Heyruthie
Chirping
I have a group of 4 young quail, all currently maturing at different times. The oldest is 8 weeks old. The other three quail are 5 to 7 weeks old.
The oldest of the 4 was identifiable as a male 2 weeks ago: when he crowed, but wasn't actually trying to mount any of the others (all younger than him.) Since that time, I've seen him trying to mount some of the other younger birds a few times, but not a lot. I was carefully watching the younger birds, in case he would injure them, since they were still juveniles, and since I didn't know my male to female ratio. I still don't know the sex of the other birds, although they are all looking like they are getting close to full size.
The big surprise is that this morning I found the male with his head pretty mangled on top and bleeding. It's not one bad peck--it's a LOT. He's lost all his feathers on there, and such. I'm not sure what the best solution is. Does anyone have any suggestions? Their cage is 15"x27". I know that's not very big, but I thought it would be OK for now, for the 4 of them, until they all reached maturity. I just wasn't expecting for him to be the one getting "beat up" since he's the biggest, oldest, strongest, and only "for sure" male. I thought he might hurt the younger chicks--not the other way round.
The oldest of the 4 was identifiable as a male 2 weeks ago: when he crowed, but wasn't actually trying to mount any of the others (all younger than him.) Since that time, I've seen him trying to mount some of the other younger birds a few times, but not a lot. I was carefully watching the younger birds, in case he would injure them, since they were still juveniles, and since I didn't know my male to female ratio. I still don't know the sex of the other birds, although they are all looking like they are getting close to full size.
The big surprise is that this morning I found the male with his head pretty mangled on top and bleeding. It's not one bad peck--it's a LOT. He's lost all his feathers on there, and such. I'm not sure what the best solution is. Does anyone have any suggestions? Their cage is 15"x27". I know that's not very big, but I thought it would be OK for now, for the 4 of them, until they all reached maturity. I just wasn't expecting for him to be the one getting "beat up" since he's the biggest, oldest, strongest, and only "for sure" male. I thought he might hurt the younger chicks--not the other way round.
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