Quail bleeding feathers/ feather loss

Vegetable Gardener

In the Brooder
Jul 31, 2021
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My quail will be six weeks old on the 4th. I have seen mites on them when they were in the brooder inside, and I keep treating them. I put them outside last week. Here where I live, we have hot, humid and rainy summers (up to 105 degrees F sometimes and close to 100% humidity, especially at peak summer) and cold, snowy winters, rarely gets below freezing. I live near New York.

It is getting cold; it is about 75 degrees F in the morning for the past few days, at night it's getting around 50 still raining at times, so I feel like they are getting cold. The ones with slow development are seeming to get fatter and some feather development. One of my quail vibrates sometimes, even during the day.

I'm not sure if the rooster quail is plucking feathers, because I do see feathers in the cage at times, and he likes playing with everything he sees. I did see him pecking others at earlier stages of life. I do think it stopped, not sure if he' s doing it again. The big hen, who had good feather development, seems like her feathers are getting less and has some feather quills sticking out without any hair on it. Some feathers (even the ones on the floor) seem less hairy.

What is going on? Are there parasites involved? Are they just mating? Stressed out and plucking themselves? I know they always seem to itch themselves, not sure if they are re-molting halfway through the original molt. Whatever the issue is, what is the best way to help them?
 
probably an aggressive male. Sit maybe 10-20 feet away from where they are and observe which ones are aggressive. Also, if some hens have some hair missing from their head, it is most likely a male that is trying to mate. Otherwise, it might be mites or lice. But observe their behavior.
 
At that age they should be just about done growing adult feathers in, so I'd expect to see feathers in the cage but they shouldn't be going bald. What are you feeding them? More protein will help them feather out, 28% or better game bird starter.
 
probably an aggressive male. Sit maybe 10-20 feet away from where they are and observe which ones are aggressive. Also, if some hens have some hair missing from their head, it is most likely a male that is trying to mate. Otherwise, it might be mites or lice. But observe their behavior.
He seems to be pretty small though. He is starting to have feather development, but he's mostly still hairy. I know my big hen seems to be getting bigger feathers on her wing. She had smaller feathers only not too long ago.
 
At that age they should be just about done growing adult feathers in, so I'd expect to see feathers in the cage but they shouldn't be going bald. What are you feeding them? More protein will help them feather out, 28% or better game bird starter.
I mix half a cup of peas, half a cup of corn, half a cup of sesame seeds, and half a cup of oats or rice (exchangeable).

I did attempt to research thoroughly about these things. Seems to have good nutrients and protein content. I am not sure what is the exact percentage though. It seems they don't get enough vitamin d, so I supplement them with sav-a-chick electrolyte. I do let them free range about once or twice a day and they eat whatever they want. On sunny days, I do let them spend about an hour in sunlight. They play around, and when some of them get tired, I put them in their cage again.
 
Can you post pics of your quail?

Do you have a feed store where you can buy proper quail feed?
First one likes to sleep all day. Second and third love to eat since they were born. 3rd loves to run and play a lot. Second acts like she's the mommy of everyone. Fourth (the one on the ground) was always sick and was getting skinny; turns out he had coryza and I treated him with garlic and apple cider vinegar in one of their water dishes. He seems to have gained some weight; looks more healthy now.

The first picture quail hardly drinks water by itself, I usually have to put its beak in there. It seems to have gotten coccidiosis today because of the soil. I think the fourth one had it too at one point, so I'm hoping the garlic-acv water works this time too.

Fourth one was always bald; has significant feather improvement in the past week. Third picture: he was always just furry and skinny, even though he ate a lot; seems to be growing feathers now.

Second picture was the first to get big and develop feathers; she loves eating . It seems like her wing feathers are getting bigger. She only had tiny feathers before.

First picture seemed to have feather development speed in between the 3rd and fourth.
I always check them and their stuff for mites. Haven't seen anything for a week or two. I do give them a shower on hot sunny days with dawn dish soap. Sometimes I spray garlic water on them and their cage. It seems to work. Just last week I got a spray for bugs which included fleas and ticks, so I sprayed their cage while they played outside.
 

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They were cold at night day before yesterday (I could hear their cries late at night). I had to get my dad up from bed to put a blanket on them. Seems to be getting chilly so I'm going to put a blanket from now on. Maybe that's what encouraged them to grow feathers?

I hope it's just molting and nothing serious.

Also, I'm just a student, so I can't really afford to get the quail feed myself. We don't have farmer shops, but we do have petco for the popular pets. My dad said to make the feed myself, so I've been doing the best I can.

I did have 14 before. Four died because I added beans and lentils to their diet when they first hatched. Other than coryza (killed six), that seems to have been the only problem. As I gained knowledge and experience, I removed the beans and lentils (seeing that it was toxic online). (I did see that people were giving beans to birds in the beginning, but that was only cooked). I researched each of the other ingredients: peas, oats, rice, sesame seeds, almonds. They all seemed fine and my birds seemed to be okay too. Only problem was Vitamin D, so I got them sav-a-chick electrolyte and they look better. I did try giving them fruits and grass, they played with the grass the first time they saw it and lost interest. They don't seem to be a fan of any snacks I give them except DRIED apple peels.
 

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