Well I'm having a problem with some of my quail. I have 5 silver button quail, 1 male 4 females and 3 Chinese painted 1 male and 2 females. They all live together in a large cage which is two floors. I went out to check on them today and give them so greens ect and noticed that the male button and the female and male painted have had their heads pecked at. This has happened all of a sudden because they have been living along nicely and not had a single issue, so this whole scalping incident has come out of the blue. Can anyone explain why this might of happened, if I leave them will they just sort out dominance and I won't have an issue with them again or will this lead to a death? Any help/advice so very much appreciated. Also I can't separate to a different pen because I don't have a spare one right now.
Just to add a little bit more information I've just gone to look at the gang and watch them for awhile I've noticed that almost all have got some form of pecking damage to the head but none seem aggressive to one another, could this be a case of a "Bully" quail that will just attack everyone?
Ok first the silvers and what you are calling chinese painted quail are all buttons or cbbq. just different colors. There are too many males and females in the same enclosure. The reason you are having this problem is that despite what many breeders will tell you, chinese quail belong in pairs and mate for life much like doves. You are seeing aggression because there are far too many in too little space for birds this aggressive to get along. Even the females will be aggressive to each other. If you leave them together you will get to see a mini version of highlander..."There can be only one". They'll kill each other much quicker than you can imagine. You really don't have a choice but to separate them so you'll have to make a cage or use plastic tubs until you can. Here is some more info on keeping buttons. Edit to add: you can keep a pair of buttons in anything from a blue tupperware tote from home depot to a 15 gallon aquarium. They aren't too hard to contain so just about anything they can't get out of to separate them.
And don't let the hens fool you they are just as aggressive as the roos. Do try to keep them in single pairs I know lots of people try to keep them in large groups but if you check out their enclosures they are huge so each pair can find a place to call home and if not there is a lot of fighting going on. Some people just don't care. I do!