Help! Female quail fighting

[Bluebird4]

Hi, I’m looking for some help with my four female coturnix quail. For sake of this post, I will call them Green, Red, Orange, and Brown. They are about 3 months old (I think). There were some fights among the males, but I gave them away and was left with females. All was well. Until, a few days ago, I noticed that brown was getting picked on. Brown is a Tibetan tuxedo and the other 3 are pharaoh. Brown was born with wry neck, so her neck has always been tilted and looks funny, but she manages well on her own and can do everything else a normal quail would do. She is always a bit separate from the others, but never picked on. I caught red with brown’s feather in her mouth. This explained the large bald spot on her back and slightly smaller one on her neck. My “hutch” is two stories, so I was able to put Brown with green/orange and red with the other for the next few days and i would alternate them. They always had one quail with them so they wouldn’t get lonely, and they could always hear the others. Also, recently, ive started to free range (ish) them. I let them out in the day, with a ramp so they can get food and water as they please, and in the evenings for nighttime i catch them (their wings are clipped) and bring them back in. I thought ok so Brown will heal. We will re-introduce, and all will go well. No such luck. Yesterday I found green, orange and brown with bald spots on their back. Brown’s was much larger and bleeding. So, i separated red for the day and let them out together, but they had the whole yard to themselves so I didn’t think it would be a problem. Later, i found orange picking on brown. What do I do? For now, I’ve put orange and red together. I dont want them to kill each other! Help! I will put pictures up tomorrow when its light out. Thanks!

 

[Nabiki]

How much space do they have in their hutch? Do they have sand baths and plenty of places to hide?

You might try separating them all for a day, rearrange their hutch, and put them all back in, Brown first, since she's the one getting picked on the most.

If this doesn't work, you might consider rehoming your bully, Red. If they don't have enough space (at least 1 square foot/bird, and don't forget to subtract the space used by hiding places, feeders, waterers, etc.), they are more likely to fight.

 

[Bluebird4]

How much space do they have in their hutch? Do they have sand baths and plenty of places to hide?

You might try separating them all for a day, rearrange their hutch, and put them all back in, Brown first, since she's the one getting picked on the most.

If this doesn't work, you might consider rehoming your bully, Red. If they don't have enough space (at least 1 square foot/bird, and don't forget to subtract the space used by hiding places, feeders, waterers, etc.), they are more likely to fight.

Thanks for the help! We will try that!