Quail "Rescue" - please help!

[ManitobaQuail]

Hi everyone, long story short, somebody dropped off about two dozen coturnix quail to our homestead, and they are in really BAD shape (picture below). Most of them have no feather at all on their back! I am not sure what to do. Are they able to recover? Some of them are still eating and drinking, and even laying eggs. They just look so miserable, and I wonder if I should cull them so they don't suffer. Please help if you are able to!

 

[Fishkeeper]

Oh, poor dears.
Yes, they should be fine, though some may not regrow their feathers all the way.
Look them over closely. They might have been plucking each other from stress, but they might also have mites. If they have mites, they'll need treatment with something strong- NOT diatomaceous earth, it's bad for bird lungs and nowhere near effective enough to get rid of an infestation.

Do you know how to care for coturnix? They're not difficult birds, the hardest part is predator-proofing. These will probably need a lot more protection from the wind than usual until they grow their feathers back.

For now, give them as much space as you can, and be sure they have lots of places to hide. Quail like to hide under brush- fake Christmas tree branches are great for that. They'll do best if you can surround the cage partially in something solid, a foot tall or so, to give them the illusion of cover. Give them sandboxes, too, the poor dears have probably never been able to dust bathe.

I'd start trying to sex them. Males will fight, so you should only have one male per pen. If you don't intend to have more than one quail pen, the kindest thing to do is cull the extra males now before they start fighting again. You might not have any males if the person who abused them like that was keeping them for the eggs, but if you do have too many males, it's best to weed them out now.

 

[DK newbie]

I second everything Fishkeeper said They don't look sick to me - just plucked. They may have plucked each other due to over crowding, malnutrition or stress but there might also be one or more habitual pluckers among them that won't stop no matter what you do.
They won't suffer if you cull them, so that's definitely an option. If you want to try to get them straightened up, I'd go all in - ground pen with lots of space, places to hide, dust baths, things to investigate and jump onto, dig through and so on - they shouldn't have time to think about plucking at all. And then observe them and decide what to do about any birds that pluck anyway.

I see 5 birds that are sexable from your picture and they all look like girls, but I agree you should make sure there are not multiple boys in there..

 

[ManitobaQuail]

Thanks for your suggestions! Yes we do have experience in taking care of quail. We keep about 30 birds ourselves. However, I've never seen any of my birds like these ones.

We've culled a few of the ones that looked miserable already (shaking with their eyes closed). I don't see any signs of mites as their skins look normal to me - but l could be wrong! Our birds never had mites before.

We are hosting them in the shed right now, separated from our own birds. How long do you think it will take them to regrow their feathers?

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[ManitobaQuail]

These are our own birds

 

[DK newbie]

If no further plucking occurs and there is no damage to the feather follicles an they get enough protein to regrow all of those feathers, I don't think it should take more than about 3 weeks to regrow the majority the feathers. This is based on button quail though, as I've never had a plucked cot. I think the joker will be to get the plucking to stop.

 

[Fishkeeper]

I suspect any shivering you see might just be because they're cold. They're probably really freaked out about everything that's happening.
If I were you, I'd give them a heat lamp or other heat source until they grow their feathers back.
If you give them enough space and good food, they'll probably/hopefully stop picking at each other. I'd probably make sure to give them some brush for security. Honestly, I'd give your other quail some brush, too. You can strap it to the ceiling and walls of the pen so it's elevated and doesn't get dirty- as long as it's low to the ground, they'll happily use it. Extra enrichment never hurt anything.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Add peas and rice to their feed too; cheap source of lysine and methionine, the amino acids that birds use for their feathers. My birds prefer it cooked as peas can be bitter when served raw. If you're not up to cooking a batch, you can always open a can of unsalted peas and serve them to your flock.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

Isn't feather plucking caused by vitamin deficiencies? So good post above. I would also add some chicken vitamins to the water for a while, and make sure they are getting plenty of protein.
I would rub them with coconut oil, i have found it helps keep the skin healthy and bacteria free, and it helps if the skin was thinned by the plucking, helps the skin stay hydrated and grow back faster, it also will help i they do have mites. The best thing to do is like they said, to sex them and separate the extra males. Im glad they gave them to you instead of continuing to have them the way the came. Poor dears.

 

[ManitobaQuail]

Thanks for all your suggestions. They've already look a bit better! We ended up culling all the males (became dog food), and separate the hens to two hutches and added heat lamps. Hopefully they recover fully soon!