked me twice. I wonder if this is unusual behaviour for a female quail?

 

[yallapilko]

No one except me been attacked by a female quail?

 

[TwoCrows]

LOL...ABSOLUTELY! They can get quite defensive of their nests, territory or even their mates. I have one female that has an aggressive mate toward me. Recently she too has been joining in on the fun of attacking me, grabbing my pant legs and yanking on them. Last year I was digging around in another females nest of eggs and she ran over and bit me so hard it drew blood! LOL Females can be worse than males towards humans sometimes.

 

[yallapilko]

Thanks TwoCrows. I was beginning to think I was the only one! I've never had this before.That is one agressive girl you've got there! She is certainly bossy!

 

[TwoCrows]

Females can be especially aggressive if they are kept without males. One of them, generally the flock leader, can sometimes take the place of a rooster, just as in chickens, and these females do become quite bossy!

 

[yallapilko]

That's so true! My very first batch were dreadfully agressive to each other, but I put it down to some stress factors like lack of space which I remedied. I also had one female who would beat up the roo. She wouldn't let him near her, and would lower her head in attack mode when ever he just walked by, then after he past she would leap and peck him. Poor boy became a nervous wreck!

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes, I too have females that will beat up the boys. LOL It amazes me really that they can be that aggressive to jump all over a male. I have one female that constantly mounts her mate, a male. Mounting another is usually a dominance thing and it is obvious that she wears the pants in that relationship. LOL

 

[yallapilko]

That's funny! And explains why that female at first kept jumping on my hand.

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh yeah....she was showing YOU who is in charge of the flock! And it's funny because they really think they are bigger than you and could take you down. Little do they know just how much more power we do have. LOL

 

[yallapilko]

Bless her!