Is this normal?

[EmilieD]

Hi! I am new to this website and to quails as of two months ago. We have four quail living in a 2' x 3' hutch outside. All were supposed to be female. Three are normal looking Coturnix, one looks like a tuxedo of some sort and is smaller than the rest. Until yesterday they all got along calmly and we got two big speckled eggs a day. Yesterday we got an itty bitty egg. One of the big birds started chasing the tuxedo bird all around. Tuxedo bird is going nuts, jumping and trying to fly in the hutch. This morning I was out at daybreak and one of my big birds (the one who has started chasing the tuxedo) was now crowing - loudly. Seems he must be a male. Now this afternoon we have three big eggs - the two normal speckled eggs and now a dark brown one too. So it seems tuxedo has started laying in conjunction with the male starting crowing and chasing her and driving her crazy. Is this normal? Will they settle down? I hope?

 

[Quail Jailer]

If I had to guess the tux is a hen that just came in to her season and did not much fancy the roo.

Probably settle down, but keep an eye.

 

[dc3085]

If it doesn't settle down, you'll want to pull her. Otherwise if they really don't like her they'll just try to kill her. Coturnix lose their mental stability pretty easily so things like this can happen at any point in their lives.

 

[EmilieD]

How would I decide whether to remove the male or the female? Should I put him in a separate cage and see if she settles down a bit? I would hate to remove him only for her to continue being so skittish.

 

[Quail Jailer]

What dc was saying is, it may not be just the rooster, if she is being rejected by the whole group then you will have to remove her.

If it were me and she was beat up by the rooster, I would remove him, if she's beat up by the group, remove her.

You'll have to watch and determine what's happening.

 

[EmilieD]

Thank you for the advice! I will try to put him in a separate cage tomorrow and see how they all behave. It seems very interesting to me that so much would change just as she starts laying eggs for the first time! He is now a manly crowing man and no one gets along! Whereas before they all got along so nicely. So much to learn! Thanks again for your advice.

 

[Quail Jailer]

You're welcome, but I liked the unedited version.

Now I had to edit my post...lol

Good Luck!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

The other day I was trying to set up a new 5 cell Quail Jail with a 5/1 ratio but no matter how I mixed & matched my birds I had 5 old hens that wouldn't get along with anybody anywhere. Even though I gave them time to settle in they were acting psycho to the point of injuring their cell mates.
Usually I just leave them alone and let them work out their pecking order but they were very harsh, especially on the roosters, to the point of nearly scalping them and pecking their eyes bloody & swollen shut. They were barking & growling and even attacking my hand when I reached in.
After all day of playing musical quail I said the heck with this and started popping heads off of the unruly birds. Now I have a calm peaceful breeder cage, albeit 1 empty cell, and a future quail dinner resting in the fridge.

 

[LavLady]

I will be eating some evil (censored to read: ) "brats" here soon. They killed their rooster, and were working on killing his replacement. They get to live until the next batch starts to lay. And I get to eat some eggs instead of incubating them for a change.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

My biggest and best layers are also the most agressive. Being they are femi-nazis who hate the roosters & refuse to breed at least that trait isn't beng propagated in my coveys.
I made a serious mistake with my initial flock of 60 birds; I culled the ones that were being bullied & picked bald and wondered why my flock was becoming increasingly violent. Those docile birds were the ones I should have kept and culled the agressive ones instead.