Fighting quail?

[OneMountainAcres]

Hi all. I'm still fairly new to quail but have 9 that I've raised up who are finally reaching maturity. A couple hens are laying and I know for sure that I have 2 males. All was fine until this morning when I noticed one of the males had a bloody spot by his ear. I didn't see any fighting but he looks like he's trying to hide. Later on, there's another appt on the other side of his head so I'm pretty sure he's being attacked. I can separate him but I'd like to give him a few girls too. IF I do that though, can I eventually put the girls back in with the others without them fighting if this one proves that he can't mate (he tends to run in circles)? Also, is there any way that these males can learn to get along or has that already been decided?

ETA: they are coturnix/japenese quail

 

[JurassicBawk]

I had a bachelor group of males from my hatch of 16, and all was fine for months until their hormones kicked in and they got fighty. Right now I've got 10 quail across 4 hutches... three pairs (one male, one female) in the smaller hutches and one male with 3 females in a big 2-story hutch. They're all doing great, nobody fights, there's no incessant crowing for a mate, and no overbreeding the females. Before I lost some to rats (evil rats found the cages, and slowly murdered a few over a month before I gave up and moved all the cages into my garage) I had 2-3 females per male, and could switch the females around for the most part with no issues.

If you've got 9 total with 2 of those males, I see no reason why you can't split them up with one male with 3-4 girls each. I know some people say you need at least 4 girls per male, but my pairs do great and snuggle/nest up with each other with no issues at all. Ideally I'd have more girls with the boys, but since a male by himself is going to crow constantly looking for the rest, it is easier and quieter for me to give everyone a girlfriend than to cull out males that I've hatched and raised. Just do the best you can with them, and just so you know they heal up decently quickly if given the chance. I went out one morning to find the aftermath of a rat attack, with one female dead, one female alive with her back ripped up, and one male with the back of his neck ripped up. I cleaned their wounds and then let them scab over to hold everything together, and they've healed up to the point you'd never know anything happened in about a month's time.

To answer your other question, the males can get along just fine if there are no females present at all, and their hormones haven't already kicked in. Mine lived almost a full year as a bachelor group of 6, then the next spring started to turn on each other. I'd either have just males in a group, or separate the males out with some girls.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Thank you @JurassicBawk for your advice. I would prefer not to seperate them if possible but I can if I have to. Right now, I have Tailspin (the one getting beat up) in a smaller pen inside the big one. Is there a chance that them being able to see each other but not get to each other well help them learn to get along so I can release him with the group again? Or maybe I should put Shadow in the separator since he's the aggressor (I like Tailspin more lol)?

 

[feedman77]

Nice to see you have branched from the turkeys even though they are the best lol.

What type of quail, pharoah's, a&m, Italian, Rosetta.

Pharoah's and Italians can be color sexed. Males will have a reddish breast like a Robin.

1 to 3 is a good ratio if you want to split them like that. Quail are some mean little beggars once a little bit of blood is drawn they usually won't quit.

If you separate him with a few girls and then want to reintroduce them to the others. The best way I've found is to put them all at the same time into a totally different pen. New surroundings will mess up the social order and the will be Leary on where to go as it's all new territory with different birds. May be a small squabble or two but usually not bloody like a territory fight.

Quail are fun little things. If you still like to incubate a few can lead t a lot in a hurry.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Nice to see you have branched from the turkeys even though they are the best lol.

What type of quail, pharoah's, a&m, Italian, Rosetta.

Pharoah's and Italians can be color sexed. Males will have a reddish breast like a Robin.

1 to 3 is a good ratio if you want to split them like that. Quail are some mean little beggars once a little bit of blood is drawn they usually won't quit.

If you separate him with a few girls and then want to reintroduce them to the others. The best way I've found is to put them all at the same time into a totally different pen. New surroundings will mess up the social order and the will be Leary on where to go as it's all new territory with different birds. May be a small squabble or two but usually not bloody like a territory fight.

Quail are fun little things. If you still like to incubate a few can lead t a lot in a hurry.

You KNOW I love my turkeys! I really enjoy the quail though a lot. I told Tailspin today that he's my favorite boy lol. I have Shadow in the seperate cage for now.

That may work. I'll seperate them until fall when I move them to a winter pen and try to mix them back together. I think 3 of the girls are Italians the others are blue, white, black, and rusty colored. I've looked up how to do the vent check and it seems that it's just the two boys.

 

[feedman77]

You've got some good looking tuxedos (Rosetta and cool silver one), a&m's or English whites, and pharoah.

At least what I see of the pharaohs definately hens.

Have fun with them.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

You've got some good looking tuxedos (Rosetta and cool silver one), a&m's or English whites, and pharoah.

At least what I see of the pharaohs definately hens.

Have fun with them.

Thank you! The 3 pharoahs are definitely hens. I had them once before and had a male. I lost them when my seramas killed them The black one is Shadow, the dominant male. I'm assuming the rosetta is what Tailspin is (blueish with redish). He's the one getting beat up. I'm almost positive that all the rest are hens.

 

[Erkenstein]

If you have Tailspin on his own he'll probably crow constantly, so it's best if you give him some females. I have different breeding groups with one male to four females; I give the cages numbers to track my groups. When I want to check for fertility/successful mating, I use a sharpie to mark the number of the cage on the egg when I'm collecting, and then I can see which ones hatch.

If you decide to move females around again later, the best way to avoid fighting is to integrate them in a cage that is new to all of them so that they aren't territorial. That goes for the hens as well as the roosters.

 

[Acre4Me]

When we had a bachelor pad of about 15 males (we hatched 30+ eggs)...constant crowing and desire to be with the females. They could see/hear the females, but the females were in another cage a few feet away. We tried to put 10 females in with 2 males...wow! So much fighting and blood! So we bought more cages (with coated wire bottoms with slide out poop trays) and they are calm and content. I have 1 male in each cage with 4-5 females. I have 5 cages of quail. Basically, they seem to like their little groups and the male primarily crow a few times in the morning to greet the rising sun. My quail cages are in the garage, on a couple of tables, next to a window (that stays closed).

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Thank you everyone. I had Shadow separated in a smaller pen inside the big pen for a day then released him. It's been two days and there hasn't been anymore fighting. I'm watching them close though.