How long will it take to adjust?

[quail newbie]

I had 4 boys in the bachelor pen that were 8 weeks old and in my colony pen I had another 4 males that were getting aggressive that are 6 weeks old and now crowing

So i decided to add the other boys and there was a minor scuffle, the most dominant bird has a bit of a bloody beak. Well the big boys have been ... umm ... asserting their dominance (for lack of a better term) over the younger birds. No fighting just alot of well... dominating behavior on the older boys part. Is this normal? will they settle down and is this dangerous?

 

[saddina]

With chicken that would be a really bad idea..... Seems quail are even more vicious, but my boys are only a few dyas old.

 

[quail newbie]

That's the thing though, they're not fighting, they're ...loving...well sort of...

 

[saddina]

Ah... that's been referred to as "prision games" here. Hens do the same, keep an eye to make sure they're not scalping or mauling them, and see if it settles out. As my son explains it, "They're chickens, they have different rules".

 

[monarc23]

haha Saddina your son is smart hehe!

but yes like Saddina says, just keep a very serious eye on them scalping is very easily done when theres too many overly anormous males in teh same pen. I had a batchelor pad for a very long time...the roos mated eachother but the worst that happened was a few head feathers missing, but once blood starts showing remove the younger ones or the bigger ones will most deffinatly kill them.

 

[quail newbie]

Thanks everyone! The bachelor pad is only temporary until they get fat enough to butcher

So I'll keep an eye on them and if we have to eat some early so be it

 

[saddina]

Evan's sweetie was here and asked if the chickens were married, he said yes, the rooster is married to all the girls. Desi didn't like that answer one bit, told him "you're only allowed to marry me!", he shrugged, and told her chickens have different rules.

They have it all planned out, they're going to get married, he's going to be a scientist, she wants to be a biologist, they're going to live in a castle and I'm going to live there to make them cupcakes everyday. Last year in art class we were looking at middle ages tripatch painting, how they tell stories, he painted him defeating a dragon, rescuing her and riding off to a castle. She painted the same 3 scenes from inside the dragon's castle.