My quails are fighting??!?

Question

hi, basically i have 5 quails and they've been living together since they hatched 2 months ago and today i noticed one has been running about pecking at the other 4.

could this be a mating thing?? or should i seperate them?

thank u in advance :) x x

Answer 1

try seperate them or make their crib bigger

Answer 2

This is most likely the male quails trying to establish dominance over the other. It would be best to seperate them. Also, you need to give them space and room. Quail need at least half an acre, preferably more, to be able to live out their natural life. If given this they will not fight.

Answer 3

I was the proud co owner of a brace of bobwhites this is usually a pecking order establishment!! watch them and i fit gets to where they are drawing blood seperate them also place a few nesting boxes in there with clean straw they might lay eggs for you and mabey if they trust you and th earea hatch a few babies for you!! many times its the dominant male or female establishing a pecking order!!!

Answer 4

Hi,

If the birds are pecking at the back of the head then yeh the male trying to breed with the females, if they are normal brown coloured j*p quail then you can s*x them because the males breast feathers are a golden brown colour where as the females are white.

Even if they are breeding though then quail will not hatch their own eggs, as they have been bred so many times that they have lost the natural instinct to incubate their eggs.

The male bird also makes a noise like a cockeral when trying to breed. One other method of sexing is to pick the birds up and tip them upside down, just above the birds vent then place your thumb or finger, gently press down and you should feel two bones, if they are close together then its a male, and if they're far apart then its a female so the eggs can pass through.

Answer 5

All is normal.  

Button quail are nasty little birds that pick on each other.  You have at least one male bird, and he picks on all the females and the smaller males.

The best you can do is get rid of all but one male and one female, and just ignore his mean behavior.

(This isn't your fault.  Greedy quail breeders sell the eggs by the thousands for people to raise, often in classrooms.  CUTE = CASH.  They know darned well the birds are nasty when they become mature, but by then the breeder has your money.  99% of these birds are dead within six months.  It's a rotten business.)