A visit to a village in Northern Malaysia produced a coop of about thirty poultry quail species commercially kept for eggs (left top).
A disturbing sight was observed when most of the quails appeared to have their posterior pecked at and fresh wounds were seen and blood stained the coop wooden floor (left middle).
Here is an image of a quail pecking the rear of another (left bottom).
Like some species in birds, when they are under stress or kept in confined space, begin to lose their shine and pluck their feathers.
Perhaps the condition is the same too for quails and more severe.
In this case, this species of quails get bloody.
Or is it a case of, ‘If you do me, I do ya…. Fatty?
AVIAN WRITER DAISY O’NEILL PENANG MALAYSIA
© QUAILS IN CAPTIVITY
One Response
That reminds me of a pair of female domestic fowls that I kept in the past, one of them would often peck on the back of another during some period, the reason of doing so is uncertain until the culprit one has to be isolated sometimes to avoid the pecking. It is a mystery why the other one did not stood up against the pecking one. The cage is not too restrictive, they at least have nearly 4 times the empty space of their own body to move around and were released to walk around the yard during the day. The pecking only lasted for a short period every time and happened for a few times. The pecking bird is also relatively more aggressive towards me during these periods.