roo over-breeding its favorite hen

[threeepeat]

My one scarlet roo is only giving attention my one scarlet hen, while ignoring the three falb fee hens in the breeding group. Some of the other hens are trying to get his attention, but the scarlet hen is definitely playing hard to get. My concern is that today I now see a small bald spots on the top of the scarlet hen's head. The bigger spot has an open wound. It's not bleeding but you can see the red of an open wound.

I was hoping this group would work it out. These are my only two roux that hatched so I really wanted to breed them together. The scarlet hen is aslo probably my best bird so far. She's big, strong, healthy, smart, and looks great.

I'm really at my limit for separating individual birds, but I think the best thing to do would be to remove the scarlet hen, so she can heal, and see if the scarlet roo will start showing interest in the other hens. Although, the ratio in that group will then change to 1:3.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

 

[Nabiki]

Separating out the scarlet hen for a day or two would be the first thing that I would try. Another possibility is getting another red hen. Quail do seem to prefer their own colour. I've been known to joke about their "racism".

If you ever have a group of all one or mostly one colour and you add a different one, it is likely to get seriously picked on.

 

[threeepeat]

Separating out the scarlet hen for a day or two would be the first thing that I would try. Another possibility is getting another red hen. Quail do seem to prefer their own colour. I've been known to joke about their "racism".

If you ever have a group of all one or mostly one colour and you add a different one, it is likely to get seriously picked on.

I sure would like to get another red hen or three, but as you know, so much work and cost and wait goes in to getting the eggs shipped in. One day for sure. Meanwhile, I will definitely separate her out. Just to where?..hmm

 

[threeepeat]

I sure would like to get another red hen or three, but as you know, so much work and cost and wait goes in to getting the eggs shipped in. One day for sure. Meanwhile, I will definitely separate her out. Just to where?..hmm

 

[Nabiki]

She'll be fine, especially if she gets a break. Hopefully your boy will discover the joys of his other hens and not favour her so much when she returns.

 

[threeepeat]

She'll be fine, especially if she gets a break. Hopefully your boy will discover the joys of his other hens and not favour her so much when she returns.

A little update for those who might be curious about how this played out. After separating the scarlet hen yesterday, both the roo and the hen became quite noisy! They're still going at it. I'd say the roo is crowing 5-10x more often than he was previously.

While the scarlet roo's crow is loud, short and abrasive , the scarlet hen's call is a distinct, musical (but also quite loud) cricket sound. It's actually quite pleasant.

Well.. the noise from these two seem to have set off all the other birds, and now I have a loud quailery! All from separating just one bird. It's making me a bit nervous with the neighbours even though I have them in a somewhat sound-proofed detached building.
(I have the quail in a sound proofed building, not the neighbours lol)

On the other hand, the scarlet hen provided us with a beautiful egg this morning.

 

[bus2325]

Somewhat of a similar experience here. When his favorite hen was taken away, my male roo crowed incessantly, as he probably suffered separation anxiety. Eventually his favorite hen started chirping away (jip-jip...jip-jip..jip-jip). I then used a separator, which some here also recommend - that can be very helpful. Your roo & hen will likely quiet down if they can see each other.

 

[Hip Hillbilly Acres]

A little update for those who might be curious about how this played out. After separating the scarlet hen yesterday, both the roo and the hen became quite noisy! They're still going at it. I'd say the roo is crowing 5-10x more often than he was previously.

While the scarlet roo's crow is loud, short and abrasive , the scarlet hen's call is a distinct, musical (but also quite loud) cricket sound. It's actually quite pleasant.

Well.. the noise from these two seem to have set off all the other birds, and now I have a loud quailery! All from separating just one bird. It's making me a bit nervous with the neighbours even though I have them in a somewhat sound-proofed detached building.
(I have the quail in a sound proofed building, not the neighbours lol)

On the other hand, the scarlet hen provided us with a beautiful egg this morning.

I was wondering so thank you for the update. But, hey, now I would like an update to the update. There is more to this story.

 

[threeepeat]

Somewhat of a similar experience here. When his favorite hen was taken away, my male roo crowed incessantly, as he probably suffered separation anxiety. Eventually his favorite hen started chirping away (jip-jip...jip-jip..jip-jip). I then used a separator, which some here also recommend - that can be very helpful. Your roo & hen will likely quiet down if they can see each other.

They definitely can't see each other but they sure can hear each other. I've been designing some ear plugs... for me, not the quail. Although..

 

[bus2325]

They definitely can't see each other but they sure can hear each other. I've been designing some ear plugs... for me, not the quail. Although..

Not being able to see each other - I think that's the problem. Merely letting your roo see his favorite hen may allow peace on earth to reign. He won't have physical access to overbreed her but visual access might be good enough.