Button Quail Fighting

[Guineagang]

So i have a pair of button quail for a long time and they were very happy and interacting. The female laid lots of eggs and sort of sat on them but she gave up after a day. Anyways 2 days after she abandoned her nest i come home to find that my male button quail's back is completely bald with a little bleeding. So the female for some reason pecked all his feathers out in a day. I even sort of hid and looked at their cage to make sure it was her pecking that was causing the damage. Any reasons for this bizarre behaviour? solutions?

 

[dc3085]

It's almost always environmental. Something they see or hear. Sounds like constantly running water, flapping plastic, loud car exhaust, the TV, etc.

Check her head back and feet for wounds, if she has a sore she'll attack him when he tries to mount her. If she's been laying a lot and not getting enough protein and calcium she could be picking his feathers to eat them. It's 99% likely it's stress causing it though. Find the stress factor and it'll stop.

Remember quail don't see superbly but they see differently than us. We have 3 channels in our eyes for picking up color and galliformes typically have four. Basically they see more colors than us so they are easily disturbed by things they see in their environment.

 

[Guineagang]

Thanks for the advice! I was also pretty sure it was stress but I dont really know what caused her to peck him because there wasnt a change in environment or any noise that they havent heard before. I think its maybe the egg laying or something like that.