Aggressive female coturnix

[McFly239]

Hi ! I have quail that I got 3 of back in mid December at about 2 weeks old. One male and 2 female. Over the past couple of weeks, one time being just today, she’s killed 2. I thought the first incident was the roo, but now I think differently as I saw evidence on her. I brought home 3 younger (2 weeks old) females today and added a little one (about 4 weeks old, not sure of gender) that I had hatched myself. I added that one and the new babies, and removed the male, thinking he was the aggressor. Now I’m not sure what to do. I’ve been getting quail as I can find them in my area, (that’s why the age difference) thinking I’d replace my chickens I also have with quail instead as the quail are easier for me to manage. So I suppose I have a few questions

1) How do you introduced new quail to a flock/covey ? Especially at ages where they’re both older and younger birds ?

2) What should I do with the female that’s aggressive ? Does this happen often where females seriously injure/kill other birds ?

3) The roo is actually a nice bird, and I don’t believe he ever hurt the other bird like I previously thought. Do I keep him separate still ? Or should I see what happens ?

I’m relatively new to keeping birds, both chickens and quail. I’ve only been doing it for around a year, and the quail less time than that. Any advice would be welcome !!

 

[Nabiki]

You don't want to introduce the young birds until they're the same size as the adults.

When you introduce them, you might try taking the old birds out of their pen, thoroughly clean and rearrange it, then put all of the birds in in the evening. They will wake up together in strange surroundings.

If you don't have hiding places add several. Make sure they have at least two entrance/exits.

 

[bhaugh]

Both sexes are aggressive with new birds but the males I find are aggressive more toward other males, the females don’t care. I will cull highly aggressive females as temperament is genetic. That saying, I try and grow out birds together as this often happens. Sometimes it never works out intermingling. You could remove the female but I’d put like ages together. I have chicks right now only 3 weeks apart but I don’t trust the older ones to not severely injure or even kill the younger birds.

 

[Aliciaquails]

Hi ! I have quail that I got 3 of back in mid December at about 2 weeks old. One male and 2 female. Over the past couple of weeks, one time being just today, she’s killed 2. I thought the first incident was the roo, but now I think differently as I saw evidence on her. I brought home 3 younger (2 weeks old) females today and added a little one (about 4 weeks old, not sure of gender) that I had hatched myself. I added that one and the new babies, and removed the male, thinking he was the aggressor. Now I’m not sure what to do. I’ve been getting quail as I can find them in my area, (that’s why the age difference) thinking I’d replace my chickens I also have with quail instead as the quail are easier for me to manage. So I suppose I have a few questions

1) How do you introduced new quail to a flock/covey ? Especially at ages where they’re both older and younger birds ?

2) What should I do with the female that’s aggressive ? Does this happen often where females seriously injure/kill other birds ?

3) The roo is actually a nice bird, and I don’t believe he ever hurt the other bird like I previously thought. Do I keep him separate still ? Or should I see what happens ?

I’m relatively new to keeping birds, both chickens and quail. I’ve only been doing it for around a year, and the quail less time than that. Any advice would be welcome !!

Answer for question(2) time to make a quail dinner with aggressive male or female quail. Or else it will cause problems for the other quails. They don't like stress. Right now I have aggressive male quail he has been move to all 8 different cage and will not get a long with any of them. He will be culled in a couple of days when I get some free time.