feet pecking?!!!

[muans]

one of my female quail keeps on pecking her coopmate feet which is a hen too and the one being pecked sit all the time..what could be wrong they have enough room and both of then are female ??

 

[azygous]

Have you by some chance given them meal worms recently? I've had that problem with baby chicks after they've experienced meal worms. Little chick toes do resemble worms.

I put "toys" in with them to peck at. It seems to solve the problem by giving them something else to fixate on. The trick is to come up with something that resembles whatever they are fixated on. My chicks were pecking chick vents. I got a tennis ball and drew red dots on it with a magic marker. I got a foam weather stripping noodle and stapled it to a block of wood and wrapped narrow strips of red duct tape around it.

Try cooked spaghetti noodles scattered on the floor for immediate results.

 

[muans]

Have you by some chance given them meal worms recently? I've had that problem with baby chicks after they've experienced meal worms. Little chick toes do resemble worms.

I put "toys" in with them to peck at. It seems to solve the problem by giving them something else to fixate on. The trick is to come up with something that resembles whatever they are fixated on. My chicks were pecking chick vents. I got a tennis ball and drew red dots on it with a magic marker. I got a foam weather stripping noodle and stapled it to a block of wood and wrapped narrow strips of red duct tape around it.

Try cooked spaghetti noodles scattered on the floor for immediate results.

let me try that good idea but they're now adults..i recently gave them a crickets and inside the coop sometimes insects flew in and the onw who is pecking went crazy everytime insects flew in

 

[muans]

Have you by some chance given them meal worms recently? I've had that problem with baby chicks after they've experienced meal worms. Little chick toes do resemble worms.

I put "toys" in with them to peck at. It seems to solve the problem by giving them something else to fixate on. The trick is to come up with something that resembles whatever they are fixated on. My chicks were pecking chick vents. I got a tennis ball and drew red dots on it with a magic marker. I got a foam weather stripping noodle and stapled it to a block of wood and wrapped narrow strips of red duct tape around it.

Try cooked spaghetti noodles scattered on the floor for immediate results.

it's not an agressive behaviour right?

 

[azygous]

At this young age, it's newbie curiosity. Older birds can become fixated. Aggression is likely not really the issue.

 

[TwoCrows]

I had an adult male start doing this to the hens toes. One hen turned up with a bloody toe! Drove me nuts, I am sure them as well! I determined, at least I think, that this was a nervous boy that needed more space, more freedom. I had aviaries at the time, I moved him to a larger aviary and he stopped doing it. But when again confined in smaller spaces, he started toe biting again.

 

[muans]

At this young age, it's newbie curiosity. Older birds can become fixated. Aggression is likely not really the issue.

will i dim the coop light a bit?

 

[muans]

I had an adult male start doing this to the hens toes. One hen turned up with a bloody toe! Drove me nuts, I am sure them as well! I determined, at least I think, that this was a nervous boy that needed more space, more freedom. I had aviaries at the time, I moved him to a larger aviary and he stopped doing it. But when again confined in smaller spaces, he started toe biting again.

i think this could be a stress factor mine is not for sure a stress factor

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Dim the lights

 

[TwoCrows]

Yes bright white lighting can cause excitability. Red lights are used in many hen houses to stop aggression. Dimming the lights may definitely help. Put in some fake or real foliage and branches to climb on. Giving them something to do, burn calories, keeps their minds and beaks busy.