Make quail behaviour. Help

[moretonquail]

Hi

we have 4f 1m quail houses together. Large joined hutches. Plenty of space.
They are 5.5weeks old.
Today the male began chasing and hurtin the females. I thought at first it was just the start of courtship behaviour but two of the f’s have bloody beaks and I’ve had to separate him from them all for the time being (4 hours so far). How long should I leave it before trying to reintroduce him? Is it just teenage hormones while they develop into adults?? Thanks

 

[Nabiki]

Some boys are just mean, some are just over eager. I would separate him for a day, then put him back in and see how he behaves. If he keeps up the roughness and hurting your hens, I'd get a new male and have him for dinner.

 

[moretonquail]

Some boys are just mean, some are just over eager. I would separate him for a day, then put him back in and see how he behaves. If he keeps up the roughness and hurting your hens, I'd get a new male and have him for dinner.

Thanks. These were all hatched together from a mixed set so they aren’t related but hatched in same batch. I thought that they’d just naturally adjust. Seems not.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

They have very distinct personalities. If you got them as a set from a breeder, see if you can exchange your roo. It's usually not a good sign when blood is drawn.

Having a low roof to start with helps keep these overzealous adolescent roos from injuring the hens. It's something I learned later than I should have. Perhaps you can try holding the birds in the short hutch (left hand side of the photo) for a bit and see how that works out. After they get used to the new new, life as adults, you can open up the other side and they'll think it's a present.

 

[moretonquail]

The entire set is low roof. It’s a ramp up to the higher level.

 

[moretonquail]

We got them as eggs. We hatched them together.