Loss of Feathers Due to Mating?

[NeoRoey]

I saw two of my button quails, Tac and Chickapee, mating. Tac grabbed onto her head during mating. Could this be the reason why Chickaoee has lost feathers on her head? I originally thought it was from pecking, but the only pecking I've seen was from this. Also, how do I know if my button quail is "pregnant"? Will she not lay eggs because there are 2 males in the same cage?

 

[Denninmi]

I am having the very same problem. I hatched some buttons on July 5/6, and they are now mature, apparently.

Unfortunately, when the male mates with the female, he is now hurting the back of her head. Over the past few days, she has lost the feathers on the back of her head/knape of her neck area.

This morning, she has an open laceration that bled a bit. It's NOT regular pecking as sometimes happens in poultry for dominance or whatever, it happened during mating, the male pecked and grabbed onto the back of her head with such vigor that he broke the skin.

I put her into a separate cage for now. When it stops bleeding and scabs over just a bit so it's not so raw, I'll put some blue kote on it.

I'm not sure what to do about this situation. She has laid 4 eggs now in 4 days, and I was looking forward to having some to incubate.

 

[Stellar]

Neo Roy, it is natural for feathers to become missing during mating.

You really need to separate one of the males. Button quail are monogamous birds (one male, one female). There will be bloodshed between the males, the female can attack the intruder male too. Time will prove it. The hen probably won't lay eggs with the other male in the cage. Some females will pluck the backs of their mate and make nesting material (I have had this happen).

Button quail do not do well in colonies. It causes more stress. You can tell stress by the color of the eggs. The eggs should have a brown color to them. If they are a pale color, something isn't right. I admit, I had some pairs that produced the pale colored eggs and I found out that a rooster would escape the cage at night and sit on top of their cages. After I fixed the problem, they laid the correct color eggs. Of course, each bird has a different tint to their eggs, that is normal.

I am encouraging people to do pairing because in the wild, these birds are found in pairs not in colonies.