Question from the expert.... lol

[shelleyd2008]

I know some of you might find this odd that I would be asking about quail, but this one has me stumped

I have a pen that has 1 male with 4 females. They have been together for at least 3 months. Recently I noticed that one of my hens in that cage looked like she was molting real hard, her back feathers are mostly pin-feathers, very scruffy looking. Like I said, I just thought she was molting very badly.

Yesterday I gave them all some new dirt to bathe in. The male in that cage was in the dirt and wouldn't let any of the females in. He then proceeded to chase this girl around and fight with her

So apparently he is the reason why her feathers look so bad

I removed her, and put her in another cage with a lone female.

What would cause this male to fight with a female that he's been with for months?

Culling this bird is not an option, he's the only cinnamon male I have. I'm going to be rearranging birds shortly, so hopefully I can get him matched up with girls he's more compatable with.

 

[Emilys3guppies]

Maybe it's the 20% protein? Good question though...maybe she's got too many opinions for his taste.

 

[Plain_View_Farm]

Quote:

Could Be....

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
My adult birds get 24% game bird feed, they've been on that all summer. If you had read my other post you'd see that I feed the chicks the 20%.

 

[Emilys3guppies]

Quote:
My adult birds get 24% game bird feed, they've been on that all summer. If you had read my other post you'd see that I feed the chicks the 20%.

My mistake. I hope someone with more experience than I checks in for you.

 

[NancyDz]

I had this same issue with a tuxedo female, I moved her to a different cage with a different male and all is fine now. I think maybe there is something to personality conflicts of some sort. ...


Sorry to change the subject but why do your chicks get less protein? If this is on another thread, just direct me there.. I missed that one

 

[shelleyd2008]

It probably is somewhere, but I'll post here. I feed the chicks less protein basically for convenience's sake. Normally I have quail, chickens, guineas all together in the same brooder, and don't want to feed the chickens the higher protein. So everyone gets the lower, it just takes them a little longer to reach full size.

 

[skywatcher]

There is always the low bird in the pecking order,the birds need more space or hiding places cutoff some 4 inch pvc pipe in 6-8 inch sections females can hide in those & keep males off their backs or make some letter type boxes for them.