Found one of my Couturnix Quail dead, some questions..........

[joey7319]

Well, I HAD 4 quail(3 girls, 1 boy). Had being the key word. I got them fall of last year. We were told they were 4 weeks old and should be laying any time. Anyhoo-they didn't start laying until about 2 weeks ago. I noticed the roo had started crowing and mating the hens shortly after. His "favorite" was being mated very aggressively. Her back was bare and there were some feathers missing on her head. No blood, just missing feathers. I've seen this in my chickens quite a bit and didn't think anything of it. This morning I found her dead in the hutch, she had been completely scalped and both of her eyes had been picked out. I guess what I'm wondering is, now that she's gone, is this going to be an ongoing thing? Will he decide he's got a new favorite and do the same to her? Do I not have enough girls to satisfy him? In all the time they had been together they had no problem, until the hormones kicked in that is. If it helps the 4 (or now the 3)of them live in a hutch that is about 5 ft long, 3 ft wide, and 3 ft tall. Do they not have enough space??? Any advice is much appreciated as I don't want to loose any more of my babies. Thanks, Nikki.

 

[Wifezilla]

More space and higher protein feed might help. She could have scalped herself jumping up and hitting her head. The others could have just taken advantage of the situation.

 

[joey7319]

Oh, I forgot to mention they are fed gamebird crumbles. I also give them mealworms as a treat, so I don't think the food is an issue. The hutch has a tin roof (the wavy kind), so I guess it could be possible she hit her head on it trying to escape him. However, there is an "underground" box built into the hutch in case they need to hide or get cold. This is where if found her dead (as I regularly check in there for eggs), so I don't think her scalping was self inflicted. I was thinking about enclosing the bottom of the hutch with hardware cloth so they could get onto the ground and catch bugs and such. Do you think this would provide enough extra space for the 3 that are left? Thanks, Nikki.

 

[JJMR794]

They have way more space than they need... so it is not a space problem. Some roos can be a lil agresive about breeding. If thats the case it may happen again. Some hens can be quite testy as well, it may have been a hen that did this and not the roo... You'll find a ratio of 4 or 5 hens to 1 roo works best for both fertility and "sharing the wealth" of Mr. Happy's affections. Sometimes these things just happen with gamebirds and it may never occur again, or it may be a sinister warning of an estabolished behavior that will continue, only close observation will tell for sure.

This may be linked loosely to a protien deficiency, but not likely--- if it were you'd have had this problem all along. I believe you covered it best with "until the hormones kicked in..."

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
5x3 is enough space to safely accomodate 15 birds. SPACE IS NOT THE ISSUE. Allowing them access to the ground will only make them 10x's more susceptible to parasites and disease. IMO this was a pecking order dispute between hens, or an overly amourous roo(tho i doubt this 1..) Roos will pull hens bald on the back of the head and across their backs where he stands when mating the hen, they dont scalp--- that shows an act of agression which definately points to pecking order. Roos will scalp other roos in agression over hens and territory--- Are you absolutely sure the victim was a hen?

 

[Sachasmom]

I have my breeding Coturnix Quail in a ferret cage, it has a shelf with a ramp. I found a hen dead the other day (it appeared to have its neck broken) I had swapped out the males, and the new one seems to be very aggresive.

Is the shelf/ramp cage a bad idea? It isn't the first time I have found one dead, they do seem to get running about in there though, so I am wondering if it is not the best choice for them?

Or does this sort of thing happen often? Should I be keeping extra hens as back up perhaps? My last batch was almost all males, only two hens in the lot! I have four extra males now.

And yet another question... How often should I swap out my hens with "fresh" hens? Should I be giving the girls breaks from the males? How long will a hen last anyways?

 

[joey7319]

Quote:
When we bought from the breeder they said the way they sexed them was by their chest. Roo's have a golden colored chest with no spots, and hens have the spots on their chest....correct???? If thats the case, then I'm fairly certain it was a hen. I was also getting 3 eggs a day from the 4 quail. I've never witnessed any of the hens behaving aggressively (of the roo for that matter) until now. The only scenario that really seems to fit is she didn't want him to mate her. I've seen him mate the other hens and they don't even have any ruffled feathers. So as long as space isn't an issue, then I'll leave them how they are and see how it goes. I wouldn't want to expose them to anything that could make them sick. Are the gamebird feed and mealworms enough for them??? Is there anything else I should be giving them??? Like say, would they need some kind of layer feed since they are laying eggs? I do keep a little oyster shell in their hutch-is this something I should be doing? Thanks so much for everyones advice, I certainly do appreciate it. Nikki

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
When we bought from the breeder they said the way they sexed them was by their chest. Roo's have a golden colored chest with no spots, and hens have the spots on their chest....correct???? If thats the case, then I'm fairly certain it was a hen. I was also getting 3 eggs a day from the 4 quail. I've never witnessed any of the hens behaving aggressively (of the roo for that matter) until now. The only scenario that really seems to fit is she didn't want him to mate her. I've seen him mate the other hens and they don't even have any ruffled feathers. So as long as space isn't an issue, then I'll leave them how they are and see how it goes. I wouldn't want to expose them to anything that could make them sick. Are the gamebird feed and mealworms enough for them??? Is there anything else I should be giving them??? Like say, would they need some kind of layer feed since they are laying eggs? I do keep a little oyster shell in their hutch-is this something I should be doing? Thanks so much for everyones advice, I certainly do appreciate it. Nikki

chest colors--- males should be orange/rusty colored hens should be speckled. There is an occaisional late bloomer that doesnt make the color change until late in life, but they are rare. 3 eggs a day indicates 3 or more hens, tho there is an occaisional overacheiver in the bunch who may lay more than 1 a day--- but again thats rare and certainly not a daily occurance. The gamebird feed is perfect. The oyster shell while not absolutely necessary is a good benefit too. Even if she did not want to cooperate with breeding, he would have pulled feathers off--- not scalped, and the fact that he is not doing damage to the others also points away from an agressive roo. The only changes you have made( or have happened would be a better way of putting it) is the season--- we're officially entering breeding season for birds not given supplimental light. This does ugly things to animals. My money is still on this being a pecking order thing between the hens. And I mean no disrespect here in any way to anyone, but with the name Nicki that leads me to believe you can understand hormones(maybe wrong here...) They can cause a seemingly inncocent creature turn into the most viciously deadly killer with no warning if they are flucutating...this is true from humans on down the line to insects.

Unless some outside predator could have inflicted this..... coons and hawks will reach into cages and grab birds--- so will cats. in an attempt to pull the bird out it will scalp them if grabbed by the head or neck. Watch your pen closely--- you may have a predation problem brewing.


In any case close observation will be necessary no matter what the cause. Good luck and I hope you dont have any further problems like this.... Sorry you lost your hen,

 

[Wifezilla]

Girl fight sounds the most likely. I had a few times where I found blood in the tray under the cage but couldn't find any on the birds. They heal fast, but the girls have had tussles that I have witnessed.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Very PR, JJ! I know I can turn very evil lol
Just depends on the hormones..