Quail DIY disaster ! Fights no eggs ! Help!

[JPine]

Only to be hurt again in another hour or minute when ever they feel like starting up again

 

[JPine]

I have another coop beside on the ground and their doing exactly the same things just not as bad. No leaves left under the tree I had them on. Could this somehow be a result

 

[JPine]

I put handfulls of leaves on top of the cages incase it's a shelter thing. If that doesn't work I guess I'll have to thin the herd. But I had no issues for 2 months why now

 

[flg8r]

I'm new to quail so I'm out of ideas but I'd guess you either they need more space (even though you're following "the book" there) or you have some mean birds. Were they adults when you got them? Did you see the rest of the stock?

 

[JPine]

Saw the rest of the stock they were pretty beat up, just picked the best ones went back a week later and got some more good ones.
I'm going to make some extra space today.
If that doesn't work I guess I got some mean ol birds.
Happy thanksgiving eat well

 

[James the Bald]

Sounds to me like you have too many males in the cage. Some hens can be agressive, but it sounds like the males just reached maturity and want to claim their spot in the pecking/mating order.

Here is a link that will be of assistance. About a quarter of the way down the page, there is a section on "sexing"; hidden just below it is "vent sexing". It's not pretty, but it's the best way to know the sex of your quail. If all you want is "eggs", then you can keep the hens separated from the males, and they will start laying once things settle down. If you want to breed them, then put one male per 4 hens, this link will help you. If you have a bunch of males and need to cull some of them, this link will be of assistance.

Hope this helps
James

 

[JPine]

Bought them fully mature which is why I'm so confused. I have the male to female ratio at 1 male per 5 female. Unless breeder lied to me about the age and sex. I will do vent test today to be sure thank you.

 

[flg8r]

My guess would be that your m/f ratio is off or because they came from such a rough environment, they are just used to fighting. Maybe both. Sounds like the person you got them from shouldn't be breeding them, those poor birds.

 

[Weirdness555]

James, that was harsh, this person obviously knew the basics and has been caught out, because they knew about the 1 square foot rule, and maybe their breeder is just dodgy. Sometimes it's hard to sex birds, especially if you're new and haven't seen the colours other than in photos before.

This person was either sold bad stock or was lied to by their breeder. I don't see any way in which they could have prepared for that by reading.

I would agree that the most likely cause is too many males, but it might be something else, i.e. bad stock. If you can give them more space and hiding places, it can only help. Also if you take out your known males and things calm down it is probably extra secret males. Of course, it could just be that the males you have got are mean ones, chasing and hurting the hens. Also, if nothing else works, try changing the ratio to maybe 7 hens per male, because that ought to leave them a few extra females and reduce fighting over them. If you're not worried about fertile eggs you could get rid of all the males.

 

[flg8r]

I just thought of something else - I had to put in a divider to separate two males. They had been raised together, then put in a new cage (way understocked) and for whatever reason, one kept going after the other and causing general chaos. I had to split them with their own females. Everyone is happy now.

I can't tell from your cage pictures - can you split the two males with their own group of females? Can you tell which two are males? You should be able to tell from their chest feathers on those colors.