Quail with bald spots?

[TeePants]

One of our gals has bald spots under her wings, but the skin isn’t irritated at all. I dusted her with DE and put DE in the dust bath for all of them with their regular dust to be safe, and isolated her in the office for a couple days to see if she’d get any pin feathers in the area but it didn’t seem to make a difference. She looked perky and fine otherwise so I’m trialing her back in the pen today, although it snowed overnight so I’m concerned about the cold (she’s been outdoors until her brief office vacation so I hope she’s acclimated; she didn’t start shivering or anything while I observed her after putting her out).

I suspect she’s been getting too many treats, so I’ve been scaling back on those. I’ll try to get a photo but it really doesn’t look like an injury or mites, she’s just a tad naked on her “hip” area. Is it just diet? Should I keep her in until the temps go back up? I don’t have any more bedding handy and Seattle handles snow almost as badly as the southern US and the indoor hospital cage is too stinky to use anymore without braving the iced over hill between me and the store…

 

[Ravenlover]

?_? Are u supposed to directly put de on over ur birds ??? @Nabiki also nabiki has had some exp

 

[Nabiki]

You should NOT put DE directly on the birds. If you give them a dust bath, put a small amount of DE in the dirt or sand. It can cause respiratory issues if you use too much.

Pictures would help if you can get some. Treats shouldn't be more than 10% of their diet. You can tell if she's overweight by feeling her keel (breast bone). If you can barely feel it, she's too fat.

 

[le_bwah]

Pics? In my experience, most quail are a bit bare under the wing, and what feathers are there tend to be thin or downy. If you can't see mite poop or evidence of friction injury, I'd suggest waiting and watching.

 

[007Sean]

One of our gals has bald spots under her wings, but the skin isn’t irritated at all.
Birds are usually thin feathered on the underside of their wings. The feather tracts are such that it appears to have bald spots.

I’ll try to get a photo but it really doesn’t look like an injury or mites, she’s just a tad naked on her “hip” area.
Again, some birds have thinner feathers or just, down, were their wing feathers lie against their body.