Help! Quail Aggression!!

[DK newbie]

They might have originally started plucking due to lack of protein, but once they've started the habit can be impossible to break, even if you correct the diet.

I have a group of 3 hens and a roo living in an aviary at my parents' house. The roo is pretty badly plucked and two of the hens are somewhat plucked. The last hen has all of her feathers so I'm pretty sure she's the one doing the plucking.
I also suspect this started due to incorrect diet. They have gamebird feed (24% - the 28% you use is probably a lot more than they need) available, but the aviary also houses budgies and the quail much prefer eating the seeds that fall from the budgies' feeder, so they hardly eat any of the gamebird feed.

At my own place, I have two roos that occationally pluck their hens. Right now the two roos live together - they don't pluck each other. I intend to re-pair one of them with another hen, hoping he won't pluck her. The other one I'll probably try with his old partner again, but if he plucks her again (and I suspect he will, though I might build an aviary for them to improve the chances he won't) I'll give him away as snake food.

In my experience, more than one roo in an enclosure is not a good idea, at least not if the enclosure has females. It might work for a while, but eventually one roo will probably start chasing the other. He might not pluck it, there might be no wounds, but eventually there will most likely be some degree of chasing going on.

Bigger enclosures might help, but I honestly don't think it'll help you now - it might have prevented the problem from starting, but once plucking has become a habit.. I haven't had success 'fixing' a plucker permanently yet - the closest I've come is the males that don't pluck other males. So I really think you need to consider culling the ones that pluck and do everything you can to prevent the others from getting into the habit.

 

[Flight Feathers]

The cages probably aren’t big enough for the amount of quail you have - the poor quail can’t escape from their attackers! And make sure not to house 2 males together. Chinese quail do much better in a reasonably large aviary with lots of space and hiding places. For a cage your size I’d say 1 male and 1 female max unless they’re all very peaceful with each other. As soon as one just starts attacking the others this means it should be separated as soon as possible and preferably not put back with these quail again.

 

[Feathers & Friends]

This is a great site for good button quail husbandry:
http://www.cyberquail.com/homepage.html

A pair requires a minimum of 4 sq/ft if you are hoping that they will breed and need a lot of hiding places. Single sex pens can be as little as 1 sq/ft per bird (though it's not recommended as they are very active birds, always on the go) but you cannot have any birds of the opposite sex anywhere in ear shot or there will be continuous calling and generally fighting. In a mixed pen females will fight for territory, males will fight for females, so it's a risk if you decide to house more than one pair per enclosure.

So maybe my females have been fighting for their territory?

 

[Flight Feathers]

The cages probably aren’t big enough for the amount of quail you have and never house 2 males together. Chinese quail usually do much better in an aviary. For a cage your size I’d say 2 female and 1 male max. 1 male and 1 female would do better tho.

So maybe my females have been fighting for their territory?

Yes I think so. It depends when the attacking started. Did it start when you introduced a new quail or did it just suddenly start? I usually have a bit of aggression when I get a new quail and that’s just normal. On the other hand if they’ve already been peaceful together and then started attacking each other... well that’s a sign to permantly seperate them

 

[Flight Feathers]

So maybe my females have been fighting for their territory?

Hope you are able to figure out how to prevent the fighting! Good luck!

 

[Flight Feathers]

I have a 29gallon tank and a 55 gallon. Should be plenty of space I would think?

Wider would be better as well as it would make it easier to get away from each other.

 

[Feathers & Friends]

Wider would be better as well as it would make it easier to get away from each other.

It doesn't seem to revolve around the introduction of a new quail. And if it were a female fighting for territory wouldn't she only attack other females? My females have been attacking the males as well. I have watched this behavior... It doesn't seem like an "attack". Its almost like when they peck at a plant or something that looks interesting. I have also seen the same bird eat the feathers after the pluck them off or random feathers in the cage. Not sure if this is related or not but I have seen my quail occasionally eat their own feces. Is this all related? Still looking for solutions...I seperated 2 of them into a pair and the male is still getting his feathers plucked from the female...

 

[Feathers & Friends]

Here's a few questions that need to be answered before anyone will be able to help you...

1) How many quail do you have?
2) How many males/females?
3) How old are they?
4) Were the hatched out together (brothers/sisters) or did you mix different age birds?
5) How big is their cage?
6) What are you feeding them?

You asked a ton of questions for someone who offered no response

 

[Feathers & Friends]

They might have originally started plucking due to lack of protein, but once they've started the habit can be impossible to break, even if you correct the diet.

I have a group of 3 hens and a roo living in an aviary at my parents' house. The roo is pretty badly plucked and two of the hens are somewhat plucked. The last hen has all of her feathers so I'm pretty sure she's the one doing the plucking.
I also suspect this started due to incorrect diet. They have gamebird feed (24% - the 28% you use is probably a lot more than they need) available, but the aviary also houses budgies and the quail much prefer eating the seeds that fall from the budgies' feeder, so they hardly eat any of the gamebird feed.

At my own place, I have two roos that occationally pluck their hens. Right now the two roos live together - they don't pluck each other. I intend to re-pair one of them with another hen, hoping he won't pluck her. The other one I'll probably try with his old partner again, but if he plucks her again (and I suspect he will, though I might build an aviary for them to improve the chances he won't) I'll give him away as snake food.

In my experience, more than one roo in an enclosure is not a good idea, at least not if the enclosure has females. It might work for a while, but eventually one roo will probably start chasing the other. He might not pluck it, there might be no wounds, but eventually there will most likely be some degree of chasing going on.

Bigger enclosures might help, but I honestly don't think it'll help you now - it might have prevented the problem from starting, but once plucking has become a habit.. I haven't had success 'fixing' a plucker permanently yet - the closest I've come is the males that don't pluck other males. So I really think you need to consider culling the ones that pluck and do everything you can to prevent the others from getting into the habit.

Thank you! Your response seems to really fit the best and make sense for my situation! I have tried anything I can think of to correct the behavior and it does seem learned!! The same 3 females that are doing it grew up together and had bald backs when I got them.

 

[mdees88]

You asked a ton of questions for someone who offered no response

Well if you read my first sentence....

Here's a few questions that need to be answered before ANYONE will be able to help you...

1) How many quail do you have?
2) How many males/females?
3) How old are they?
4) Were the hatched out together (brothers/sisters) or did you mix different age birds?
5) How big is their cage?
6) What are you feeding them?

I just asked for clarication on the 6 most common reasons quails have problems. I don't know anything about button quail specifically. But I guess I could have pretended I was an expert....