Help!!! Girls viciously attacking males

[olivebunny]

Hi, I'm in desperate need of help. I have 2 enclosures for my breeding quails (two lots of 2 females and 1 male, one set in each enclosure). I came to check on them and one of the females in both cages have attacked the males!! One so badly we need to put him down as he has lost both eyes and the other one we r separating - he could go either way.. why did this happen?? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Sill]

Sorry this happened to your quail.

A little history please. What species of quail? How long have these quail been set up together? Were they properly introduced? Size of the enclosures?

 

[olivebunny]

They are Japanese quails, they have been together for a while, I had a few clutches from them they are about 8 months old. I've got them in cages ones a long rabbit hutch style 1200 long 500 wide with a nesting area, the other is two story about 800 downstairs with another 800 nesting area upstairs. Two females from both cage has just become aggressive towards the males. I've had them together like this for over 3 months I was so surprised to see the females to be aggressors I've had this problem with males before but never females. I did swap one set from the bottem of an avariy week or so ago but everyone seemed happy up until yesterday when I noticed aggression towards the males it's just so funny it was both cages that turned on there mates. I've pulled the boys out and and the girls now seem happy.

 

[dc3085]

Check their feet, backs, and heads for sores. Most likely someone has a boo boo and is getting angry when the roo tries to mount her.

 

[Sill]

You didn't say how many hens you had with each roo. It's spring time and the roosters can get a little too exuberant in their breeding attempts. The girls sometimes don't appreciate it especially if as Don says they have sores or bald spots. Also if you don't have enough hens they can get over bred by the roo and that can also cause tempers to flare. Putting them from the aviary to the new cage, especially if they have less square footage than they are used to can be a contributing factor. If they were once able to get away from each other and now are forced into closer proximity the hens may get aggressive. Sometimes it doesn't take much to tip a coturnix brain into aggressive mode.

 

[olivebunny]

I'm really thinking the move may have tipped the scales. I've had 2 female to one male running for 3 months it's autumn here now in Australia I am trying to get as many clutches in before winter think I might just call it for the year kick off again next spring to be safe I now have two males missing one eye each. new names Blackbeard and captain jack sparrow :/

 

[bigjohn]

My solution to these problems is to take offending bird and clip a small portion of their top beak with fingernail clippers. It does not hurt them and will keep them from killing the other birds for a few weeks til it grows back. Normally it puts a complete stop to the problem with that bird.

 

[dc3085]

Beak trimming is a band aid not a solution. Anything solved with beak trimming can be solved much more safely by actually identifying the reason they are picking and dealing with that appropriately. The quick in the beak is very hard to see and very easy to cut, and nearly impossible to stop bleeding.

 

[djknight]

I disagree, we have raised hundreds of bob white quail. We incubate and hatch our own for dog training.
Nothing I have ever tried works like beak trimming.
I have tried red lights, low to zero light, red enclosures, increased heat, decreased heat, more space per bird, treats, toys and distractions, higher protein food, different brands of food. They always start picking at either nostrils or bums after about a week, so much so that I was losing about 20% of my hatch to picking.
I resisted beak trimming as a last resort and it has turned out to be the miracle I had hoped for with all the other things that I had tried but had failed.
When chicks are about 1 week old use a pair of sharp fingernail clippers and just snip off the tip of the upper beak. It's quick and pretty easy. Sometimes they will bleed just a drop or two but with a seconds pressure against the nick it stops almost immediately.
They will still act as though they are pecking at each other but will do lots less damage as beak tip is now blunt instead of needle sharp.
This has not affected eating or drinking in any way. I do have to trim again when babies are about 6-8 weeks old but I find that the aggressive picking lessens as the birds age.
Occasionally you will have an overly aggressive hen or cock once mature, my theory there is that those should be culled as they will only breed more aggressive chicks in the future if breeding is your purpose.