Quail bleeding feathers/ feather loss

[Vegetable Gardener]

i have to say that your mom makes a good point, however, you need to make sure they are healthy and happy in the meantime. all of my birds are spoiled rotten up until the point that they are invited to dinner.
you should make sure they have a good complete nutrition feed with 10% treats (mealworms, veggies, fruit etc) and they will be much healthier and happier regardless of the end result. (pets and/or food)

Thanks for the advice. I have tried to give them snacks since two weeks old because I researched. I gave them apples and peels in separate times. They did not like the apples, but they did wait till the apple peels were dried and curled up the next day and started fighting and chasing around others with any peels they found. It was so cute!

Sadly, they did not do that with mango or banana peels. I did give them blackberries. My curious male pecked at it in the beginning, but he could care less. They don't seem to like any snacks.

First time I introduced the cage, I let some full grown grass (with the seed) and some sticks to be more homey and fun. They were interested in the beginning, but then the females stopped caring and only the male(s) cared. When I noticed mites the first time, I removed the grass and sticks. I tried reintroducing fresh ones. Only the stick was interesting to my male, but today he didn't seem to want to play with it. He did seem to like attacking my finger (he's scared of my hands). He loves playing outside, especially in the garden, and looks outside most of the day for any way out. When I take him out, he's scared of my hands and runs around. Once he went out himself. When I'm not there, (because I'm cleaning the cage and their dishes) he starts crying and looking for me (others follow in suit) and goes back in the plants when he's content he sees me. When I put them back in the cage, he calls out to me, has me chase him in the garden like he wants me to play with him, and has me chase him all the way to and around the cage. At first I thought he didn't like me anymore (he's the one who ran to me as soon as he saw my face soon after hatch, bigger hen was with him when it was just them two) and now I realize he's just being playful in his own way. He's probably frightened of my hands just like the rest of them, but I see the love in the eyes of the eldest two. Especially since I was the first face they saw (if my mom wasn't). Most of the others seemed to be really attached to the big hen, so she acts like mommy when I'm not around. Not sure how to entertain them other than my dad's garden, but it seems they enjoy going outside for a bit. The females (I think they are) usually lie around, but sometimes they join him too.

 

[Vegetable Gardener]

i have to say that your mom makes a good point, however, you need to make sure they are healthy and happy in the meantime. all of my birds are spoiled rotten up until the point that they are invited to dinner.
you should make sure they have a good complete nutrition feed with 10% treats (mealworms, veggies, fruit etc) and they will be much healthier and happier regardless of the end result. (pets and/or food)

They do seem to like eating ants and weird bugs around the patio and in the grooves. They do like going in my dad's plants (I tried avoiding it in the beginning, but while I take one out, another goes, so it is unavoidable. I am glad they enjoy their time outside, but they seem to get coccidiosis from the dirt. It's really hard to control. Especially since I'm also trying to get rid of the bacteria in bodies from when our waterline was bad in the past few days.

The garlic-acv water seems to help, but they just end up getting the coccidiosis again (especially the small ones). I hope they build immunity and get stronger soon.

It does seem like their feathers are getting better. Haven't seen a mite yet, hoping it's a good thing. I do change their bedding at least daily.

How often do I have to spray them and their cage? Would it be a good idea to give them a bath before treatment just like I used to with the garlic? How can I know for sure the mites are gone, and if they really are gone, do I have to treat them again? I know we have a lot of fleas and mosquitos here at this time of the year and multiple mosquitos bother me when I go outside. I just hope my quails are okay.

 

[Vegetable Gardener]

I haven't gotten the feed yet, it is in delivery process. So far I see that the quail seem to be gaining weight (especially the one who's always sick). Three have pasty butt, the one who's always sick has really dry skin and a bloody butthole.
I didn't see mites last night, but I will still put some permethrin on them and their cage. They seem to like the feed I give them and nothing else, but I'll slowly introduce the store bought one to them. They seem to take their time in getting big, could be the stuff they're eating as you all said. They do seem to really like taking naps, especially on hot days.

 

[FloorCandy]

I haven't gotten the feed yet, it is in delivery process. So far I see that the quail seem to be gaining weight (especially the one who's always sick). Three have pasty butt, the one who's always sick has really dry skin and a bloody butthole.
I didn't see mites last night, but I will still put some permethrin on them and their cage. They seem to like the feed I give them and nothing else, but I'll slowly introduce the store bought one to them. They seem to take their time in getting big, could be the stuff they're eating as you all said. They do seem to really like taking naps, especially on hot days.

When the new food comes feed only the new feed or they will pick out the parts they like of the old feed and leave the new. Your birds are severely malnourished and they are unlikely to improve until they are eating proper feed and have been successfully treated for mites and any other illnesses they have, with medicine not garlic and acv. At 6+ weeks they should be nearly full sized and completely feathered. At 3 weeks I have chicks outside that are fully feathered except around the eyes. Please listen to Nabiki, if you are too young to assume all responsibility and your parents arent able to help with these serious, please rehome them. Week old chicks should have more feathers than the birds in your photo, this is a serious deficiency, and if they reach full ish size, and you still have them, you should eat them because this level of malnourishment will probably cause long term effects.

 

[Vegetable Gardener]

Thank you all. It seems my quail are gaining weight and feathers. Not sure if the mites are gone. I did spray their cage and them yesterday with permethrin and again today, but only two of them who seem to have really bad feathers. Their droppings seem to be going on and off, I am giving them both plain water and garlic-acv water,. They do seem to like the food if I crush it. The first day I didn't crush it and they threw it everywhere and didn't eat it.

I don't really like these chemicals. The permethrin smells like gasoline to me, and one of the birds I sprayed seemed to be having a really bad asthma attack and couldn't speak. I took it out of the cage, tried giving it water, it seemed to be hopeless. I prayed for it, tried searching for any remedies, not sure if I found any, but I did check on him after ten minutes, seemed to be doing better (thank God). I let the others out after about 15 minutes, and the chick who wasn't doing so well started running.

Also, I am going to give them to somebody in two weeks because I have to go somewhere with my parents. I don't think those people know much about quail, but I live in the suburbs and hardly anybody knows about animals here.....