balding with black spots on quails heads

[Chickquail army]

I have 22 quails, button and cortnix, housed together and coming back from a trip I've notice that their heads have gone bald on most with scabs and black spots. One has it bad to the point where it's going down its back. I'll post a picture in a bit.

Description: 3 weeks old. Balding on most with signs of blood and black spots. It's summer so the temperature averages around 100 to 130°F. I do water them in the morning and they have grass growing in their pen (from the seeds they dropped) so I don't believe the heat is a problem. Also their pen is 6 feet high and no predictors here.

 

[dfalco]

130°!!! That's hot for any living thing! I don't know anything about quail, but I do hope you find answers soon. Wow...130°!

 

[Chickquail army]

Quail with the worst

different quail with some balding starting

this one has it behind the ears

bright red

one of my italians

BYC Forum
crusted blood behind ears

youngest with balding

pen space is huge

 

[Chickquail army]

can you see the images?

 

[DK newbie]

Can't see any of them, no.
I've never heard of actually loosing feathers from heat, but I guess they could loose them as a consequence of trying to escape the heat by flying, though usually 6 ft would be enough to prevent injury from that.
I guess the heat could also cause them to peck each other - if they are feeling uncomfortable a few dominant ones might be blaming the others and trying to get rid of them.
I also wouldn't house buttons and coturnix together. The size difference is too big, the buttons don't stand a chance.

 

[Binki]

Could be cannabilism - at three weeks old they start feathering. What percentage of protein are you feeding them?

Can you observe them to see if it's pecking or jumping doing the damage? Do they have any additional lighting?

 

[Chickquail army]

they are receiving natural lighting and i removed 2 since one was bleeding from behind the ears and the other one has the top oh its head bald. I sit down in their pen or outside and watch them for a good while and i can only catch one of my button quails pecking at the rest so she is probably one of the causes. and from them being housed together i'm going to sell them off and keep 2 in a separate cage since I've read on how vicious they are.

 

[Chickquail army]

since i can't get the pictures to work try this link
https://plus.google.com/100606599992523447739/posts/3Ydu237GCXB

 

[DK newbie]

A button chick chasing coturnix sounds pretty extreme - but if that's what you see, then that must be what's happening. I've never had a button show any kind of aggression unless it's towards newcomers, before it matured though - definitely not at 3 weeks. It must be very unhappy with something.

 

[Binki]

A button chick chasing coturnix sounds pretty extreme - but if that's what you see, then that must be what's happening. I've never had a button show any kind of aggression unless it's towards newcomers, before it matured though - definitely not at 3 weeks. It must be very unhappy with something.

Both the coturnix and the buttons are three weeks?

I don't have experience with buttons, perhaps it knows that the coturnix are a different species and is claiming food and territory?