?'s on introducing new coturnix quail to pen with existing ones

Giveneratry

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 22, 2014
8
0
9
Portland , OR
So I have an outside pen thats 3x8 with a door on either side with a light on a timer with 6 adult females and about about a week ago I introduced 19 I had hatched about 4 weeks ago. When I put the new ones in the 6 original quail started chasing the new ones(which were quite a bit smaller) and pecking at them.. So I quickly grabbed some scrap wood and cut a divider and put it in and now have the original 6 cut off from the rest in part of the pen.. So now they are getting pretty close to the same size and I was wondering if or when I should take down the divider and let them intermingle or do I have to whack the original 6 and cook em up. They are great layers so I wanted to keep em and guess I could build another pen but after I thin the extra males out from the new batch in a couple weeks the original pen would be perfect for the amount I have. So what are your thoughts and experiences with adding new to old batches. Was it the size difference that had em fighting? Will they get used to each other.. Thanks in advance. Oh, can you still eat older birds like 2yrs old or are they not edible at that point or does a crockpot come into play..
 
Try to introduce them again in a neutral setting, if they older girls are still mean cook them!:D
 
It is best to introduce new birds slowly to an existing flock to avoid injury, blood shed or even death. Keep the new birds in a cage inside the pen or partitioned off in the same pen. Something so that everybody sees, nobody touches. Leave the new birds like this for about 3 weeks. Then you can mix them. Make SURE you are sticking to the space requirements and you are not cramming them all in. You might also put out another set of food and water on the other side of the pen so there is no competition for the new birds as the older birds may guard these areas starving them out. Always intervene if it turns bloody and if there is one or two that are too aggressive to the new birds you may need to divide the entire group into two groups, each that get along.
 
They all have to go into a new pen and they should be fine.Your originals have deemed the pen theirs and will protect it from intruders,even if it's new hens you are adding to the existing pen.By putting nthem all in a new cage,no one has seniority.They may need to get a pecking order down,but should be at a minimum.
In N.H.,Tony.
 
I'm going to try an add em in the same pen an keep an eye on em and see what happens.. Its actually supposed to be in the 60's here this weekend so I was going to break out the circular saw and tools and start throwing together another pen... I figure I'll be needing the room for the next hatch anyhow and its a good excuse to get out and throw back some suds. If any problems arise I'll take your advice and throw em in the new pen. Thanks
 

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