urgent help needed fighting birds

[Devonhii]

I have two coturnix quails in a cage indoors at the moment and just today I have noticed a lot of fighting where one of the birds is peckings and chasing the other. They should both be females but we are having doubts since we might think the darker one of the two has a browner chest. The other is lighter and has a swollen eye from the fighting which she is not opening. Advice please??! I have them in their cage seperated by some cardboard to prevent further injuries.

 

[shahchicks4299]

Temporarily move the supposedly male quail or move the female and give her some TLC. Maybe you can check their reproductive organs to see the gender. Gently touch the area, if white foam comes out, it it male. Hope that helps.

 

[UniqueQuail]

They may both be girls. Hems can occasionally loose the plot and become aggressive. The only solution to this is permanent isolation or the dinner plate. Sorry for the bad news. Certainly don't breed her.

 

[rhondita55]

I went out to check on my quails today. I have them outside in a 2 story rabbit hutch.
Breeders on the bottom (2 males & 7 females)
On top are the younger ones. 4 months and 5 months. Out of the older birds, there was only 1 male.
I looked in and was just devastated.
4 hens had been scalped. NO SKIN on their head down the neck. They were a bloody mess. 2 others had their necks badly damaged down to the meat. They have enough skin where they might make it. If they don't look better in a couple days they will be for the freezer.
The Male in question and the 4 Hens are in the freezer. He was twice their size.

I've had young males bloody some girls before. But NOTHING like this. They were marked for the dinner table anyway, But not so soon and not like this. It just broke my heart to see them.

Has anyone else had young males that are so Brutal?
Should I separate all males into individual cages as soon as I can sex them?

So new. Only had 3 hatches so far (just a tiny desk top incubator that holds 12 quail eggs) and some are in the cooker now.
Just don't know what to do with these dang males....... This is the 2nd male I had to harvest because of meanness, but this guy was the worst.

 

[eHuman]

One of your breeder males killed the hens and the other breeding roo? One male per cage, hard lesson. I am sorry for your loss.

 

[rhondita55]

One of your breeder males killed the hens and the other breeding roo? One male per cage, hard lesson. I am sorry for your loss.

No, the cage that is OK has 2 adult males. They all get along just fine.
The Roo I had to harvest along with the 4 severely damaged hens was in a different cage. He was the only Roo and was 8 weeks old. The hens were 5 weeks old.
They hadn't even begun to breed.
I was upset and didn't put WEEKS for the ages.

 

[silkielover88]

I'm so glad I found this!!!! I'm new to quail and I've noticed a lot of my birds look terrible! They are all about naked on the neck area. I took a few out so the feathers could grow back. I have someone coming today to get some males so that will help. But good to know just one male per cage...

 

[rhondita55]

I'm so glad I found this!!!! I'm new to quail and I've noticed a lot of my birds look terrible! They are all about naked on the neck area. I took a few out so the feathers could grow back. I have someone coming today to get some males so that will help. But good to know just one male per cage...

My 2 males that are together with 7 females are good Roo's. I had 1 before that hung on the neck and caused some bleeding and he was served up for dinner. But this guy that's in the freezer. In 1 night he scalped 4 hens and did really bad neck damage to 2 others. The poor scalped ones broke my heart. The entire head had NO SKIN..... just the meat showing. So sad. So from now one, I'll keep the 2 breeder males, but in the growing pen, as soon as I know they are males, it's to a separate pen. The 2 roos that are together don't even crow anymore. They just get along.
But yes, rule of thumb is 1 male with a min of 3 females per covey.

 

[eHuman]

Ahh, that much age difference isn't good when they are that young. You wrote 5 months so I thought they were all adults. How long were they together before he went ballistic? Im glad your breeding roos are chill around each other. The number of roosters you can keep in one enclosure depends on temperament and floor space. Im building an aviary as we speak that is 8'x16' split in half one for breeders and one for meat birds. I will keep 2 or 3 males with 5 females for each in the community pen and they will move to breeding cages mounted on the walls as needed to ensure breeding selection.

 

[rhondita55]

Ahh, that much age difference isn't good when they are that young. You wrote 5 months so I thought they were all adults. How long were they together before he went ballistic? Im glad your breeding roos are chill around each other. The number of roosters you can keep in one enclosure depends on temperament and floor space. Im building an aviary as we speak that is 8'x16' split in half one for breeders and one for meat birds. I will keep 2 or 3 males with 5 females for each in the community pen and they will move to breeding cages mounted on the walls as needed to ensure breeding selection.

They have been together for 2 weeks. Only thing I can think of is the hutch was inside, but got tired of cleaning it every day. so we had moved it outside. It happened the first night. We had made wire bottoms so I could just pull the trays out and clean. But for outside we just took the trays out.
The Hutch has 2 levels. Each 1 being 2'x4' There was 1 male and 9 females. Now there is just 5 females in the top. I haven't been interested in selective breeding. Just meat and eggs. both layers have the nipple drip system with 2 nipples per cage. Working on a longer term feeding so we can go camping for the weekend and hunting this fall. Live in the Arizona Desert so the cold isn't a problem. But the Heat is.