Sudden change in flock behavior & aggression

[SassShenn]

6 hens, 1 roo in the same pen (16 sq ft) and have been together literally since hatch. I’ve noticed the hens have been acting weird, agitated, and just unsettled this week and just found one today with an under eye injury that happened overnight.

The ONLY change for them has been another group of coturnix moving into a nearby pen who are coming into maturity and some are starting to crow (they can only hear them, but can see them - maybe they can smell them ).

After I doctored up my injured hen today and returned her to the pen, I noticed the roo being aggressive with her (she generally does not welcome his advances well anyways, but they’ve never had real issues).

My question is about hearing other Roos crowing, even if they can’t be seen, and if that can have an impact on mature Roos? We’ve only had quail since February of this year, so a lot of this is all new to us as far as what behavior is normal.

We do have excess Roos in our other pens and are just growing them out for a few more weeks (also to see who we may want to keep), otherwise they’re going to be dinner.

 

[Hiram Means]

From what I've experienced, nearby quail wouldn't affect his behavior towards his own hens. Maybe he's just a jerk quail (those come around from time to time, and there's not much to do with them.)

Maybe you wanna use replace him with a younger nicer roo

 

[kcult]

I have a similar set up and a similar problem, but the aggression is from a female on the other females. And it seemed to happen overnight, like a switch had been flipped.

These birds are probably 10 to 12 weeks old, and have been together the whole time. I'm curious of a root cause.

I have enjoyed raising quail (these aren't my only ones), but it's stressful dealing with this (it's happened with other quail) and not knowing the reason or having the space or resources to keep everyone separated or spaced out.

 

[SassShenn]

Well, I sat and watched and watched and realized the 1 too just wasn’t happy with his 6 females and was essentially terrorizing them by nearly constant mating attempts. A few larger hens were able to shake him off, but the slightly smaller ones ended up bald. We ended up culling this rooster and it was like this little flock settled down immediately and they just seemed calm and relaxed again.

Now I have a suddenly psychotic hen in another pen that scalped 2 hens and may have blinded a 3rd overnight (the psycho hen’s throat and chest feathers are bloodied but no injuries found on her directly so I’m thinking she’s the culprit given that all of the other birds are clean). Even the roo in that pen is afraid of her and runs away frantically (one of the reasons I like that roo is he is so docile he acts like a hen half the time ).

I’ve got several severely injured birds now, so as much as I’d like to separate and grow the offenders out a bit, it’s just not possible - plus it’s so stressful on me and the poor remaining birds. I think we will be culling this crazy hen if I see the remaining flock settle down today now that I’ve pulled her out.

@kcult I think you’re right that it may not be worthwhile to keep these unruly birds if they’re harming the rest of the flock. We want to select heavily against aggression so it may be time to make those tough calls. Any chance your crazy hen just started laying? Mine did last week so I’m wondering if that is contributing to her meanness.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Boy, quail are choosy when it comes to breeding sometimes.
When I was raising button quail, there was always that week where they'd get crazy all of a sudden.
There are some hens that get territorial, and don't want other hens near "her man". Usually I just had a hen that would chase the others away but occasionally there'd be a bloodthirsty one.

Or they don't want anyone near them, at all, including any roos.

Or they're paired up with a matching roo you think you'd like to pass genes from, but one of the hens only wants to call for the roo in the next enclosure over and run away from the male you picked.

Or there's a roo who will pick a couple hens and not want any of the other ones, and get nasty mean about it (only had one male do that, they're usually all about collecting the girlfriends).

 

[Whiskybear]

Well, I sat and watched and watched and realized the 1 too just wasn’t happy with his 6 females and was essentially terrorizing them by nearly constant mating attempts. A few larger hens were able to shake him off, but the slightly smaller ones ended up bald. We ended up culling this rooster and it was like this little flock settled down immediately and they just seemed calm and relaxed again.

Now I have a suddenly psychotic hen in another pen that scalped 2 hens and may have blinded a 3rd overnight (the psycho hen’s throat and chest feathers are bloodied but no injuries found on her directly so I’m thinking she’s the culprit given that all of the other birds are clean). Even the roo in that pen is afraid of her and runs away frantically (one of the reasons I like that roo is he is so docile he acts like a hen half the time ).

I’ve got several severely injured birds now, so as much as I’d like to separate and grow the offenders out a bit, it’s just not possible - plus it’s so stressful on me and the poor remaining birds. I think we will be culling this crazy hen if I see the remaining flock settle down today now that I’ve pulled her out.

@kcult I think you’re right that it may not be worthwhile to keep these unruly birds if they’re harming the rest of the flock. We want to select heavily against aggression so it may be time to make those tough calls. Any chance your crazy hen just started laying? Mine did last week so I’m wondering if that is contributing to her meanness.

I’ve only been at this for a year but with so many cages and so many hatches, I swear I feel like a veteran. This is not to say I feel like I know what I’m doing; I mean I feel like it’s been constant battle. I have one cage of ten hens from one hatch that reside with one male because they kill (or try to) any second one I try to introduce. They killed one of the first two I kept with them from their hatch. Bloody Amazons! I’ve tried introduce during a move- up to actually going Rochambeaux, switching all through 3 cages repeatedly over a day. No dice. These dames are just bloodthirsty. But they’re also all 2oz bigger than their mothers and I want to hatch their eggs, so they know they can get away with it for a year.
I'm just saying anyone who acts like they can explain quail psychology, I immediately stop listening to. These beasts are weird and dynamically motivated and as diverse in their weirdness as Jim Henson's troupe. Good luck!

 

[Whiskybear]

I really want to expand on the above-
I had one hen who waddled everywhere on her mid leg (shins?). She could get on her feet and walk/run normally when excited or to go up a ramp. She just preferred to waddle on her calves. She died young from an accident.
I presently have a youngish roo who thinks he’s a beach bum. anytime I walk in, he’s on his side in the sand with his feet stretched out. The others in his cage get antsy when I approach but he just lays there, until… when I open the cage to do something and the others all lose their minds, he gets up and hops on a hen. It’s like, “See, I’m doin' my job, Boss!” He's of an entirely different mindset from all his peers, likes laying on his side in the sand, doesn’t fear the giant ape.
I have one 3 mo. old hen who won’t back away from the door when I open it. All others run or try to escape. She follows my hand. I fed her a horsefly once; she follows my hand like it’s her golden ticket now, sometimes falling out the front of the cage because she’s watching my hand instead of her own feet.
I've had males fight males. Females fight males, females fight females…
There is no simple rule to tranquility in a quail cage. In less than a year, I have at least learned that. I repeat: good luck!