Coturnix problems

[Dragons4u]

Animals are no where near as dumb as people think.
My wife and our yellow lab are part of a therapy teams that visit assisted living and rehabilitation places. The dog has his favorite people to visit at each place, though he will visit everyone.
One day they went in to one places and he ripped his leash out of her hand and ran to the room of one his favorites and put the brakes on so hard he slid into the door frame. When my wife got to the door he was still laying on the floor in the doorway staring at the bed. It had a single red rose on it, what they do when someone passes.
The dog refused to visit anyone else and kept trying to go back to the car. Came home and he just laid down and whined for hours.
That shows a lot about their intelligence.
I still thought birds were still pretty dumb though....till I got some. They are way smarter than I ever gave them credit for too.

 

[txcarl1258]

Didn't mean to start a huge debate......

 

[Sill]

If eggs are what you want, and their purpose is food (not hatching) I would get rid of ALL the roosters, you'll have a LOT less problems.

If you want hatching eggs, I would only keep one roo with nine hens, if he's a good one

Yes, the problems besides being crowded is the three roos. They are young but as they get older they will be less and less tolerant of each other especially given that they cannot get far from each other's line of sight.

I have a breeding pen and when I add a new roo to it the hens will peck him near death, they have killed 1 roo but the pen that had the roos already in it is just fine. I guess if they are raised together they are more tolerant of each ot

If you ad the hens to the roo's cage you will not have as much of a problem. Better yet add them separately if you can so they are all "new" to the cage and their situation.

 

[JUGG3RNAUT]

I HAVE A LARGE COOP THAT IS A DOUBLE DECKER THAT I KEEP THE UNKNOWN GENDER QUAIL IN. I'M THINKING ABOUT PUTTING ALL OF THEM IN THERE FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS THEN SEPERATING A FEW BREEDERS. MAYBE THE MOVE WILL RESET THE PECKING ORDER AND CALM ALL THE BIRDS DOWN
https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/i/6432829/my-backyard-flock/sort/display_order/

 

[Sill]

How old are these birds? Were they raised together? It could just cause the males to try to kill each other if they are of breeding age. You definitely don't want to put them all in there and ignore them. Put them together on a day when you know you can keep and eye on them, maybe for several days.

 

[JUGG3RNAUT]

THEY ARE 14-17 WEEKS AND WERE ALL RAISED TOGETHER UNTIL I SEPERATED THE KNOWN FEMALES. A WEEK OR SO AFTER THAT I ADDED THE ROOS TO THE BREEDING PENS, IT TOOK A COUPLE TRIES BUT FINALLY FOUND STRONG ENOUGH ROOS TO SURVIVE THE HENS AND NOT GET PECKED. I WAS PLANNING ON REINTRODUCING THEM THIS WEEKEND WHEN I'M OFF SO I CAN WATCH FOR BULLYING WHILE I WORK ON CHICKEN PEN. THERES ENOUGH ROOM FOR THEM ALL TO ROAM AROUND AND I GIVE THEM FRESH GRASS, HAY, AND VEGGIES (THEY LOVE CABBAGE)TO OCCUPY THEIR DOWN TIME

 

[dc3085]

When you add birds you should switch all of them to a new cage. The birds in the cage believe it is their space and will not tolerate interlopers. When you put them all in a new cage no one feels territorial.

How many hens and roosters are you trying to put all together?

 

[JUGG3RNAUT]

THERE ARE 5 HENS AND 2 ROOS PER BREEDER PEN SO 14 TOTAL GOING IN THE COOP WITH ANOTHER 20 MIXED HEN/ROO. I'M PUTTING SAND ON THE GROUND IN THE ENCLOSURE SO I MAY JUST PUT THEM ALL ON THE GROUND FOR AWHILE INSTEAD OF IN THE COOP. THAT WILL PUT THEM ALL OUT OF THEIR ELEMENT AND THE LOVE PLAYING IN THE SAND AND IT WILL GIVE THEM WAY MORE ROOM TO ROAM

 

[dc3085]

If the roosters weren't raised together with the hens you adding them to, you may have problems with fighting.

 

[LavLady]

I had hens almost kill a roo, so I planned to kill them. Then they got smart (like a fox!) And one laid a pure white egg. I decided I wanted to hatch that egg so I put them in a pen where they can see the male, and one at a time switched them from their side to his. Seems to be working. I still think they are too agressive so will only be hatching the white eggs and will cull heavily for temerment this next go-round. But it would be a noveltu to.have pure white coturnix eggs... so I feel compelled to try.