QUAIL FEATHER PLUCKING HELP!!!

[BELLAPURPLEWOW]

My male coturnix quail is plucking his feathers and I have NO clue why. He should not be under ANY stress. He has plenty of food and water, and lives with other quail... What would be the cause of this?? Its so sad to see him like this. Any ideas to make it stop?

 

[Crazydoglady99]

Who/what does he live with? Birds of which breed/sex/age?

Am wondering if it's not him plucking, but rather he is being picked on?

 

[le_bwah]

How much space does he have? What part of him is he plucking from?

 

[BELLAPURPLEWOW]

Who/what does he live with? Birds of which breed/sex/age?

Am wondering if it's not him plucking, but rather he is being picked on?

Very unlikely. He lives with only another female.

 

[BELLAPURPLEWOW]

How much space does he have? What part of him is he plucking from?

He has a good 4 ft by 4 ft area, plenty of space. I noticed the plucking on the back end of him around his butt. And another spot on the end of his neck, which is in perfect reach for him.

 

[Duckworth]

I have been having this issue with one of my ducks. It also appeared that the ducks were eating the feathers. The consensus is that they are experiencing a nutritional deficiency brought on because, being winter, they are short on insects and greens to eat. I have now supplemented their diets and the plucking/pulling seems to have stopped. I also put my plucked duck in a look-but-don’t-touch setup in my pen so that she can still socialize without having any more feathers plucked by other ducks. So far, she appears to be recovering. I don’t know whether this is similar to what is happening with your quail.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Likely protein or vitamin deficiency. What feed are they on?

I was out of my normal gamebird food for about a week and that was all it took for bumblefoot to spring up They are extremely sensitive in their food needs .

 

[2 many chickens]

Offer more protein. I feed mine 24 percent crumble and dries meal worms for more protein boost. A couple of my quail had this issue. One more so than others. She had an obsession with eating others feathers. To the point where her friends were running away from her anytime she got close. They were balding. I upped their protein and problem fixed.