Quail are pecking out feathers

[Jeffr3333]

Does anyone know why my males and females are pecking each others feathers out? They are all doing it. It's at the lower back.

 

[Quail Jailer]

My first guess is stress, what kind of caging arrangement have you? and how many birds?

 

[LindsayB]

Either stress/crowding or not enough protein. What kind of feed are they on?

 

[dc3085]

How many males do you have in the same enclosure? You can't get away with multiple roosters in small spaces.

 

[Jeffr3333]

I have two males and eleven females they didn't start doing it till I moved them from a small pen to a much larger pen they're feed is a mixture of poultry crumbles for game bird's and soy meal and chicken scratch / layer crumbles

 

[Quail Jailer]

Thats a bit perplexing, I play an AM radio on the local station for my birds, it keeps mine much calmer.
if the radio stops playing and I go into their house they'll be running around nutting up, but when I turn it back on they seem to lay down and listen.
might be worth a shot.

look for any reason they might be stressed, they could simply be hammering out the pecking order in the new pen. How long has the damage been occurring?

 

[dc3085]

I have two males and eleven females they didn't start doing it till I moved them from a small pen to a much larger pen they're feed is a mixture of poultry crumbles for game bird's and soy meal and chicken scratch / layer crumbles

FIrst off, they only need gamebird food. Chicken food is infused with calcium and causes calcium buildup in quail roosters kidneys, which eventually leads to organ failure. Second, that isn't enough females for two males. If you plan to run two males you need to be in the 1:7 range and I would suggest even more.

Are you feeding them oyster shell?

Thats a bit perplexing, I play an AM radio on the local station for my birds, it keeps mine much calmer.
if the radio stops playing and I go into their house they'll be running around nutting up, but when I turn it back on they seem to lay down and listen.
might be worth a shot.

look for any reason they might be stressed, they could simply be hammering out the pecking order in the new pen. How long has the damage been occurring?

They establish pecking order without ever removing any feathers.

 

[Quail Jailer]

They establish pecking order without ever removing any feathers.

Yeah? mine flip a coin in elimination rounds...

 

[Jeffr3333]

Thats a bit perplexing, I play an AM radio on the local station for my birds, it keeps mine much calmer.
if the radio stops playing and I go into their house they'll be running around nutting up, but when I turn it back on they seem to lay down and listen.
might be worth a shot.

look for any reason they might be stressed, they could simply be hammering out the pecking order in the new pen. How long has the damage been occurring?

maybe a little more than a week and I think that they are getting plenty of protein

 

[Quail Jailer]

how are you feeding? is there plenty access to food? if theres not enough room at the feeder they can pick at each other like that to wrestle their way in close, if you've only got one feeder try adding another. HTH