Help! Quail Aggression!!

[Feathers & Friends]

New Member Intro: Hello, my name is Matthew. I am currently located in Idaho. I have raised poultry for 13+ years (mostly chickens and pigeons). I am currently raising Quail and Doves, although I'm fairly new to doves and quail.

Due to space limitations I started raising button quail and I am in immediate need to address female aggression. My females are pulling the feathers from the backs of other males and females. The feathers are pecked off from below the neck to underneath their legs. The pecking got so bad once that the other quail had caused an open lesion on one of the males backs and they were canabalizing him. Luckily I saved him in time and he has made a full recovery. I have increased their protein, I started grinding their calcium, ive practiced separating and re-introducing, I'm really running out of options. The aggression stops then starts again, and its only the females. Thanks for your time and information on this.

First photo: 29gallon tank, second: 55, and last photo is one of the females that's been getting picked on.
-MattView attachment 1325111

 

[mdees88]

Here's a few questions that need to be answered before anyone will be able to help you...

1) How many quail do you have?
2) How many males/females?
3) How old are they?
4) Were the hatched out together (brothers/sisters) or did you mix different age birds?
5) How big is their cage?
6) What are you feeding them?

 

[featherhead007]

Ah come on! How aggressive can a button quail be? You wan't aggression, take my rooster....... please take my rooster!

 

[JaeG]

Quail can be nasty aggressive and can go from seemingly being fine to a blood bath. Button quail are happiest kept as pairs - one pair per enclosure. Sometimes trios can work if there is enough space. I've recently had a male start plucking his 2 week old babies because he wants the hen to nest again!

 

[Feathers & Friends]

Here's a few questions that need to be answered before anyone will be able to help you...

1) How many quail do you have?
2) How many males/females?
3) How old are they?
4) Were the hatched out together (brothers/sisters) or did you mix different age birds?
5) How big is their cage?
6) What are you feeding them?

My post was designed as a snapshot, but I am happy to answer any questions. I have 10 button quail, 4 are male and the rest are female. 2 of the males I keep together as they are brothers and get along well. I keep them with 2 unrelated females. This group I generally do not have any issues with. They are in a 29gallon fish tank. The other group is in a 55 gallon tank. In there I keep 2 males and 3 females. The males are brothers, 2 of the females are unrelated to the males but sisters and the extra female is younger and related to the previously mentioned quail. All of my quail housed together are sexually mature. I do not mix ages with quail that are below sexual maturity. But right now I have most of them seperated until their feathers grow back. I feed them a customized mixture of
28.5% protein and 5.29% fat:
WDDG
Peas
Soy Beans
SWS wheat
Ground Flax
MBM
Mineral & Vitamins
Before I started feeding them this I was giving them 1/2 wild finch mix and 1/2 wild quail seed. I didn't realize this did not have the required protein for domestic quail that do not have access to bugs and such. I originally thought the females were lacking protein which is why I put them on such a high mix. I also give them meal worms about once a week and occasionally fresh veggies. They also get calcium supplement. That should give you enough information to narrow down some general ideas?

 

[Feathers & Friends]

Ah come on! How aggressive can a button quail be? You wan't aggression, take my rooster....... please take my rooster!

Lol. I have been chased by many roosters! Quail are not agressive towards humans but definetly a lot more aggressive than chickens towards each other.

 

[Feathers & Friends]

Quail can be nasty aggressive and can go from seemingly being fine to a blood bath. Button quail are happiest kept as pairs - one pair per enclosure. Sometimes trios can work if there is enough space. I've recently had a male start plucking his 2 week old babies because he wants the hen to nest again!

I have a 29gallon tank and a 55 gallon. Should be plenty of space I would think?

 

[featherhead007]

I have a 29gallon tank and a 55 gallon. Should be plenty of space I would think?

Cool! a quail condo!

 

[Fishkeeper]

Buttons should be kept in pairs, and should have plenty of things to duck behind and get out of each other's way.

 

[JaeG]

I have a 29gallon tank and a 55 gallon. Should be plenty of space I would think?

This is a great site for good button quail husbandry:
http://www.cyberquail.com/homepage.html

A pair requires a minimum of 4 sq/ft if you are hoping that they will breed and need a lot of hiding places. Single sex pens can be as little as 1 sq/ft per bird (though it's not recommended as they are very active birds, always on the go) but you cannot have any birds of the opposite sex anywhere in ear shot or there will be continuous calling and generally fighting. In a mixed pen females will fight for territory, males will fight for females, so it's a risk if you decide to house more than one pair per enclosure.