Female quails attacking each other

[LoveMyQuails]

Hi. My I have 3 female cortunix quails for a bit information, and I‘ve never seen them fight each other like this. It isn’t fighting really, because one of them runs around the cage away from the other which keeps pecking it. I don’t know what to do, does anybody know anything on this? I don’t have any separate extra cages but I could make a makeshift one. BTW, the biggest one is being very calm during this and isn’t doing anything, but what I assume is the 2nd to biggest is pecking the smallest. Update, I’ve seen her pecking the biggest one a bit too. Hopefully someone can tell me what’s happening and how I can stop it?

 

[FloorCandy]

How large is the cage? Do they have places to hide and run thru to get away and break line of site? Have they been together for long?

 

[LoveMyQuails]

How large is the cage? Do they have places to hide and run thru to get away and break line of site? Have they been together for long?

The cage is a bit small, and because of that they don’t have any places. They’ve been together for 6 months, and have never done this behavior before, I’m thinking it might be because they want a male, or dominance? Or because we switched their feed until we could get more of the original feed.

 

[GreedySeedFeedy]

It's bound to be the space, if you yourself can see that it's small. If you can make a makeshift extra cage, is there some way you could make a makeshift addon? What type of cage do you have them in? Indoor or outdoor enclosure? Do you have a tractor for them? Fighting among females doesn't seem like normal breeding behavior to me.

For the short term, let them run free around your bathroom/enclosed balcony/garage (make sure there's nothing lying around that can make them sick or entangle their feet first) for several hours a day. In the cage, you can add a carboard box in there with a few doors cut in it, some fake or nontoxic plants, some baskets and other places for them to hide. For the long term, you need to plan at least 2 square feet of space per bird in the enclosure.

If you are pressed for space and/or cash, I strongly recommend a modular guinea pig cage, they are crazy good for coturnix quail! I use them myself. They just pop apart, you can put them together into any shape, and you can shove them in the dishwasher for easy cleaning! I have used them for 5 years with no problem. Example:

https://tinyurl.com/4czxnc6z

One drawback I can think of: These cages are probably not rat, snake or weasel proof. My birds are kept indoors.

 

[MadamContrary]

Definitely territorial issues, it's breeding season and even the sweetest birds can get nasty when the hormones kick in. If you have them inside, even a big cardboard box (or a big plastic storage tub for that matter) with something breathable over the top would work until you can buy or make something larger.

 

[LJHC]

I've used a plastic tub with netting on top when there is a need to separate a bird.