More males than females question

[Graceanna]

We recently got 10 unsexed Bobwhite quail from a local guy who hatched too many. They’re several weeks old now and although they’re still getting their feathers in, it seems we may have 8 males and only 2 females. We would REALLY prefer to not butcher/eat them as we got them for pets and our two toddlers have really fallen in love with them. However, I’ve read that they can get aggressive to the point of killing each other if not properly separated during mating season.
Everywhere advises separating the pairs for mating season (March-October) and then rejoining for the off season, but we aren’t really interested in breeding them at this point. We just wanted the enjoyment of their lives as our pets and maybe getting some eggs.
My question is: can I separate all males into one cage and all (potentially just two) females into another cage? I have experience with chickens, goats and ducks from growing up on a small hobby farm. We used to have to rehome or butcher roosters if we ended up with more than one because they would become aggressive and dual it out to the death. Are bobwhites like this as well? Or can the happily inhabit with the same gender, so long as the opposite gender is not present?

Any advice is appreciated. Also, if anyone has a book recommendation for bobwhite quail, I would love to find one!

 

[Charlie Wooster]

Mature roosters will pick on the late bloomers, even “mating” with them. They will pull feathers leaving bald spots, mount and “breed” even with no hens in the cage, eventually becoming sexually frustrated it can turn bloody and even deadly..

 

[Graceanna]

Mature roosters will pick on the late bloomers, even “mating” with them. They will pull feathers leaving bald spots, mount and “breed” even with no hens in the cage, eventually becoming sexually frustrated it can turn bloody and even deadly..

Oh geez. That sounds awful. so the only solution is to house each male in a separate cage? Or do they each need a female?
Thank you for your answer! A lot of what I’m finding online is geared toward raising to release so I’m grateful to have found this forum.

 

[Charlie Wooster]

Oh geez. That sounds awful. so the only solution is to house each male in a separate cage? Or do they each need a female?
Thank you for your answer! A lot of what I’m finding online is geared toward raising to release so I’m grateful to have found this forum.

Raise them until mature and then harvest them, or an on the ground aviary type enclosure would be the best route giving them more room to run, hide and retreat..

 

[MrJudeRaw]

Oh geez. That sounds awful. so the only solution is to house each male in a separate cage? Or do they each need a female?
Thank you for your answer! A lot of what I’m finding online is geared toward raising to release so I’m grateful to have found this forum.

Keeping them for pets is fine but they have certain needs. Unfortunately you would end up with extremely mal conditioned birds if you housed them like that and kept them from ever breeding. Please consider rehoming or humanely euthanizing. You dont have to be "breeding" them to allow them to live the way nature intended. just dont incubate the eggs. that many males is 100% a recipe for disaster. nothing you can do will prevent a negative outcome aside from thinning your flock or bolstering it so the ratios are correct