Bare backed quail

[Schroeder]

Yesterday I bought 24 three week old assorted coturnix. Many, if not most have bare areas behind their necks and down their backs. Is this part of the feathering out process, have they been fighting, or might they have mites or something? They seem healthy enough, and since I housed them in a larger facility I haven't seen any fighting. I gave them a shallow pan with sand and some DE, and they are enjoying it. Do I need to worry about the 9 one week olds I incubated that are in a brooder just a foot away?

 

[Bettacreek]

Don't take my word as final, but it sounds like it's from feather picking. Mine started feather picking until I moved them to a much larger cage, and they all grew feathers back and I don't have any more problems. All I did was give more room, I didn't put anything on it or anything. But, that's because I knew that it was from feather picking.

 

[Schroeder]

Do they pick their own, or each others?

 

[Bettacreek]

It's usually them picking each other. Sometimes it's just one nasty bird picking on everyone else, and sometimes there are several. My last group, I had one hen who picked everyone else, while she had absolutely gorgeous feathering. This time, when they were feather picking, there were a few that were doing it. Part of the problem is that once they start, if it gets bad, they'll ALL start picking at it and causing each other to bleed. I would watch them for any other possible issues, but I'd be willing to bet that it's feather picking. Since they had come from a sale, give them plenty of room and see if that doesn't fix it. If they're older, it may take time to grow feathers in. Mine were young and still needed to moult into their adult feathering when mine were picking, so they fixed up pretty quickly.

 

[CORNISH_MAN]

Quote:
What is your male to female ratio? The reason I ask is if you have to many males they could be over breeding you females and causing the feather loss especially if your only seeing the loss on the back of the neck and back. Wait a minute I just realized you said they were three weeks old. Ok thats not your problem.

 

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
Lol. I had thought of that as well, but my latest group, I actually had an abundance of hens. I had to start selling hens off and traded in more hens than males to keep good ratios for good fertility, and I still had feather picking. At three weeks, I honestly believe it would be a spacing issue. You should of course, still watch for mites and any other causes.

 

[Schroeder]

Thanks for your comments. One thing I've noticed is that the 5 or 6 Texas A&M's seem to have the barest backs. That would seem to support the theory they are being picked on by the others (browns and goldens).

 

[95yj]

i just bought 7 coturnix and noticed the exact same thing, its mostly prevailent on the goldens for me though, i watched them for a while and realized that the two guys who had it the worst were picking fights with bigger quail. i split em up and i'm assuming they'll refeather. a little off topic, but, i can't say enough about how much i like the coturnix, i kept a pair of bobwhites for 4 months in hopes of breeding and got nothing except scars, and they were flighty and wild. the coturnix have never been handled and i can reach in a grab them wikid easy, and i'm already getting eggs, after 3 days!

 

[_Randall_]

For what it's worth, I had a 48 BWs (mostly Northerns......a few Jumbo Wisconsins) in a 60 square foot pen up until about a month ago, and I decided to divide some of the jumbos up in smaller pens for reproduction. I already had a 3-male to 1-female ratio (right opposite of what you want).......so I started processing some males. Got it down to 14 / 14 male-female ratio. I thought the coop would be big enough to prevent the pecking/feather stripping with that mix. BUT........I went down there this evening, and one male got scalped from the top of his head down to his shoulders since yesterday. SO...........6 more males go in the freezer

. Doesn't really matter that much, cause I got 120 GGs in the oven, and a good candling showed promising for a good hatch. The moral to the story...........It's getting time for the boys to get "It" on their mind, and they can't stand the sight of each other. Stand there and watch them, and it looks like closing time at the local bar......they just wanna fight!!! But remember.......this is Bobwhites!!!