Female Coturnix relentlessly pecking elderly male Coturnix

DeeAnn5

Songster
11 Years
Sep 2, 2013
168
88
227
NW Missouri
I had my male Coturnix, Cuatro, inside for about 4 - 5 days to treat the burns on his feet from the poultry heating element. His feet are SO much better, so yesterday I returned him to the pen with his hens, (the heat element is now safely covered.) One of the hens relentlessly pecked his head so much that he flew into the wire and banged his cere - bloody nose...I separated her for the night.
Trying to decide what to do. My two good options are to provide a separate area in the pen for her to live or just let them work it out. Pen about 3 feet by 5 feet with thick bedding of pine needles and nest boxes to hide in...so by no means are they overcrowded...
There are 4 hens and 1 roo. He is small, old and frail compared to the females I had him for over 1 year when I got the 4 hens from a different source.. The females are indistinguishable from one another except for behavior...but there is only one aggressive female. They were all fine in there for the last year with only a few squabbles...and he had a mate but I don't know which one it is.
What should I do?
 
Separate the aggressor, or consider your Old and Frail male HISTORY. Maybe when he recovers from those burns, he wont be targeted as a weak bird. In the animal kingdom, the weak one always gets abused/eaten/banished.
WISHING YOU BEST......:thumbsup
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom