I have a quail problem...

[sniper338]

Well... I ran into another problem.... I sent the one hen to the freezer, I had separated this 2nd female... finally put her back in with the others and now she went nuts... killed one of my young males from pecking... and another is holding on by a thread... these two hens are aggressive!!!


This hen will not mess with ths older male in the cage with her though... just the young ones and other hens... its like she only wants herself and the old male together... no one else.... the males dont even fight each other.... its just my females fighting....

 

[sniper338]

I was hoping id be able to keep quite a few birds together in in the bigger "to be butchered pen" . But they seem to start fighting very quickly..

 

[dc3085]

This may seem stupid but I have to cover it real quick. Is it roosters breeding hens or fighting? the roos are pretty aggressive when they do their business, they grab the head feathers of the hens and try to climb on their backs. Young roosters really make a mess of this and end up falling off a lot then running back grabbing her head and trying again, so be sure this isn't what your seeing.

They pick and peck each other a little bit here and there but usually when they are fighting they will be facing each other trying to pull feathers out the way a dog plays tug of war. Sometimes if its little squabbles they will settle down on their own if it is serious, remove the aggressive bird never the victim. also if its just a couple fighting try the feedbag trick i mentioned. Make them dizzy they stop fighting. Might help if I knew how many birds there were and how many hens/roos

As it relates to butcher pens I raise the whole group together hens and all from day one to day dinner. You can put just males in a cage and they wont fight as long as there are no females right next to them. I put my rooster cage across the yard from the hens and sometimes there are 15+ roosters in it.

 

[sniper338]

Day one I got all my birds.... I separated them out 1 male to 5 females in 3 breeding cages.... I watched them and found two females that kept fighting with other birds... I moved birds around and got to where I was down to two females that just would not get along with other females... all the breeder cages are fine now... 1 male to 5 females....


Thens two females I put in a cage together with 3 males... 2 young males.... 1 holder male.... total of 5 birds in one cage at a bad ratio....

The 3 males all got along fine.... no problems..... when I finally put the two females in the cage with this 3 males.... the females were really aggressive and picked at each other and the 2 young males... one hen was so bad I could stop her at all... she went to the freezer...

I was down to 3 males and 1 hen in the cage now... this hen had bloody feet so I was keeping her in a cage by herself inside the cage with the males....

Still no problems with the males together.... her feet healed and I put her back into the cage with the males... then she went nuts fighting the 2 younger males picking and making th bleed on their heads... killed one of them... I found the other right before it was about to die.... so I separated this female again because of aggression.... and just have the two males together.... this morning the injured males was still alive and eating...

Just another aggressive female I guess.... but she would not touch the older male in the cage... her and the old male got along fine... she just trys to kill every other bird..

 

[sniper338]

The fighting the hens were doing was non stop chasing and pulling out feathers on the males heads... then chasing and picking them every chance in the eyes and head breaking the skin making them bleed..


Once I separated the hen again no problems...

 

[dc3085]

The fighting the hens were doing was non stop chasing and pulling out feathers on the males heads... then chasing and picking them every chance in the eyes and head breaking the skin making them bleed..


Once I separated the hen again no problems...

I have read a few times that aggression is or can be a heriditary trait in coturnix. I cull all my really aggressive birds for that reason and for the safety of my flock. Since you are short on birds, thats maybe not your best option. Try adding the aggressive hen to a group of birds and put all of them in a cage that is new to them. It makes everyone insecure usually and sometimes can stop all of your fighting issue when integrating birds. Sometimes it goes smooth sometimes not so much.

I had a group of hens that were all from JMF lines i had been playing with and were really big birds. The smallest of them was probably 12 oz. I ended up selling them to a family as pets because I never found a way to add a new rooster without them going crazy on him. They were fine with their original rooster, but he flew out one day while I was feeding and one of my dogs aspires to be a bird dog so she retrieved him for me

after that for a month I tried everything I could think of and probably half a dozen different roosters and cages until I finally had had enough of those girls and their bad attitudes. I ended up selling them to a family as egg layers/pets.

 

[sniper338]

It could be I just got two aggressive hens... for the most part they were new cages as ive only had them home for 3 days now... im gonna keep her separated for a while in a small cage I have. Shes no problem by herself. I know my male breed her a few times so maybe she can start laying by herself... at least I may be able to get eggs out of her... who knows. She seems to be my only problem bird I have now..

I have all the birds on general meds in their water and mixed with elextrolites. Trying to quarintine them and nurse them all up to health real well before I try getting them to lay and breed

 

[dc3085]

It could be I just got two aggressive hens... for the most part they were new cages as ive only had them home for 3 days now... im gonna keep her separated for a while in a small cage I have. Shes no problem by herself. I know my male breed her a few times so maybe she can start laying by herself... at least I may be able to get eggs out of her... who knows. She seems to be my only problem bird I have now..

I have all the birds on general meds in their water and mixed with elextrolites. Trying to quarintine them and nurse them all up to health real well before I try getting them to lay and breed

How are they coming along? I've probably said this already but once you know they are all healthy toss those meds out the window (not literally). After you are sure of this group you have don't bring home any more live birds only hatch eggs when you want to add to your flock. Keep everything really clean, don't let anyone with chickens or gamebirds around your birds and if you have other gamebirds switch gloves between handling them. I have gone 5 years of raising coturnix without ever needing to give them any medicine (terramycin for eye infections is all) and all i did to accomplish that was keep stuff clean and dry and most importantly no new live birds.

 

[sniper338]

They are ok so far... still having some pecking problems here and there. But not full out determination to peck each other to death... im still keeping that one hen separated... I doubt I can put her in a cage with other birds... im gonna keep the meds going another few days then reassess... I may need to built anorher cage to split them up a little more.... not sure yet... its a learning in process. Already learned I should built my cages differently lol...