Typical or just unlucky? Quail Roo Aggression

[Urbanhomestead_ut]

We got 3 day old chicks 8 weeks ago and raised them to hopefully be very friendly since the day we got them. Of the 16 we started with 10 ended up being males. We have pulled them out as we found them and kept the "nicest" ones with our hens (1 male per 5-6 females in seperate cages) and still my males are increasingly aggressive. I worry every morning who I am going to find scalped or injured.
One male chases and relentlessly breeds only one hen in his cage and is completely stressing her out.
Every single male has been aggressive and we've now culled all but 3.... and even those 3 are in hot water.
Are we just completely unlucky to get so many mean males? Am I doing something wrong? Do I just remove and cull all males and start fresh with new males from a different hatch?
I have 11 celadon chicks (seperate from the above coturnix I was talking about) that are almost 4 weeks. Do I just use extra males from that group to add to my older cages and try again?

I am so frustrated and disappointed. I thought they'd be nicer but every morning someone is bloody because of my mean males.

Do most people just not keep males? I really wanted to hatch our own eggs but at this rate all my hens are going to be stressed to death.

 

[Nabiki]

The cages are only 4x2 but they only have 6-7 birds in each (and only 1 of that total is male).

Are males more aggressive in spring? Does that calm down?

So, you have 6-7 birds in 8 square feet. That doesn't give you much room to put in hiding places. Remember, the space taken by feeders and waterers as well as hiding holes subtract from your available space. They might be a little crowded, which is not going to help. You want to have a minimum of 1 square foot per bird. More is better, especially if you're having aggression issues.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

I do think a whole lot of cot males are overly rough. They may eventually mellow out with age but most people probably don’t have the time or patience to wait for them to be nice (plus fertility drops) when you can just eat him and try again. Have you tried separating the overbred hen so he forgets about her?

Hopefully a celadon male of yours ends up nice, and hopefully his chicks are even nicer!

 

[shrimpsilkies]

I pulled the male out instead of the over bred female. Should I do it the other way around?

If you tried one, try the other. Really depends on the bird.

The cages are only 4x2 but they only have 6-7 birds in each (and only 1 of that total is male).

Are males more aggressive in spring? Does that calm down?

In general they are more active in the breeding season. In the fall/winter unless you light them, they may not mate at all while the hens aren’t laying. My falb fee male’s little foam pouch bulge on his bum was all flat and empty, and then all of a sudden two months ago was full of foam ready for breeding. He stopped mating while he molted in October and didn't start up again until now.

If you have room for it, maybe consider adding some divider walls or little hidey holes. In my ground pen I use cinder blocks and whenever a hen doesn’t want to be mated she stuffs herself in the hole where nothing can get her.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

Will separating the male out for a few days help at all? I have 2 males currently in seperate cages inside my house (away from each other so they can't hear each other crow) in hopes that they'll calm down and can go back in with their hens but if it's really not going to do anything then maybe I just need to cull them and hope for kinder males in my celadon group.
Like I said, I'm down to these last 3 males of 10.... and 2 are on the naughty list currently

And did we do something wrong? Is it genetics? Should we not buy chicks/eggs from this breeder?

My goal when separating a male is to get the hens to reject him when he returns. Getting pecked and attacked by hens may make him less nasty and he will learn manners. It does not always work.
I don’t really think you guys did anything wrong, from the amount of people who’ve complained about the same issue and my own experience I would say coturnix are just like that. Maybe you can find a local breeder who has tried to produce even tempered birds, or you can try to breed nicer ones. In one hatch I kept only the nicest male and once he became too rough I hatched some of his kids, the only male from that hatch was super gentle with hens. Genetics and luck will eventually get you a redeemable boy.

 

[FloorCandy]

If I keep more than one male together do I need to have them far away from my other cage? I have a set up with 6 cages and the bottom ones were supposed to be male jail but I'm afraid with them that close to the breeding pens that maybe they'll crow too much and stir things up. View attachment 2612998

Mine can’t see the girls, but they can hear them, and it doesn’t seem to bother them. You can try putting something like a mesh or light cloth in front so they are kept darker, but be sure you still get good air flow.

 

[Urbanhomestead_ut]

So, you have 6-7 birds in 8 square feet. That doesn't give you much room to put in hiding places. Remember, the space taken by feeders and waterers as well as hiding holes subtract from your available space. They might be a little crowded, which is not going to help. You want to have a minimum of 1 square foot per bird. More is better, especially if you're having aggression issues.

Ok, that makes sense. I do have 2 baskets and a sand bowl in there too. I also add tree branches to hide in.
I'll try taking a few hens out though.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

How long should I keep him separate before trying to add him back?

Maybe several days and then try to put him back. See if the hens resist or if the first thing he does is attack. My male is currently out because he was only mating a single hen (not roughly but just none of the others) and wanted to see if he would forget her, as soon as he went back in three days later all of the hens were chasing him around.

 

[Urbanhomestead_ut]

Maybe several days and then try to put him back. See if the hens resist or if the first thing he does is attack. My male is currently out because he was only mating a single hen (not roughly but just none of the others) and wanted to see if he would forget her, as soon as he went back in three days later all of the hens were chasing him around.

Thank you!

 

[FloorCandy]

This seems like a pretty high level of aggression overall. All last summer I kept a pen of 9 hens and 3 Roos before I could hatch more girls, and they had a couple squabbles, but lots of hiding places kept there from being blood. I’ll get an occasional jerk of either gender, but with the right ratio most coexist without problems. I would consider culling the males.

See how the celadon males are, and in the meantime, look at the setup of your pen. Each bird should be able to have a hiding place. There should also be so run thru options like sewer pipe connectors, cinder blocks, or hides with more than one way in and out. The birds need to be able to break line of sight in a chase, run in one side and out another, and the chaser loses direct sight, and gives up. The girls need places with a tighter fit that they can hide in and the males can’t get on top of them.

I currently have a male who is just a jerk thru and thru. I swapped out so many hens, at first I thought maybe with his siblings, I just had more males than I thought, I put only ones in I had seen another male mating, even if they had a spotted chest- I took them out in case, and he was still being terrible, so maybe he needs some really big experienced hens, then he nearly killed my 2 biggest toughest girls. I would watch him, and he was grabbing the feathers next to their eyes and pulling them down, over and over, like he wanted them to meekly submit or he wouldn’t get on, if they fought back he attacked, scalping and neck puncturing. I put him out in male jail hoping he would learn his lesson, and they voted him prime minister due to his strong arm fear tactics haha. He so beautiful, I can’t bear to cull him, plus he keeps male jail under control. I’m hoping if I intro him to ladies this winter, he will learn to be nice before spring hormones go crazy.