Quail with ruffled feathers

[CartierChicken]

I recently integrated a new male and female quail, both between the age of 6-8 weeks when I got them. I have had them for 2 weeks now. Anyways, I have noticed that the female has very ruffled feathers. The other 2 females are perfectly fine. This new female is loved on very much by the new male She is missing some feathers also. Could the over loving cause her feathers to ruffle? She is eating and drinking well. She is also laying an egg everyday.

 

[TwoCrows]

Do you have her on a good Gamebird diet with plenty of protein? Females need lots of protein and if she is lacking, she could be run down. Also, has she or the others been wormed recently? That too could have her run down. I don't think the ruffled feathers have anything to do with the "lovin" she is getting, although breeding does cause some feather loss on the females back. Make sure they have a pan of dirt or sand for dust bathing to keep the mites down as that can also cause feather loss. Oh, and make sure to offer crushed oyster shell for the girls. They will need the calcium to make hard egg shells.

 

[Fat Daddy]

If your quail are coturnix, your quail are fine. you just need more females. 3 to 6 hens are needed for each roo.... He will love her to death if your not careful.. Bill

 

[CartierChicken]

The other females are fine. They have shell and good food. The bottom floor is dirt, so they have plenty to dust with. As for the worming, that is not a common or automatic thing here in Sweden. Most quail owners I know here only worm if they see a problem in the droppings, or other obvious signs. Even the vet told me to hold off on worming them. She told me to go ahead with the chickens during the molt.

Could it be stress? This female looks a real mess. I can't even pat the feathers down.

 

[JJMR794]

Grass Don't Grow On A Well Used Path....

 

[CartierChicken]

Ok, whatever it is, they others have it also. I can see one that has a feather flipped up. There is another with 3 feathers flipped up. I am expecting them to look worse by tomorrow. They are all still active and each and laying. I have not seen an unusual droppings. I guess the only thing for me to do is to collect their droppings and take them to the lab. That is surely to cost me

 

[wolfiemum]

I am curious what happened with these quail. Umi have two with ruffled feathers and I am wondering if it's possible they carry the curly gene.

 

[QuailCo Eggs]

Quote:I had a similar problem as soon as I took my birds outside to a "dirt" floor fly pen. About 2ish weeks after, they slowly started to walk around with fluffed feathers. I have over 300 birds and started to freak out. I went to the vet and she said, "oh, its just worms." Well, I treated with worms and that didn't help. The birds (one by one) started to have similar symptoms and die. What i found out is my birds were getting Coccidiosis which is found everywhere. They were picking up this disease through the dirt. I treated for Coccidiosis and the very sick ones still died but the others pulled out of it. I now have to continually treat for this sickness and disclose it on all of my egg sell orders online.

If you want to learn about more disease types, check out my website or get my contact info and contact me directly.


Chad

 

[wolfiemum]

How long did it take for the birds to die?

 

[QuailCo Eggs]

1.5-2 week



Chad