What should i do to stop an aggressive female without culling.

[quailkeeperdavis]

Hello, I have a small group of quail, one male and five females. Recently i have one female who is being overly aggressive and I'm not sure what to do. She is pecking all my other females and the male head clean of feathers. luckily there has not been blood yet but I'm worried it will get there if i do nothing. I don't want to cull her. I read somewhere that i should maybe separate her for day and then reintroduce her. I have a secondary cage i can put her in but i also have been told that quail should not be alone. She is about 13.5 weeks old. they have water and food 24/7 and as it has been getting colder i have put up heat lamps to keep them worm. (it snowed yesterday and is suppose to stay cold for a bit.) I don't think they are over cold or hot. What should i do?

 

[MROO]

I don't have quail, but if they're anything like chickens, I'd definitely pull her for a couple of days - long enough to let the others reestablish their pecking order. If you can keep her cage close enough to the main one that everyone can see and hear each other, that should make reintroduction easier.

 

[_f34th3r_ ch1ck_1320]

If you have a separate pen, you can put her in it, but the pen has to be very close to the main coop so she does not become isolated but can't cause problems, from there she will likely adapt slowly. or I can recommend a good soup recipe?

 

[Nabiki]

Hello, I have a small group of quail, one male and five females. Recently i have one female who is being overly aggressive and I'm not sure what to do. She is pecking all my other females and the male head clean of feathers. luckily there has not been blood yet but I'm worried it will get there if i do nothing. I don't want to cull her. I read somewhere that i should maybe separate her for day and then reintroduce her. I have a secondary cage i can put her in but i also have been told that quail should not be alone. She is about 13.5 weeks old. they have water and food 24/7 and as it has been getting colder i have put up heat lamps to keep them worm. (it snowed yesterday and is suppose to stay cold for a bit.) I don't think they are over cold or hot. What should i do?

I would pull her out for a day, then put her back in. Being alone for a day will not be pleasant for her, and will hopefully readjust her attitude. Let us know if that doesn't work.

 

[quailkeeperdavis]

Hello, I have a small group of quail, one male and five females. Recently i have one female who is being overly aggressive and I'm not sure what to do. She is pecking all my other females and the male head clean of feathers. luckily there has not been blood yet but I'm worried it will get there if i do nothing. I don't want to cull her. I read somewhere that i should maybe separate her for day and then reintroduce her. I have a secondary cage i can put her in but i also have been told that quail should not be alone. She is about 13.5 weeks old. they have water and food 24/7 and as it has been getting colder i have put up heat lamps to keep them worm. (it snowed yesterday and is suppose to stay cold for a bit.) I don't think they are over cold or hot. What should i do?

Thank you to everyone who has replied, I have separated her and will put her back in a day. I will post again with results.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I hate to say this but definitely consider culling if time out doesn’t work, it may work for chickens or slightly more intelligent birds but I’ve never had it work for quail and worse the behavior seems to be contagious, I lost a whole breeding pen because I couldn’t do what was best for the flock rather than one bird. She bullied, then I finally got rid of her and another hen started, repeat until every bullied bird suddenLy started when the previous model was removed. Whether the issue is behavioral or physical, you need to do what Is best for the flock, not just a favorite bird, whether it is culling extra roosters or euthanizing a deformed chick. Rehoming a cat that pees on the carpet or a dog at bites without informing the new owners is not kindness, neither is subjecting your other birds to a bully. Real love is doing the right thing for the beloved, despite the cost.

 

[Goosebaby]

I had one “Bergamot” who got really aggressive with the other girls, I separated her for a day, that did nothing.
I separated her for another day then introduced her back to the flock with a piece of white cord very loosely looped around her neck, there really wasn’t much keeping it on besides her feathers.
She was still aggressive towards her flock sisters but every time she moved she saw the string move which spooked her, she spent more time being spooked and distracted by the string than she was focusing on the other quail.

After around a day and a half she relaxed and her ire disappeared. She also managed to get the string off but I think it did its job. It was definitely very stressful for her but it may have trained her to have a negative association through a fear response every time she tried to attack the other quail, or it was just enough of a distraction while she worked out her issues.
Whatever it was I didn’t have to cull her and there’s been peace in her flock since.