New to Bobwhite Quail

[R3M1X]

Hello! I have raised chickens and ducks for over a year and quinea for a couple months and I wanted to get a few quail. So after some research on their care and other needs I decided to get a few quail. My mother's husband's family had quail pens already built but they havent been in use since probably before I was born or close to it (I am 25). The pens seemed to be in decent shape, so I bought 10 quail (2 male and 8 female) from someone we know who raises them.
Unfortunately, the next afternoon one of my female quail was dead in one of the cages. A small snake that was too small to swallow it fully had obviously killed it and then left once it realized it couldn't eat it. So I went around and covered any gaps I could find as best I could, but that evening another snake was found eating a quail. It had managed to push away the steel wool and foam enough away to get inside. This one was larger and possibly able to eat the quail fully if we didnt chop its head off.
The next morning I went back and everything seemed fine but that afternoon I found the small snake trying to swallow another quail but when I tried to get it out it climbed into the ceiling where it is probably living . So I gathered the remaining quail to relocate them. After I relocated them most of them are huddled in the corner or in small spaces (such as between the waterer and food trough) but there is a female who chases the other females and pulls at the back of their heads and has pulled out their feathers. It's really worrisome. The one male and attacking the other male in a similar way but he stopped after a couple times. I figure the male is just declaring his dominance and doesnt want the second male near his female, but why would the female attack all the other females? Is it the same reasoning? I want my quail to be able to relax and calm down after having to deal with the snakes but it seems one quail is having other ideas. Please help.

 

[pecksandkisses]

Hi! Are you sure the females weren't preening each other? Sometimes mine will clean each other and it's pretty cute. I had waaaaaaay too many males and they were sometimes very aggressive. I had one of my males get scalped! Unfortunately, all but five of my hens died. I haven't had any hens be aggressive towards each other, ever. What types of pens do you have? if you keep them in rabbit hutch-like pens, like some people do, that may be the problem. I keep mine in an aviary-style pen, where they can wander about. It may also be that most people keep them in pairs since they are monogamous (unlike coturnix, which are usually kept in a 1:4 roo : hen ratio), and leave the rest of the females together. The females may be fighting over the males. I'd recommend to keep one of the hens with one male in a cage, and another pair in another. Then, you could keep the rest of the hens together. Some people also make huge aviary style pens, and keep a covey all together in there. I'm assuming you probably don't have all that space.As for the snake problem, if you're keeping them in cages, make sure you're using 1/4 inch hardware cloth.

 

[R3M1X]

Their pen is quite large for only having 10, now 7. As shown here (there is another section of this pen that is not shown in the photo):

The female is not preening because she aggressively chases down the females and pecks at them. I have had to isolate one because she has two bleeding peck wounds on the back of her head. The other girls and male have not attacked each other so I isolated the male and female that did the attacking. I put the male and female together because they do not attack each other so I think they formed their own pair. Most everywhere i have read about raising quail is that you should have more than one female per male to reduce the male from over breeding the female (4:1). I am starting to understand this as a case by case scenario due to aggression? The person I bought them from houses her males in one pen and females in another and then had a breeding group. If there are no females in the pen are males ok to house together?

 

[pecksandkisses]

I'm pretty sure they should be fine to house together, as long as they can't see/hear the other group. I'm not positive on this, since all of my males died. I do know that bobwhites are generally more aggressive than other quail breeds. The best advice I can give is to separate them and play it by ear. If you notice more aggression, try and change up the grouping. Some quail are more aggressive than others, similar to chickens. My hens get along fairly well. I do notice that your coop is a bit bare. Maybe add some boxes, leaves and branches to the coop to provide shelter for the quail getting picked on. Also, maybe some hay. The hardware cloth on the floor may hurt their toes, so having some hay or a plank of wood for them to stand on may be nice. I keep mine on dirt, but I've heard of people doing this. My bobs particularly enjoy perching on some of the boxes and stick I put in their coop; it's quite cute, actually. Best of luck!

 

[R3M1X]

I'm pretty sure they should be fine to house together, as long as they can't see/hear the other group. I'm not positive on this, since all of my males died. I do know that bobwhites are generally more aggressive than other quail breeds. The best advice I can give is to separate them and play it by ear. If you notice more aggression, try and change up the grouping. Some quail are more aggressive than others, similar to chickens. My hens get along fairly well. I do notice that your coop is a bit bare. Maybe add some boxes, leaves and branches to the coop to provide shelter for the quail getting picked on. Also, maybe some hay. The hardware cloth on the floor may hurt their toes, so having some hay or a plank of wood for them to stand on may be nice. I keep mine on dirt, but I've heard of people doing this. My bobs particularly enjoy perching on some of the boxes and stick I put in their coop; it's quite cute, actually. Best of luck!

Thanks. I will play it by ear. I do have some boxes made from various materials (those small plastic crates, wooden boxes that look like they may have been used for nesting and such) the picture shown was taken before I cleaned it out and added stuff in it. It is still bare for my liking, I do agree. I want to add hay and proper hideaways soon, but I am still worried about the snake issue I still havent caught the small snake and havent seen it since I relocated my quail so I am wary of putting too much in their pen right now.

 

[pecksandkisses]

Okay, well, good luck!