My quail's head is really bloody!

[DavidKerk]

I have Coturnix three quail, one male and two females. One of the females has a bloody head with many of the feathers missing. This seems to be coming from the male. The other female also has some head feathers missing. What to do? Should I isolate the male? Will he ever be able to go back in with the females? Thanks!

 

[DMB13]

It is possible you may need more females. He may be overdoing it mating with two females.

I think it is recommended to keep 1 male to 3-4 females to avoid too many feathers being pulled during mating.

I could be wrong though. You may want to wait for someone more experienced to reply. But would definitely separate them until the bleeding as stopped and allow some recovery time.

 

[DavidKerk]

It is possible you may need more females. He may be overdoing it mating with two females.

I think it is recommended to keep 1 male to 3-4 females to avoid too many feathers being pulled during mating.

I could be wrong though. You may want to wait for someone more experienced to reply. But would definitely separate them until the bleeding as stopped and allow some recovery time.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[DMB13]

No problem hope they recover OK

 

[SeptemberQuail]

Yep, just like DMB13 said, you'll need to get more females!
I recommend isolating the female with the bloody head so it can heal, or else the male will increase the amount of damage as well as the the other female may seem curious at the bright red stuff on her head and could peck at it, so I suggest isolating the injured girl.
If the uninjured hen still has feathers and less skin being revealed, then you can keep her in alone with the male for a few more days, but you should get more females ASAP. The male's never going to stop.

I've also found from previous experiences that when there is no more feathers on the head, the male will still find a way. My first male ended up grabbing the feathers above my two hen's eyes. . . I also had a trio (male and two females), not a very good idea for the long run.

 

[DavidKerk]

Yea, I looked today and she's missing an eye (she must have been missing it for a while cause its not a fresh wound). Now the other female is being aggressive towards the male and the male towards her also. I'm going to separate all of them and get more females. Why would the female be aggressive to the male?

 

[jsdobson]

The doesn't seem like it's caused from a ratio problem 1/3 or 1/2 it's hard to diagnose that kind of aggression sometimes there's not one. Could be the just don't get along. Most of my birds do fine can leave them together for life, but there are always exceptions to every rule. Have had to separate some too. Had one male kill a female don't know why but he went to the freezer.

 

[SeptemberQuail]

I'm thinking the female is becoming aggressive towards the male because she's had enough of him, she doesn't want to mate, even though the male wants to, which is what I'm assuming, or maybe she just doesn't like him.

I kept a pair together for a few months and they showed no sign of aggression towards each other because I guess they were attached to each other. Keep in mind that quail can also be 'racist' among each other. My first male (roux dilute) was always aggressive towards my white quail and would chase the girls around and instead of mating, like he did to some hen, he would peck at them (definitely not a sign of affection), which is why he had to be separated. One of my other hens, when she was like 5 weeks old growing up with her siblings(brown) she would peck at anyone who wasn't her colour, but would leave her brothers (the ones that looked the same as her) alone. She got over it eventually.

Do they have enough room between them? Although quail are said to do well in small spaces, they really shouldn't. It adds onto stress.
Provide more hiding spaces, such as cutting holes in a tissue box, or adding branches to make the enclosure seem more natural can calm the quail down.

Its good that you're separating them for now. Keep an eye on the male though, when you get new females, if he still continues to be aggressive and pose a dangerous threat towards the females, then cull... You wouldn't want an aggressive gene in future generations.

 

[DavidKerk]

The doesn't seem like it's caused from a ratio problem 1/3 or 1/2 it's hard to diagnose that kind of aggression sometimes there's not one. Could be the just don't get along. Most of my birds do fine can leave them together for life, but there are always exceptions to every rule. Have had to separate some too. Had one male kill a female don't know why but he went to the freezer.

I'm thinking the female is becoming aggressive towards the male because she's had enough of him, she doesn't want to mate, even though the male wants to, which is what I'm assuming, or maybe she just doesn't like him.

I kept a pair together for a few months and they showed no sign of aggression towards each other because I guess they were attached to each other. Keep in mind that quail can also be 'racist' among each other. My first male (roux dilute) was always aggressive towards my white quail and would chase the girls around and instead of mating, like he did to some hen, he would peck at them (definitely not a sign of affection), which is why he had to be separated. One of my other hens, when she was like 5 weeks old growing up with her siblings(brown) she would peck at anyone who wasn't her colour, but would leave her brothers (the ones that looked the same as her) alone. She got over it eventually.

Do they have enough room between them? Although quail are said to do well in small spaces, they really shouldn't. It adds onto stress.
Provide more hiding spaces, such as cutting holes in a tissue box, or adding branches to make the enclosure seem more natural can calm the quail down.

Its good that you're separating them for now. Keep an eye on the male though, when you get new females, if he still continues to be aggressive and pose a dangerous threat towards the females, then cull... You wouldn't want an aggressive gene in future generations.

Thanks a lot for the posts!
If he is aggressive with the new females, he's going! This shouldn't be a problem because the only source I have for quail sells them straight run even at six weeks (I guess he just gives you an even amount of both because you can easily see gender at this age). I'll have a few males to choose from that way.

 

[brockdixon]

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