Pharaoh Quail

[gumshu69]

Hello all. I'm fairly new to quail and have a few questions. I bought 6 females and 2 males. the 1 male has become extremely aggressive. He chases the hens ALL DAY. Yesterday I come home from work to find one of my girls with an open wound on the top of her head. I immediately removed her and she is resting and healing in her very own space. I watched the group for about an some time to realize they were being chased and in an effort to get away from him, they jump directly into the wire cage top above. the million $$ question is this: Will he always be this aggressive or is it a phase/time of year/establishing dominance? I'm considering processing the 2 males. The females are so calm and quite happy to be handled by me that I don't see a reason to put them through the endless harassment. The funny thing about this particular male is that he is tiny compared to the other male I have. Here is a pic of the evil little guy.

 

[FinaC]

I have quail and we've had a few that were aggressive. Not just roos but hens also. We cull the aggressive ones so that they don't pass that trait on to new hatchlings. Ours just stayed aggressive and never seemed to calm down so it was better for us to cull them. We raise ours for meat and eggs and calm birds are definitely more desirable.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[gumshu69]

Thanks Fina. I was leaning towards that idea anyway.

 

[James the Bald]

We cull the aggressive ones so that they don't pass that trait on to new hatchlings.

x2!!! There is no room for aggression with such a peaceful bird. Just my opinion, but I would process the offender, and separate 3 of the larger hens for breeding, and the other 3 for egg production.
James

 

[gumshu69]

New news: I get home from work and he had two other girls bald on top and the other male was split wide open. So needless to say the offender is gone. James, great idea. I will nurse the male and female that are wounded back to health then release them back to the flock. The hen already looks much better.

 

[QuailRaiser]

sometimes you'll get a really aggresive male, and if they come in established group they're fine and wont react but put them with a new group or more quail and you'll have a fisasco. best option is to cull him or keep him with his group.. (with rare species, the last one is propably your only option.)