Males grabbing one another?

[crabbycrown]

Recently, My eldest male buttonquail (1/2) is going after my younger male I have in an enclosure. The elder chases the younger male, then catches him by the back of the neck and gets on top of him. He doesn’t try to thrust or mate, from what I can tell, and I know the younger male does not like it, as he runs away. He has a pick of five females to choose from, one of which is his primary mate who has been laying eggs recently. So I’m curious…

Is this a dominance thing, or is my older male really trying to do the deed?

Is my elder male just broody about the new eggs?

Is this a true fight, or harmless squabble?

My enclosure is 8sqft, always has fresh food and water, lots of enrichment like foliage to hide under, four hiding spots/dens, and I give them foraging goods like cotton and grass to make nests about once a week. As noted, there are just two males and 5 females.

Thanks for any help!

 

[crabbycrown]

5 square feet** oops

 

[GlicksChicks]

I don't know much about quail, but as a rule of thumb you should have 5 females for every 1 male. You have 5 females for 2 males, so fighting would be inevitable for mating rights.

Also, apparently you need 8 square feet of space per adult button quail. It seems your setup and gender ratio sets the quails up for fighting.

 

[Huntmaster]

I don't know much about quail, but as a rule of thumb you should have 5 females for every 1 male. You have 5 females for 2 males, so fighting would be inevitable for mating rights.

Also, apparently you need 8 square feet of space per adult button quail. It seems your setup and gender ratio sets the quails up for fighting.

These are Button Quail and from everything I have heard they do better in pairs.

As noted, there are just two males and 5 females.

 

[crabbycrown]

I don't know much about quail, but as a rule of thumb you should have 5 females for every 1 male. You have 5 females for 2 males, so fighting would be inevitable for mating rights.

Also, apparently you need 8 square feet of space per adult button quail. It seems your setup and gender ratio sets the quails up for fighting.

Oh weird, for me many searches have said 1/2sq foot per buttonquail, and 2 females per male. I’ll rectify this asap if your recommendation says otherwise. I have plenty of tanks to remove the other male for the time being.

 

[Huntmaster]

I don't know much about quail, but as a rule of thumb you should have 5 females for every 1 male. You have 5 females for 2 males, so fighting would be inevitable for mating rights.

Also, apparently you need 8 square feet of space per adult button quail. It seems your setup and gender ratio sets the quails up for fighting.

Where are you getting this info?

 

[crabbycrown]

Where are you getting this info?

I was wondering this too, lol… much of my studying online says that they should be habituating very well in their space. I have one quail too many for the square footage, but that’s it.

 

[Huntmaster]

Oh weird, for me many searches have said 1/2sq foot per buttonquail, and 2 females per male. I’ll rectify this asap if your recommendation says otherwise. I have plenty of tanks to remove the other male for the time being.

I have never had buttons but have seen much info on them and other posters info is not true at all.

I don't know much about quail,

 

[Huntmaster]

I was wondering this too, lol… much of my studying online says that they should be habituating very well in their space. I have one quail too many for the square footage, but that’s it.

@Nabiki @007Sean are the Quail gurus here I'm sure they will comment soon. But I believe that they will tell you they do better in pairs also. Does sound like enough space I believe more of a ratio problem.

 

[Nabiki]

Do you have plenty of hiding places? It sounds like dominance to me, especially if no blood is being drawn.

Button quails do best in pairs, but if there is enough space and plenty of hiding places, the ratio can be a bit off and they'll still get along.

That being said, 5 square feet is small for 5 buttons, especially when you subtract the space being used by feeders, waterers, dirt bath, and hiding places. You want at least 1 square foot per bird, more is better.