Quail attacked by another quail

[User635240]

Hi, this poor little quail was attacked by another quail (probably one of the males, his beak had blood on it and he was chirping proudly). Her scalp is damaged. Applied blucote. There are 10 females and 2 males, about 3 months old. None laying yet. The poor girl seemed shaken up and was looking for a way out of the cage or at least a place to hide. I assume the male learned this behavior from the chickens. Is this a bad setup for the quail? How can this be prevented in the future? Can anything be done to make her more comfortable? Should either the male or female be separated? If this was a rooster attacking a hen I'd cull him.

 

[le_bwah]

They have nowhere to hide, no means of self-separating from aggressive behavior. Whatever you raise them for, they'll likely do it better in a bigger cage with more "furniture."

And quail don't need to learn anything from chickens—they're running their own "program." If that male is aggressive in other settings, that would be a reason to cull. Remove the injured hen until she heals.

 

[Nabiki]

You don't have enough room for them and as @le_bwah said, no places for them to hide. I keep up to 12 birds (2 male, 10 female) in ground pens that are 20 square feet. Sometimes I still get males fighting, and the aggressor goes to freezer camp.

 

[007Sean]

They have nowhere to hide, no means of self-separating from aggressive behavior. Whatever you raise them for, they'll likely do it better in a bigger cage with more "furniture."

And quail don't need to learn anything from chickens—they're running their own "program." If that male is aggressive in other settings, that would be a reason to cull. Remove the injured hen until she heals.

You don't have enough room for them and as @le_bwah said, no places for them to hide. I keep up to 12 birds (2 male, 10 female) in ground pens that are 20 square feet. Sometimes I still get males fighting, and the aggressor goes to freezer camp.

DITTO, DITTO!!!!!

 

[User635240]

You don't have enough room for them and as @le_bwah said, no places for them to hide. I keep up to 12 birds (2 male, 10 female) in ground pens that are 20 square feet. Sometimes I still get males fighting, and the aggressor goes to freezer camp.

Is one incident enough to prove aggression? Or will the behavior improve if given more space?

 

[Huntmaster]

Hi, this poor little quail was attacked by another quail (probably one of the males, his beak had blood on it and he was chirping proudly). Her scalp is damaged. Applied blucote. There are 10 females and 2 males, about 3 months old. None laying yet. The poor girl seemed shaken up and was looking for a way out of the cage or at least a place to hide. I assume the male learned this behavior from the chickens. Is this a bad setup for the quail? How can this be prevented in the future? Can anything be done to make her more comfortable? Should either the male or female be separated? If this was a rooster attacking a hen I'd cull him.

View attachment 3718802View attachment 3718808View attachment 3718813

Is this the bird in bottom pic that was injured if so, from pic it looks to be a male not a female. Are you certain of your ratio?

 

[Nabiki]

Is one incident enough to prove aggression? Or will the behavior improve if given more space?

It might improve with more space and hiding places, but it might not. If you really want to keep him, you can try and see, but keep an eye on him.

 

[Wandering_r0gue]

They are rather nasty to each other. I've had males be overly aggressive with hens, and I have had female peck the eyes, and scalp males.

I am changing my arrangement. Males will be living by themselves, and will only be Introduced to hens for breeding purposes.

 

[User635240]

Is this the bird in bottom pic that was injured if so, from pic it looks to be a male not a female. Are you certain of your ratio?

Hi, you were right. There are 4 males and 8 females. 3 of the 4 males have injuries. (I separated them out.) Is it safe to assume that the aggressor is the male without any injuries? He's not even the largest. If I'm breeding for meat and eggs, should just the largest, injured males be retained?

 

[Roosterinthecity]

That is a very very super small space for them. For 12, they need probably 3 more of these cages.
If they could talk, they would say, 1sq ft for each of us.
At three months old, looks like its chest is not speckled. So that’s probably a boy, at least from the angle I see.
More space with plenty to keep them from getting bored.
Perhaps you can build them something with pvc and wire cloth. Doesn’t need to be fancy, just spacious.