Button Quail hen is feather picking male's back

[Big Button]

Hello everyone! I have 3 pairs of male and female buttons. I only have one hen who is obsessed with picking the male's rump and back feathers. I have seen people suggest using Blu-Kote for their chickens when they run into this problem. Is Blu-Kote safe for small quail?

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/dr-naylor-blu-kote-pump-4-oz?cm_vc=IOPDP1

I have them on 50/50 mixture of gamebird crumbles (24% crude protein) and parakeet seed (11% crude protein.) I was hoping to hear if anyone has been able to solve this problem with button quail.

Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. First of all I don't know much about quail, but shouldn't they get game bird feed as their sole ration? Lacking protein, room, and boredom can lead to pecking. You might go up to Forum and scroll down to Other Backyard Poultry, then quail for better info.

 

[Big Button]

Thanks. I was told by the breeder who I bought my quail from that a 50/50 ration was what I should do. After doing some research in the quail forum, It seems I may be overdoing it with the parakeet seed. I'll drop the ration to 90/10 gamebird crumbles/parakeet seed and see how she does after a while. (I may try that organic turkey starter 26% crude protein.) I have many spray millet sticks sprawled across the ground in each cage to hopefully help with the cage boredom.