Bloody heads. Argh! Your esteemed input requested.

[sparkybeegirl]

Sorry if there is a thread on this elsewhere...I have done a search and not found extensive information.
I have a Male and 3 female Coturnix. The pecking started when I introduced a new female a couple weeks ago.
I have been rotating the pecked females out to heal, but they continue to get pecked up when I put them back together.
My three hens now all have bloody heads.
I thought it was just the females pecking at eachother, but yesterday I took out the two bloody headed females to heal up, before introducing all my birds to a new environment, as suggested by a few posts and people.
This morning when I went to check on the remaining hen, her head was bloody and pecked up too!
I am surprised the male has pecked on a female.
Is this typical?
And should I now just keep all my birds separated until the scabs are healed and try introducing them to a new pen?
Alas! I was looking forward to my eggs and now it seems it will be weeks until the birds are healed, introduced to a new environment and not stressed out.
Thanks in advance for your help--
New to the forum and appreciating it greatly after a year of figuring it all out on my own!
Last year I didn't have these problems though! A perfect season of 2 eggs a day...

Urban Farming in Oakland,CA
2 cats, 5 rabbits, 4 quail and 150,000 bees

 

[Friend2Fowl]

The male is probably wanting to breed, and either is over-breeding the hens or they are not receptive. 3 hens with 1 male is really not enough, you should have 5 hens per male.
It could also be that they are too cramped in their pen, but I would think it's more a breeding thing than anything.

 

[UmbraVulpis]

I have cages of 3:1 without any of the hens so much as missing feathers but I have had one cage where the male was an overly aggressive breeder and kept wounding a particular hen. The solution ended up being switching out the roo. You can try adding more hens to the cage but if you are going to get more birds anyways I'd suggest getting an extra male as well.

I'd also suggest putting 2-3 layers of liquid bandage on the hens' necks after disinfecting it. In addition to keeping dirt out, it helps keep them from reopening their wounds when they scratch.

 

[Doc Henry]

It's the male they get a little crazy sometimes if you give him time he'll calm down he is acting like any teenager, or eat him and get another. The hens usually just pick at the others open wounds.

 

[sparkybeegirl]

OK Thanks
What doesn't make snese is it is the same male I have had since the beginning and last year I only had the one male and two females and I had zero problems.
The problems started when I tried adding more females because that is what everyone says to do.
Is liquid bandage a animal specific thing or a normal drugstore thing?
Have never heard of it.
I have just been using an antibiotic ointment.
Is there a better disinfectant?
Thanks!

 

[UmbraVulpis]

How old were they when you added the new bird? If it was before or just after the hens began laying then the male just hadn't shown his true colors yet. The quail don't tend to attack their friends when you add a new quail, they just attack the new quail.

Liquid bandage is a human thing, you can find it at pharmacies or large department stores with a pharmacy section, it would be in the same place as the bandaids. The bottle is very small and runs $2-6 but it lasts a while if you don't overdo it. I would highly suggest going for the no sting kind, it seems to bother the birds less.

I use Betadine from the feed store to disinfect wounds, I don't know what you or other people are using.

 

[DLS]

Get toe nail clipper & trim there top beaks.If you can see the quick try and not go so deep as to cause bleeding. IF you NO BIGGIE . they will bleed like crazy & then stop. I trim all my birds . This make for a more happy flock. females pick also , so just trim them all ,. I do mine when I see picking AND or evey six weeks or so. The bloody heads will slow down -- most likely stop.
D