Male hurting females

[cjisok]

Hi all,

I hatched 8 coturnix quail on May 28th so they are exactly 9 weeks old now.

One died at a few days old due to an accident with my dog pulling on the heat plate cord and it falling on one of the babies. After a few weeks we discovered we had 1 rooster and 6 hens.

I went out of town for one night this weekend and one of the females died while I was away (I had someone come in the evening and morning to care for them) and it was a pretty bad mess. I couldn't figure out what happened (if she had drowned in the water dish somehow, if she had hit her head on the top of the cage jumping in fear, etc.) but I could tell that they had pecked at her either while or after she died.

Well tonight I went to check on them before bed and one of the females had a bloody cheek and two others are almost bald on the back of their heads. The female with the bloody cheek was going crazy running around in circles and crashing into the sides of the cage and the rooster was chasing her. I think what happened this weekend was similar and the others must have seen the blood and gone after the injured hen. I decided to put the rooster and the injured hen in two separate dog crates for the night by the cage with the others.

I read online that a good ratio is 4 or more hens to one rooster. Since we had 6 hens to one rooster I thought we would be safe but he seems to really be hurting them. He's been really persistent in mounting them and I've seen him go for the feathers on their cheeks. I think if I hadn't separated the hen she would have killed herself trying to run from him.

Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do? I'm going to finish up their outdoor coop hopefully tomorrow night and they'll have a ton more space. Other than that, is this behavior normal? Will it be safe to put him in with them again? Any advice? Thanks for reading.

 

[EggWalrus]

Only thing I can think of is to keep him seperated until he grows out of his hormonal teenage rambunctiousness. They can be pretty hard on the girls till they finish growing up. All they care about is wetting their wick!
. .

 

[cjisok]

Only thing I can think of is to keep him seperated until he grows out of his hormonal teenage rambunctiousness. They can be pretty hard on the girls till they finish growing up. All they care about is wetting their wick!
. .

Thank you. I was under the impression that they were done with hormonal changes now that they're all sexually mature. How will I know when he's done maturing?

 

[EggWalrus]

I'm not sure with quails, but with chickens they usually (not always) begin to calm down after about a year or so. Poor little devil's hormones are raging in their teen months. And now that their little nads have dropped, all day long all they think about is sex. Remember your first love and how you had to have each other 10 times a day? Well the boys are at least 5 times as enamored and they don't care how they get it. .

 

[Ebony Rose]

If possible, put his isolation cage (dog kennel) within sight and sound of the hens cage... and keep him isolated for about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. Japanese coturnix quail grow up fast, your little dude is just raging hormones and zero experience... and if he keeps killing his intended mates, he'll always have zero experience... This time out time, will allow his hormones to settle some, and the in sight and sound of the hens will avoid the need to go through a lengthy reintegration.

 

[Milkshakeroo]

Only thing I can think of is to keep him seperated until he grows out of his hormonal teenage rambunctiousness. They can be pretty hard on the girls till they finish growing up. All they care about is wetting their wick!
. .

Make quails are evil little bastards. I keep my male quail with the only female he has bonded with and keep the other female separate as he constantly tries to attack her.

 

[Milkshakeroo]

Make quails are evil little bastards. I keep my male quail with the only female he has bonded with and keep the other female separate as he constantly tries to attack her.

Male quails

 

[Ebony Rose]

Make quails are evil little bastards. I keep my male quail with the only female he has bonded with and keep the other female separate as he constantly tries to attack her.

OP has coturnix quails. Their absolute minimum number of hens to cock ratio is 3:1, and at that ratio, they'll have bald hens. I have an 8:1 ratio and have a couple of bald hens... favorites...

 

[EggWalrus]

Male quails

 

[cjisok]

Thanks everyone for the input! This morning the girls are so happy without him in there lmao. It makes me feel bad for them. I figured out quickly that he needed to see them cause the poor guy wouldn't stop crowing until I put his cage up to theirs.

When can I put the injured girl back in? I tried to flush her wound with some warm water but it's already clotted and scabbing over. Should I wait until the skin heals or is it just blood that triggers them?