Attacked female

[Bellagrl]

I have 8 coturnix quails about 8 weeks old, I haven't figured out the sex of them yet but I found one today terrified and pecked at the back of the neck and I believe it's a female. I thought you just couldn't have too many males together. Any suggestions, should I be separating them?

 

[le_bwah]

Looks like a female to me (black spots despite reddish breast)—and yes, they're old enough that you need to figure out what gender ratio you want to keep. Are they all this color pattern (brown/tan-ish)? If so, you should be able to feather sex them now.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Yeah, she's a female. Could you post pictures of all of them? We'll be able to tell if you can feather sex them.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

That's not too bad damage wise, though it was probably more than one male doing so

 

[Quaicken108]

That’s female because of her chest being that cream with that pattern. You should post more if you’re not sure what the genders are? (Wild and Italians are the easiest ones because of their feathers).
Hope this helps

 

[Bellagrl]

Yeah, she's a female. Could you post pictures of all of them? We'll be able to tell if you can feather sex them.

Here's a couple, a couple of them I'm pretty sure I know what they are but some im not sure of, I've been having phone issues and I tried to snag a couple quick pictures while running late to work this morning but I'll try to get better ones. I guess I thought if there were too many males they would fight each other,I didn't realize they injure the female. I tried to put her back in the coop and 3 of them just instantly went crazy and one was attached to her neck I had to pull him off and now she's still in a crate in my house. I'm still trying to figure out what to do. I knew I was going to have to separate them or get rid of some but I guess I just wasn't prepared or expecting it to be so crazy all of a sudden. On a happy note I got my first eggs yesterday!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Honestly, odds are they didn't try to attack her, the three tried to breed with her. Quail can be a little unnerving in if they haven't bred in a little bit, they'll immediately grab and breed with the first female that is possibly avaliable

 

[Fenrisulfr]

Yeah ... quail males like it a little rough

I had to remove the favorite female of one of my older males either ... there are no feathers in the neck anymore to grab

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I'm having scalping problems in my mixed group and I think I finally realized my male might be making a little tear and then the hens go nuts over the blood. Otherwise everyone is just fine. So I'm making apartments for my male's to be by themselves (but still see everyone)

 

[Bellagrl]

Honestly, odds are they didn't try to attack her, the three tried to breed with her. Quail can be a little unnerving in if they haven't bred in a little bit, they'll immediately grab and breed with the first female that is possibly avaliable

I put her back in but the one keeps latching on to her neck, so I took him out for now, should I just let them be our is he going to cause problems? Also my other male is injured on it's chest, I'm not sure how bad it is yet but I renewed him. It's that from the other males?