Cortunix Quail Questions

[Dodgegal79]

Hello, I have 18 new quail, I've never owned any before. The female have no feathers on their backs and have stopped laying. I'm sure the no feathers is from the males, but when do they molt and when do they usually stop laying? They laid two eggs when I got them 3 weeks ago and no more since. Also I've noticed the some of the males have swollen eyes, the females don't. Could this be from them fighting or could there be another cause. There is no discharge, just the lids are swollen, some are completely shut. Any help is greatly apprcieated. Thanks

[WHITNEYPLU]

I would have one looked at by an avian vet. Sounds like Ulcerative Enteritis a quail disease. You can try them on http://www.cutlersupply.com/store/item.0213.html as this should bring them around,

[gerryb]

MMM sounds like fighting males to me, they often go for the eyes unfortunately.
If they are fighting you should know it though just by watching their behaviour. Pretty hard to miss they really beat hell out of each other and even to the death sometimes.

How stripped are the hens, hens often lose feathers on the back of their neck, and unfortunately some hens that are mated more often than others may have bald necks and some back feathers missing.

Did they all come from the same place and were living together before?

If you put males together that were not together before they will fight.

Also social strife and stress will stop them laying. A happy safe hen is a laying hen!!

[Dodgegal79]

yeah they were fighting. I did see them do it, but all is good now. The days ahve gotten shorter so no mating is going on so the females have grown their feathers back.  After my husband gets his pheasant pen done we are going to thin down the male population and put the keeper with the hens in with the pheasants. I only have 19 and they did all come from the same place but we were looing at them and have way more males then females. Poor girls didn't know what to do. lol. Anyways, thanks for the suggestions.  Margaret

[Dodgegal79]

Just wanted to mention that their eyes are ok now too.

[quail man]

My cortunix quail are the same way when i got them today and you describe it just like mine and i thought it was from mating and fighting because there was alot more males then females then i seperated them and they calmed down and i havent seen them fighting since.

[birdlover17]

Same thing happen to my quails, i had all 3 males together until i noticed one of the males fighting with the others, he went straight for the eyes and that quail couldn't see for a couple days he's fine now, thankfully