Fighting?

Hi
my two quails are living together in a 4ft by 2ft by 21" cage.... i've only had them 48hrs but today Perth has a bald head...there are a few feathers strewn around the cage and they all come from Perth...is this likely to be fighting?

they are both about four weeks old or so i'm told.

they are both always sat next to or near each other whenever i look in on them and they seem happy to eat and drink and scratch around together.

i have seen Sydney peck Perth on the back,just a single peck...he did it saturday night and again last night but apart from that they seem ok.

should i be worried and should i seperate them just in case?

thanks.

Hi,

It sounds like they've been fighting, but they are very young to do so, it maybe a case of feather plucking though.

Quails will naturally start moulting from 6/7 weeks of age and you'll notice flight feathers around the cage at this time, it generally last approx three weeks.

Just keep a close eye on your two birds incase one is being more dominant over the other. Put greens in the cage for them to peck at and releave bordom. Hang a cd in their quarters for them to peck at too.

Derek.

thank you...they might be more than four weeks old..i'm only going by what i'm told but some of the feathers do look like flight feathers...Perth does look a bit tatty like a moulting rabbit just now but he(assuming its a he)doesn't have any injuries.
sydney is completely unmarked and his feathers look a lot tidier than Perths, although he looks a bit like he has baby feathers in places still(sorry don't know what they're called).

i truly hope they don't fight,these are my first ever quail and i've wanted to own a couple for such a long time and i was really excited(sad i know)about getting them and am trying to do things right...it's just that the dopey vet who gave them to me knows zero about them and couldn't even tell me what sex they were.

if i see any blood i'll divide the cage until the weekend and i'll keep them seperate... i have several spare cages.

Hi,

You vet is not the only one, Mine did'nt have a clue what species of bird I took in was (It was a quail too)

Vets are only trained in dogs/cats now, they are only trained in other species for a short while so they rely on avain vets for birds.

I would keep them together for now, and if there is any thing serious that happens, seperate them.

Derek

I normaly find at about 6 weeks I get one super-randy quail who isn't quite sure what he's doing, and then his cage-mates of both sexes end up with bald patches all over their heads/necks from him trying to mate. Its normally a range one too...dirty beasts.

To be fair if they are 4 weeks, a vet couldn't sex a range one. The golden one looked male from the bit of chest I saw, but he's still got a pale head.

From your piccy I'll hazard a guess and say that I think they look older than 4 wks. I have some 4 wk chicks and they still have chick fluff on their heads whereas your look fully feathered.

If you have 2 males then the more dominant one maybe trying to mount the other or if 1 male and 1 female then she will get alot of attention. My males do seem to go insanely randy at 5-7 wks and then calm down. (Reckon the gold is a male cos of the choc splodge on the back of the neck). Who's doing the mounting - the gold or range (brown)??

hi i've not actually seen any mounting and when i look at their personal effects they both look the same but then i don;'t know what i'm looking at. even the sexing pics on this forum don't help much in that neither of my birds has a bulge, maybe they are too young yet?

this afternoon they have been sat together and mooched around together.

behaviour wise the range tends to stand upright whereas the blond one stands normally, they both make cooing cheeping soft hooting noises.

It won't bulge for a while, but at around 5 weeks I find they start to produce a little foam when squeezed.

hi all,
may be you have many males than females , thats what i have now

You know the answer Hask - you need more ladies!