Button quail pair picking on hen?

[Randombeeboo]

I have what I think is a trio of 1 male and two females, male is white and the females are a brown and a speckled one

I noticed that the speckled hen was acting odd and after watching them closer the male was chasing her around and pecking at her along with the other hen. Now I'm starting to think that I might have sexed them wrong but I'm unsure, they also have not layed any eggs yet but I'm sure they are old enough to start laying

I moved the speckled girl into a temporary cage for right now until I figure out what to do with them

 

[Nabiki]

The brown one is female, the speckled one is male. You can see a clear chin strap on him. I have no idea on the white one.

 

[Finchbreeder]

I agree with Nabiki on the sexing. With mine I find that trios work best if they hens are sister wives, because sometimes a pair will turn on an extra hen without apparent provocation. Particularly if the avairy is less than 2mtrs by mtrs.

 

[Finchbreeder]

It is possible if the hens are having a go at the cock that they are in condition and peeved that he is not. OR vice versa. Watch them carefully, I have on rare occassions had to resort to putting on gender in a smaller cage withing the large one, while they settle down.

 

[Randombeeboo]

the white one is definitely male, after separating I watched him this morning do the little courting stuff for the hen they seem to be a good pair, I think my plan is to get the speckled boy a hen and just keep pairs in seperate cages, that's what I've seen a lot of people do

 

[Randombeeboo]

the white one is definitely male, after separating I watched him this morning do the little courting stuff for the hen they seem to be a good pair, I think my plan is to get the speckled boy a hen and just keep pairs in seperate cages, that's what I've seen a lot of people do

I totally thought that I had two hens! It's hard to find any good morph/color charts so I must have read the one I was looking at wrong

 

[CuriousCucco]

Hi! Your speckled one is indeed a hen, she's a red breasted female.

It seems like your white male and brown (cinnamon) hen have already pair-bonded and doesn't want to include the other hen in their relationship. Trios and groups can work depending on the personality of the individual birds but it's usually reccomended to keep them in pairs since they are monogamous by nature.