Trisseh
Duck-duck-chicken!
Hello everyone! I’m super new to quail and have been reading up on as much as I can and I thought I was pretty well prepared. Famous last words right? Haha.
My group is now 6 weeks old, and unfortunately mostly males. There are 3 I’m not sure of, and 4 definite males in the group (crowing and or producing foam).
they had been seemingly all getting along well until yesterday. I came home from work and they were all really quiet, with one of the gentlest ones hiding out in their house in the little nest box. That one is male and usually really active so I thought it was strange. No wounds or anything and he ran away from me once I opened the house up. Gave them their treats as usual, while I was working in the yard and all of a sudden there was a flurry of activity and a bunch of running and flapping going on in their pen. I went to see what the deal was to find my favorite (also a male) chasing one of the “unknown” birds around. Again, I thought it may be a female and he’s wanting to mate but she’s resistant. it managed to find a spot to hide and he gave up and went browsing for treats again like nothing happened.
Then, bedtime, they all came in their little house like always, I closed their door, and then the bird that had been hiding out was flying up into the netting over the top of their house repeatedly. I investigated and the aggressive male from earlier was beating him up, pecking the top of his head bloody. I removed the aggressive one and stuck him out in the run for overnight, and left everyone else in because they all still get along fine.
Fast forward to this morning - the moment I let the rest out, this guy came running over and started pecking the heck out of one of the smallest, possibly female birds.
so now I have a male quail in a box in my bedroom and I have no idea what to do with him. Lol. I was planning on keeping him as my breeding male because his colouring is really nice - he’s a silver pharaoh looking thing. But now I don’t know if he’ll be ok with any females I wind up with, since he’s being so aggressive. There’s no pattern, he seems to just choose a target and whale on them. Doesn’t matter where they are, If they’re near resources, or near other birds. There is only one other bird in there he won’t bother, an autumn amber male. They seem to coexist peacefully.
should I keep him separate and out of sight and earshot and try reintroducing him later? If so, how long to separate? Or is he just not a good candidate to keep in the flock?
some general background/pen info:
I hatched these guys from shipped eggs, brooded them in the house until 3 weeks of age, then moved them out to their pen with a small heating pad for at night they could use if they wanted.
their pen is 2’ x 8’, 27” tall, and the attached house is 2’ x 2.5’ with a sloping roof. The short side is about 10” high Their feed and water is in the house but there is an additional waterer outside, and I give them feed, seeds, and mealworms in their pen to forage during the day. Inside the house there is the nestbox, otherwise it’s an open space. In the pen, I have 2 small shrubs for them to hide under, and a couple fabric plant pots to sneak into as well. Nothing has changed in the house or in the pen. Currently there are 7 birds in the enclosure, used to be 10 but sold 3 a week and a half ago. The pen is 1/2”HC on a wood frame, with a tarp on the top to keep the worst of the rain out and give them some shade during the day. Currently they’re on a 21% turkey starter with added mealworms and black soldier fly larvae, ground together to make a 26% combo. No feather picking or eating has been happening, they’ve all grown well, and I don’t think it’s feed related but like I said, super new to this.
the damage being done to the pecked birds is not bad, but I’m sure that’s only because I’ve removed first the victim and now the perpetrator as soon as I saw the behaviour. I’m concerned how far it would go without intervention.
this is the bigger, quiet male that was hiding, after he was pecked for about 10 seconds last night. Doesn’t look like much but when I removed him he was hunkered down with his eyes closed just taking it.
any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I already have a house chicken and don’t reallly want a house quail but if there’s no way he can coexist peacefully that may be something that I would be willing to try... because again, he’s my favorite. Haha! Thanks everyone!
My group is now 6 weeks old, and unfortunately mostly males. There are 3 I’m not sure of, and 4 definite males in the group (crowing and or producing foam).
they had been seemingly all getting along well until yesterday. I came home from work and they were all really quiet, with one of the gentlest ones hiding out in their house in the little nest box. That one is male and usually really active so I thought it was strange. No wounds or anything and he ran away from me once I opened the house up. Gave them their treats as usual, while I was working in the yard and all of a sudden there was a flurry of activity and a bunch of running and flapping going on in their pen. I went to see what the deal was to find my favorite (also a male) chasing one of the “unknown” birds around. Again, I thought it may be a female and he’s wanting to mate but she’s resistant. it managed to find a spot to hide and he gave up and went browsing for treats again like nothing happened.
Then, bedtime, they all came in their little house like always, I closed their door, and then the bird that had been hiding out was flying up into the netting over the top of their house repeatedly. I investigated and the aggressive male from earlier was beating him up, pecking the top of his head bloody. I removed the aggressive one and stuck him out in the run for overnight, and left everyone else in because they all still get along fine.
Fast forward to this morning - the moment I let the rest out, this guy came running over and started pecking the heck out of one of the smallest, possibly female birds.
so now I have a male quail in a box in my bedroom and I have no idea what to do with him. Lol. I was planning on keeping him as my breeding male because his colouring is really nice - he’s a silver pharaoh looking thing. But now I don’t know if he’ll be ok with any females I wind up with, since he’s being so aggressive. There’s no pattern, he seems to just choose a target and whale on them. Doesn’t matter where they are, If they’re near resources, or near other birds. There is only one other bird in there he won’t bother, an autumn amber male. They seem to coexist peacefully.
should I keep him separate and out of sight and earshot and try reintroducing him later? If so, how long to separate? Or is he just not a good candidate to keep in the flock?
some general background/pen info:
I hatched these guys from shipped eggs, brooded them in the house until 3 weeks of age, then moved them out to their pen with a small heating pad for at night they could use if they wanted.
their pen is 2’ x 8’, 27” tall, and the attached house is 2’ x 2.5’ with a sloping roof. The short side is about 10” high Their feed and water is in the house but there is an additional waterer outside, and I give them feed, seeds, and mealworms in their pen to forage during the day. Inside the house there is the nestbox, otherwise it’s an open space. In the pen, I have 2 small shrubs for them to hide under, and a couple fabric plant pots to sneak into as well. Nothing has changed in the house or in the pen. Currently there are 7 birds in the enclosure, used to be 10 but sold 3 a week and a half ago. The pen is 1/2”HC on a wood frame, with a tarp on the top to keep the worst of the rain out and give them some shade during the day. Currently they’re on a 21% turkey starter with added mealworms and black soldier fly larvae, ground together to make a 26% combo. No feather picking or eating has been happening, they’ve all grown well, and I don’t think it’s feed related but like I said, super new to this.
the damage being done to the pecked birds is not bad, but I’m sure that’s only because I’ve removed first the victim and now the perpetrator as soon as I saw the behaviour. I’m concerned how far it would go without intervention.
this is the bigger, quiet male that was hiding, after he was pecked for about 10 seconds last night. Doesn’t look like much but when I removed him he was hunkered down with his eyes closed just taking it.
any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I already have a house chicken and don’t reallly want a house quail but if there’s no way he can coexist peacefully that may be something that I would be willing to try... because again, he’s my favorite. Haha! Thanks everyone!