Male quail getting beat up

[KrisandLuna]

I have 6 coturnix quail in a 6x2.5 ft run with lots of enrichment daily.

Just a few days ago, my oldest female pecked him raw on his head and bloody. I separated him, he obviously wants to get back with all his females.

The female that's pecking him gets along with all the others, and everyone gets along with the male minus this one.


I tried secluding him but he gets stressed, hasn't ate or drank....

What should I do? He's a nice male, no plucking or anything, just annoying like any roo.

Thanks!

 

[DK newbie]

Could you put a smaller cage inside the run for him? That would allow him to heal without being all alone. If the hen continues to chase him when he is reintroduced, you might need to get rid of one of them..

 

[AustralorpsAU]

I introduced females to my male and one especially picked on him so i separated her for a day then reintroduced them and they got on fine so you might want to try separating her???

 

[eHuman]

Take the aggressive female and isolate her instead of him in a place where she can see everyone.

 

[KrisandLuna]

I will definitely try isolating her today and over night. I'll let you know how it goes. It's odd because she has never shown aggression to the other females when they have chased her or anything.....

 

[eHuman]

Apparently she is unimpressed and he hasn't earned her respect, yet hopefully.

 

[KrisandLuna]

Apparently she is unimpressed and he hasn't earned her respect, yet hopefully.

Surprisingly he's been with her since he was 2 days old, then been mating with her for over a week. All the sudden when the other females started laying, she attacked him.

Maybe super pms? Haha

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Had some hens like that several years ago. No matter how I separated them, they kept damaging their cellmates. The frying pan was the best solution in that case.

 

[KrisandLuna]

So I tried the secluding the male in the main pen but so he can't reach her or vise versa.

Very odd behaviour, it had nothing to do with breeding, she would still allow him to mate with her, it was when he made a growl noise, she would race over and attack him..... He ended up getting scalped pretty bad, but he learnt from that last one. No longer does he growl or make whatever noise he was doing.

Everyone is happy and back together. His head is healing nicely after some sand baths. Thanks for the tips!