WARNING GRAPHIC INJURY Quail on quail violence?

[beakmaster]

I found this HEN dead today with its eye socket empty and almost half its scalp exposed. They can be rough on each other but we have never seen anything like this. Their cage is secure and off the ground so it wasn't a predator attack. We culled out about 15 males as about 40 birds or so recently matured and some were moved around between our 3 cages. My only real question is would this attack likely be male on female or female on female. I am relatively sure it was a male who did this because I didn't move any new females into this cage. How can I prevent this kind of attack in the future if I don't know which bird did this?

 

[James the Bald]

Just my honest opinion, but I think that you introduced a dominant roo into the cage of another dominant roo. The moving of quail to other cages interrupted the "pecking order".
Like you, I've never seen anything like this before... one of my girls beat up another, but didn't do as much damage as yours did. If you have a roo that has done this, I think he should be introduced into the freezer camp.
James

 

[dc3085]

Thats why I suggest people not mix birds once they have developed their social structure. Sometimes it works, I have some tricks to help make it work, but sometimes this is the result. In the future keep them in a pen side by side in full view of each other for about two weeks, after that period put all of the birds in a cage none of them have ever been in (when you move them do it after 10PM when the birds are lethargic and can't see well enough to fight anyway). All that said sometimes coturnix just go crazy and nothing you do will get them to get along. If you have any more fighting remove the aggressive bird not the one being abused. The other problem you may have now is that the birds know they can do that, and if they have eaten upon the carcass at all and realize it is food they'll try to do it again. Hens can be as bad at doing this or worse than roosters so watch them too, I came home once to my prettiest rooster with his eyes put out hiding in the corner, he cut his foot open on the wire and his hens pecked his eyes out trying to kill him. Watch them closely, hopefully you won't have anymore trouble.

 

[dynodon]

My hens are much meaner than the males .I separated all the males , and put them in a pen together . They ran around trying to breed each other , for a little while . Now they all get along fine , and are in fine condition . the hens are another story. They have pecked most of the feathers out of each other's heads ,and are constantly chasing each other around . I had one hen that was bisexual (I guess ) she tried constantly to mount the other hens . And was very aggressive . One good thing about her was ---she was delicious , when she came off the grill ..(definitely a hen ,,she was full of eggs ) I theink by my experience that they do better when more crowded in a pen , than when you only have a few per pen .

 

[beakmaster]

Last year I had 4 females in a pen together and everything was fine with them for several months and then all the sudden one of them got scalped really bad. The one that got attacked was a different color pattern than the other three and I think it was a case of quail racism. So I am not ruling out a female on female fight but they were not strangers. They have been together for months.
I wish I had time to watch them more and see who is the aggressor(s). The one that got killed the other night was in my larger pen. There were 26 hens and 7 males. Maybe I have 2 many males with the 4:1 ratio. Previously I removed all my males into one cage and picked out the biggest with less black spots for keeping and ate the rest. It had been almost a week after re-introducing the males that this happened. Surely these males got all mixed up and some were surely strangers to each other. I assume that this hen was the victim of males establishing their new girlfriend lineups. SInce all my cages are close to each other I assumed the problems would be minimal...... wrong! I will take more care from now on.

 

[beakmaster]

I have had some really nasty scalping before and rarely a death. They are very tough birds. If this one had lived without the eye I would'a named her "the governor". LOL!

 

[JNDPLUS3]

all is well here , weather gets cold but cover and light is all the birds need. the 25 are about to be culled and maybe keep a couple females and look at 1 strong male well see. Then its eatin time. Daughter has come up with some good receipes, I have an abundance of males as heard by me every AM before feeding time. about 14 males - too many in one cage! ha ha ha. talk to ya later

 

[dynodon]

Beakmaster--- did you have any luck ,with the eggs I sent you ? The last I heard they had started hatching .I thinned mine out to about 12 females ,and I still have 8 males .;;to choose from for spring .