Unaccepted male quail

[Kaydeedid]

I have a few too many male quails in one pen and I'm trying to pair them up with females in other pens. They've been pecking at each other's faces so I've already separated 2 completely from the others, that I thought were the major bullies. It's been about a week and I went to put one of these in with a pen of 4 older females. He immediately started mounting them but this one hen wouldn't have it and was chasing him around pecking him. They all started pecking at each other, general chaos. So I took him out. Should I remove the rowdy hen and let him stay with the 3? Is it possible that she's broody about eggs that are in the pen and feels uncomfortable with him there? This morning their eggs were collected in a corner their box.

 

[Nabiki]

Are we talking about coturnix quail? If so, pairing them up is a bad idea.

As for your aggressive hen, personally, I would cull, but that's because I don't tolerate aggressive birds in my coveys. She is probably being territorial in general. If she's broody, you'll see her flattened on top of the eggs.

How much space do they have?
Do they have plenty of hiding places?

 

[Susan Skylark]

It could be the male too, I’ve got one I’ve been trying to find a place for that gets henpecked no matter what females he is with! He actually prefers chilling with us rather than the girls which makes it really hard to convince my son this bird might need to go. I moved all my hens around hoping that would help him and I’d have fertile males with certain hens I want to hatch eggs from (he also was 0/4 on a fertility test). He’s getting picked on by the new girls too while the meanest hen in his old cohort is getting bossed around just fine with another male. He hasn’t been totally beat up with this new bunch but still getting chased. Try a new cage, maybe even mixing your birds, rearrange everything in the cage, and add the new bird(s) at night. Make sure you have plenty of space and hidey holes. Mine won’t use plastic or cardboard hidey holes so I just put some branches and small logs in and they love it.

 

[Kaydeedid]

Are we talking about coturnix quail? If so, pairing them up is a bad idea.

As for your aggressive hen, personally, I would cull, but that's because I don't tolerate aggressive birds in my coveys. She is probably being territorial in general. If she's broody, you'll see her flattened on top of the eggs.

How much space do they have?
Do they have plenty of hiding places

 

[Kaydeedid]

Are we talking about coturnix quail? If so, pairing them up is a bad idea.

As for your aggressive hen, personally, I would cull, but that's because I don't tolerate aggressive birds in my coveys. She is probably being territorial in general. If she's broody, you'll see her flattened on top of the eggs.

How much space do they have?
Do they have plenty of hiding places?

They are Courtnix. I just ordered another pen because space is part of the problem. If pairing is a bad idea, do you suggest I leave all the quail that are use to each other in the same pens, just upscale so they have more room?

 

[Kaydeedid]

It could be the male too, I’ve got one I’ve been trying to find a place for that gets henpecked no matter what females he is with! He actually prefers chilling with us rather than the girls which makes it really hard to convince my son this bird might need to go. I moved all my hens around hoping that would help him and I’d have fertile males with certain hens I want to hatch eggs from (he also was 0/4 on a fertility test). He’s getting picked on by the new girls too while the meanest hen in his old cohort is getting bossed around just fine with another male. He hasn’t been totally beat up with this new bunch but still getting chased. Try a new cage, maybe even mixing your birds, rearrange everything in the cage, and add the new bird(s) at night. Make sure you have plenty of space and hidey holes. Mine won’t use plastic or cardboard hidey holes so I just put some branches and small logs in and they love it.

I thought that this was one of my more aggressive males, that's why he was separated to begin with~ but he certainly got a scare from that mean hen XD so I don't know.

 

[Nabiki]

They are Courtnix. I just ordered another pen because space is part of the problem. If pairing is a bad idea, do you suggest I leave all the quail that are use to each other in the same pens, just upscale so they have more room?

The ideal ratio is 1 male to 5 females. If you have a lot of space and your males are mellow you might be able to have more than one male in a pen as long as the ratio is good, but it depends on the disposition of those males.