No feathers on my female quails back!!!

[Jaysquails]

My female and male Italian quail had no feathers on there back when I purchased them last week they are around 6 weeks old now. My males feathers are starting to grow back however the female has not even started to grow back. Should I be worried?

 

[GoldenFlight]

Do you think this could have something to do with over breeding?

 

[Jaysquails]

I have no idea, when I contacted the breeder she told me it had something to do with being in a large group when they were hatched . I have moved them outside today will it be too cold since they're fully feathered everywhere else. It's 11c right now?

 

[GoldenFlight]

It might be a little cool for them outside....

 

[DK newbie]

It could be caused by over breeding, pecking or by boinking into the roof. As the male is getting his feathers back and the female isn't, my guess is that the male is pecking her and someone else was pecking the male before but that has stopped since he moved away from them. It could be over breeding (a coturnix roo should have 4-7 females) - but that seems somewhat unlikely as they shouldn't start breeding before they are 6 weeks. It also seems unlikely that boinking would cause continuous lack of feathers on the back.
I'd separate the pair until their feathers have regrown and get a few more females before reintroducing them. House the new females and the pair right beside each other for a couple of weeks before introducing them, to reduce the risk of fighting.

 

[rebrascora]

I have no experience of quail but as the OP states that they are 6 weeks old, then it is unlikely to be caused by overbreeding.
It sounds like they were overcrowded in the brooder and have developed the bad habit of feather picking out of boredom and stress. Giving them plenty of space, interesting things to do like scratching for food and bugs and good quality high protein feed will hopefully help to break them of the habit.

Good luck