Might have to cull an aggressive hen...

[eddie_van_quailen]

So, my falb fee female, Jenny, has been having another bout of aggression the past week (maybe longer) and I'm really sad about it... She's chasing everyone pretty intensely and even pecked one of my pharoahs, Eddie, to the point of bleeding. I separated Jenny last night and gave her a 12-hour timeout, and also put Eddie in a hospital cage overnight after cleaning her up. I didn't find any big wounds, I think she might just have been bleeding from plucked feathers. Jenny did have an episode of chasing/aggression immediately when I introduced her, but I thought it had subsided. I usually keep motion on the cameras turned off during the day and only check it at night to watch for predators, but now I'm worried that she's been doing this the whole time she's been in there and I haven't noticed until now I feel terrible for the others.

I thought Jenny might have been especially focused on chasing Eddie because she had a red leg band (oops, that was dumb ) so I removed it, and also changed one of the other pharaoh's leg bands from orange to blue, thinking that might be causing some of the aggression (since orange is kinda reddish?). The other pharaoh's band is yellow.

Anyway, I reintroduced Jenny this morning, and she immediately went back to aggressively chasing the 2 pharaohs, now blue-banded and yellow-banded. They even tried climbing the hidey huts to get away from her sometimes and she was flying up on top of the houses to peck at them. It's crazy... And what's funny is she never goes after the pearl fee who she came with, which is strange. So then I suspected she may be acting protectively of her friend, so I separated the pearl fee into the hospital cage with Eddie, and Jenny kept chasing the other two relentlessly...

I've just added even more hiding places and logs into the aviary, which is now quite crowded with decorations and things to break line of sight. She's just patrolling, head down, looking for birds to chase. We'll move her to the grow-out box while we figure out what to do next, if she doesn't let up soon.

I'm not sure what else to try... I do want to feel like I tried everything before culling, though. And I guess I just need to feel like culling wouldn't be a terrible thing to do. Is it totally unfair? I feel really bad... But I also don't want to rehome a bird with this kind of temperament. Although maybe she would do better in a hutch situation? I have a friend nearby who raises quail, I could always offer Jenny to them and see if they want to try and see if she's calmer with them. But I don't know if that's more or less fair to Jenny, separating her from her pearl friend and moving her from an aviary to a hutch... Ugh, this sucks.

 

[Charlie Wooster]

It happens.. mama nature is cruel and has been around much longer than us.. It is always a mystery when one all of a sudden goes on a rampage.. but we gotta do what we gotta do.. plus they taste great !!

 

[Nabiki]

That's too bad, but I think it's time for that dinner invitation. You've tried everything you can to help her get along with the others, so it's time for her Darwin award.

 

[CliftonQuail]

I agree with the others that it's probably time for dinner particularly if you plan to hatch any of your eggs. I wouldn't want to hatch any of hers and risk a second generation of aggression.
I've had to cull a female for the same reason. In her case, she was in a cage with 3 other hens and a rooster. There had been no prior signs of violence, but one morning, I found a hen scalped bloody and dead in the cage. A few days later, I found a second hen scalped and got her out, but she didn't survive. I assumed it was the male doing the scalping, so put him in isolation. A few days later, I found a third hen scalped and dead which could have only been done by the remaining hen. Since I wasn't going to breed her and I didn't want to keep her in a cage alone, she went to freezer camp.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

Thank you all for the responses. I really appreciate you taking the time. I think you all may be right... It makes me very sad, but I think it's only fair to the others. And, probably most fair to her, too.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I had a hen that actually did pretty well for a long time by herself. She could still see and talk to the others though. Once she was old, she was calm enough to put with the main flock again.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

I had a hen that actually did pretty well for a long time by herself. She could still see and talk to the others though. Once she was old, she was calm enough to put with the main flock again.

I wanted to try the "see but not touch" method with my clear-sided wire-top storage tote, but unfortunately the way the sun moves through my pen it would be difficult to keep shade available for her at all times this way... and it's very hot here right now.

She does seem to have calmed down a bit in the grow-out box, which is 2x4 feet and 18 inches high. Which has got me thinking, maybe she's just not suited to aviary life? I might still reach out to my friend who raises quail in hutches and see if she'd like to try her with her flock, maybe she's just more comfortable in enclosed spaces... The other 4 are so relaxed with her gone! Well, the pearl has been oblivious of everything the whole time, she's my easiest bird and Jenny has always liked her But the 3 pharaohs are quite relaxed now!

 

[GemW]

My previous bully started acting up today too. She was bumping everything all over trying to get to the other hen. I have a stacked pen and everything was fine since I last separated her, the only change is the new babies being added to the lower pen. I'm not sure if that's the change or not. I'm giving her a 2 day time out and we'll see what she does when I put her back in...

I believe you have much much more experience with quail than me, but with my last bout of aggression some advised me (I think it was maybe even you) to take everyone out, rearrange and wash everything down and then reintroduce the group as a whole and that worked...at least for that little while.

I havent been doing this long but still shocking to me how much crude nature driven these birds are!

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

My previous bully started acting up today too. She was bumping everything all over trying to get to the other hen. I have a stacked pen and everything was fine since I last separated her, the only change is the new babies being added to the lower pen. I'm not sure if that's the change or not. I'm giving her a 2 day time out and we'll see what she does when I put her back in...

I believe you have much much more experience with quail than me, but with my last bout of aggression some advised me (I think it was maybe even you) to take everyone out, rearrange and wash everything down and then reintroduce the group as a whole and that worked...at least for that little while.

I havent been doing this long but still shocking to me how much crude nature driven these birds are!

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear you’re having troubles too I’m glad the rearranging worked for a while. I’ve tried that a couple times with this one and I thought it had resolved the issue as well… I’m going to give her one more shot, probably, before she becomes dinner. She’s been isolated for a few days now, we’ll see if she can settle back in. But I’ll be watching her closely when I do try reintroduction and if there’s any chasing it will be her 3rd strike and she’ll have to go

 

[GemW]

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear you’re having troubles too I’m glad the rearranging worked for a while. I’ve tried that a couple times with this one and I thought it had resolved the issue as well… I’m going to give her one more shot, probably, before she becomes dinner. She’s been isolated for a few days now, we’ll see if she can settle back in. But I’ll be watching her closely when I do try reintroduction and if there’s any chasing it will be her 3rd strike and she’ll have to go

Well, now that I took Jasmine out and she's been in isolation for a day, my male started picking on Tiki. He was chasing her last night and I couldn't tell if he was being aggressive or if he was just trying to mate her. Well, this am she is completely bald and there's blood smeared all over the pen . I guess I should have sat and watched closer last night. So, it looks like I'll be switching Jasmine out of isolation and putting Tiki in so she can heal. Then I'll have to do the take everyone out, clean and put them back in. Dang it.