My Quail are loosing feathers? Necks are ruffled up? HELP PICTURES ADDED

[Marissa Van]

 

[dc3085]

Keep a good eye on them. That looks like it could be either a heavy molt or a she's getting picked on. It would be hard for me to say without observing their behavior. Just keep an eye out for feather picking, sometimes birds that are underfed or overcrowded for even a short period can develop a habit of picking feathers that can be very hard to break. Is that the only one that looks that way? Do all the birds even the rooster look like this?

 

[Haveandtohold]

It sounds to me like your quail are just starting to mate. Male quail will grab onto feathers on the backs of the females while they mate and pull out some feathers sometimes. it's normal for them to be missing feathers but watch out if they are bleeding at all. Males who do that need more females, more space, or to be culled.

 

[dc3085]

Def not mating. If you look closely at the picture she is growing new feathers on the side of her face. Either fighting or molting.

Edit: on the pc the resolution isn't good enough to see the picked feathers. On mobile the picture focuses much more clearly.

 

[Marissa Van]

I haven't seen any mating going on but we don't spend a ton of time out with the quail as they are out in our shed. im worried they are picking at eachother but I have never seen them pick on eachother at all. They are pretty well behaved..they jump a lot in their cages kinda delusional but I have also never raised quail...this is my first time. So ill just keep a good eye on them and hopefully they`ll grow feathers back.


Im also concerned that they are not in a big enough cage for all of them.

 

[dc3085]

When I looked at the picture before she had new feathers on the side of her face. That is most likely from picking if they aren't regrown by now. They shouldn't be doing the jumping thing. I've heard people say they do when they are excited, but in reality they do it when they are freaked out. How many birdsare there and how big of space? coturnix generally get by ok with 1 sq ft per bird. So in a 3'x3' area you could fit 9 birds, 4'x4' 12 birds, etc..

 

[Marissa Van]

Ill have to check and see if her feathers are coming back now. I didn't have a chance to go check on them yesterday. I think the jumping thing is they are scared when I come out and change their water and their feed...ill have to measure our cages and figure out if that's enough space for them or not. they don't seem to crowded there is PLENTY of space for them to run around. Im hoping they start mating soon so we can get some eggs...


Questions the first set of eggs we get from our hens should we discard them are they okay to eat?

 

[dc3085]

Ill have to check and see if her feathers are coming back now. I didn't have a chance to go check on them yesterday. I think the jumping thing is they are scared when I come out and change their water and their feed...ill have to measure our cages and figure out if that's enough space for them or not. they don't seem to crowded there is PLENTY of space for them to run around. Im hoping they start mating soon so we can get some eggs...
They are likely mating by this point, you just haven't observed it. How good they are at is a different story at that age.


Questions the first set of eggs we get from our hens should we discard them are they okay to eat?
Fine to eat, no good to hatch for the first two weeks.

 

[Marissa Van]

Thanks for all the help looks like the feathers are growing back and all my birds almost look back to normal