Feather plucking and pecking

[emptynester]

Hello everyone,
I noticed I had a male quail that was missing his tail feathers and his butt looked bloody where he was being pecked, so I pulled him out of the covey to heal and now notice another male with the same problem. There are 12 georgia giants - about 4 months old in a wire brooder that is 8 feet long by two feet wide. There are 4 males and 8 females.
We plan on separating into trios this weekend, but I"m afraid the two males will get pecked by the females. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[_Randall_]

Do they have a reasonably high protein feed in the pen around the clock?

 

[emptynester]

They are on game bird starter, I can't tell you the protein % off the top of my head. They still have food in the feeder every morning when I go to fill it, so it isn't because they are running out. But I did plan on feeding them some cooked egg tomorrow to see if that would help. These are my first quail so was wondering if I was doing something wrong, should have separated them sooner, etc.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

sounds like general bob problems, most likely to many males.

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
No, nothing stands out as being "doing something wrong" as I can see. If they have a sufficient high-protein feed, water, and not over-crowded (which it sounds like they're not....at least by my standards), sounds like you've just got a small group of bored Bobs. Put a small cardboard box with a door big enough for them to get through......or, a little bunch of branches from some tree/shrub limbs in a pile so the victim can have a place to get away from its villain. Bobs are little Hellians, scuze my French...

........ I know it's not what you wanna hear, but they're wicked little boogers. They will go off on another one just because!!!!!! And if you wanna really see a feathered conflict, wait till spring when reproduction gets on their mind!!!!

 

[emptynester]

Thanks for the advise

Will add some branches and a box for them and create a Quail Romper room to help aleviate their boredom and see if that helps.

 

[JJMR794]

Sounds Like Standard Bob Agression To Me.. 16 Wk Old Gg's, Yeah Its About Time To Amp Up The Beatings....

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