4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[broni.jones]

i had one qual left all on his lonesome, so on wednesday i picked up 2 girls for him. i am sure that they were both girls. the breeder sexed them in front of me.

he was very pleased to see them and started to mate with them as soon as i put the girls in. although they both seemed to strongly object! one of them was getting quite distressed by his advances.

yesterday my brother went to feed them for me and found one of the new quails hidden . she had most of her feathers on her head and neck pulled out. most of the expossed skin was black & blue & very swelled up! she has a black eye, with the lids closed up.

 

i brought her inside & put her in a straw lined box. she seems to be eating & drinking. she can walk without too much trouble. the swelling is going down.

 

can anyone suggest what to do with her? i have a indoor rabbit hutch which she could go in for a while but i am not sure if that is a long term option.

 

i have some 10 week old bantam silkies in an enclosed pen. do you think that would be safe for her?

i think my large fowl girls would eat her alive!

 

should i try to re introduce her to the other 2 quail?

 

the evil male seems to be the route of the problem, the other quail isn't to keen on him. my partner quite likes the look of valentine warners recipe for qauil kebabs.

 

quials seem to be so much more trouble than chooks

any ideas guys?

[Lesley]

Definitely don't put her in with bantams - they will bully her as much as LF would.

 

Maybe they need introducing in the same way as new hens - keeping them separate but next to each other for a few days? Also, perhaps a total of 4 hens to keep him quiet?

 

There's a lot more about introductions in the FAQ section.

[Willow]

Poor thing - male quails are rampant and he may settle down once his pent up ardour is spent. Although I think 3-5 females to one male is a better ratio. My 2 male quail seem particularly active this time of year and some of the females have feathers missing on the backs of their heads where the males 'hold on' whilst mating but not to the extent they look sore.

 

Definitely don't put her in with the bantams.

[broni.jones]

i think you may be right.

does anyone know where i could get some quail hens? i live in andover, north west hampshire.

 

thank you for your advise!

[Lewis]

I aggree that you need more females.

I've heard about people using an old budgie cage to put the new quail in, similar to the chicken method, and introduce them slowly. If you have a large group (like they do at the farm) they just put them in with no trouble

[Wraith]

Yep i have experienced this many times with breeding ornamental quails!! You need to separate her at least until she is properly healed up by dividing up the run or put her into a separate cage next to the run so that they can get used to each other which can take some time. They can be quite aggressive sometimes. Plus you need to create lot's of hidding places inside the run when the time comes to try & introduce them. It can take a long time in some cases & sometimes they may never get along as some males or hens just seem set of aggression towards there own kind.