bullying

[stephboden]

I want to piggy back off of another thread regarding bullying. I have a mated pair of coturnix which are definitely the same age. At first the bullying was extreme with the female becoming bloody and raw. I separated for a short time but kept them close so that she could heal. Now he often grabs at her feathers and follows her around. her feathers don't look great, but there has been no blood since the first occurance. Is this mating behavior? I kind of felt like in the beginning, he was trying to stake his claim before she started laying.

 

[TwoCrows]

With Coturnix quail you need a ratio of male to female. One hen with one male and he will kill her by over mating. Males are very sexual and need a lot of females to mate with or then do over mate and kill one hen.

So remove this female until she can heal. Then add 4 or 5 more hens with this rooster along with this healing hen. The proper ratio of roo to hen and this is to protect your hens is 1 roo to 5 to 7 hens.

 

[stephboden]

ok, I will separate them then. She is not injured at this time, but don't want her to have a hard time. I have one other chikc that is about three or four weeks now.....will the female pick on it? I was thinking of trying to introduce them soon. I realize if it turns out to be a male, though, I wil be in the same situation. We are really hoping it is female.

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes, definitely separate this hen from the roo even if she is healthy now. He will over mate her and she could turn up dead at any time. Roos are just too much for one hen.

I would wait until the chick grows up a bit more before introducing the two. Older birds can hurt chicks. But you will still need to introduce them slowly to each other. You can't throw new birds together without a lot of chaos and blood. So take these two birds and set them side by side divided by wire for a few weeks. They can get to know each other through the wire. In about 3 weeks you can mix them both together and there shouldn't be much jostling.

Hoping it is a female!!!