My females KILL any male I put with them

[dadsdeercamp]

I have two female Coturnix and every male i put with them gets beat to death. Its all good for a few days then i find the male dead the last one even had its eyes eaten. i know the two are female becouse I get two eggs a day and one day i got 3.what can i do? I need hatching eggs from them.

 

[bfrancis]

Do you have access to more quail? If so, I'd introduce these two to freezer camp and start over. Any overly aggressive bird, regardless of male or female gets culled. Not a good trait, IMO, to have in cots.

edited Because forgot to ask about space requirements you have...1 sq ft per bird and feed 24% or greater protein...if you are lacking in either of these it can cause cannibalism too.

 

[dadsdeercamp]

Quote:
For space the pen is 2' by 2.5' and protein is 28% I sold all them but the 2 females and 4 males only one male left now. It must be time to start over with new stock if I can find some close by.

 

[tricid]

train them to do contract jobs and put 'em to work

 

[TheRealTimShady]

get medieval on their butts....dare i say dinner.

 

[dadsdeercamp]

Quote:
Dinner they shell be.

 

[Chinchilla2]

Quote:
I agree with everyone else saying to send these two off to freezer camp. I also would not keep any chicks from these two either. Hostility in a coturnix can be hereditary and chicks from these two will probably wind up just as cranky and mean as they are.

Time to start over.

 

[Stellar]

The females sound too aggressive for being breeders! Off with their heads! Or get some bits.

 

[D3invertebrates]

The only reason Ive ever seen a quail go cannibal is because there not getting enough to eat. It starts with them eating feathers and then theyll start the killing after that. It seems to be the females that get mean, Ive even had a few that attacked me they where manchurian gold coturnix the females of that breed get crazy mean. Make sure to always keep them supplied with something to munch on, it sounds like they are hungry.

 

[Chinchilla2]

Back when I raised Corts I would come across the occasional ones that would light into anyone and anything that moved, even with a full feed bowl. They were rare, but they were there. Since I had heard through the breeder grapevine that this would pass along to chicks, I hatched some eggs from the first couple of cranky ones I had and wound up with 8 out of 11 chicks that were the exact same way. Even as day olds those suckers would beat the crud outta anything that moved, including me. In the short amount of time it would take me to reach in and grab the 1/2 full food or water container, these 8 chicks would draw blood from me. Needless to say they took a short trip down the road to the reptile loving neighbor at the time. Not only did I consider the hostile ones a hazard to other birds but to anyone who may have bought chicks, birds, or eggs off of me. In my mind's eye, I could just see someone with a trio or quad raising them for "pets" and having a child reach in and come back with bloody finger stumps. Cranky ones were not worth the nightmare.

Even with continuous feeders and a watering system, there are the few that have that "snap" go off inside somewhere and will never be suitable for a breeding program.

<edited for content, "cranky" does not start with the letter "B" and end in an "H">