I have had 2 Quakers (Tango and Cha-cha) for five years or so now. Until recently I have not known their sexes. However, around 4 weeks ago 2 little eggs appeared in the bottom of the cage. So now we know we have either a male and a female or 2 females. The egg laying also coincided with a vacation and they were boarded on a farm. The first egg was laid on the day I collected them and the second 2 days later. This weekend, I was horrified to find Tango with a bald patch on its back and feathers all over the bottom of the cage. It is too much to be just moulting. I know there are lots of causes of feather plucking, but does anyone know whether it is likely to be related to the egg-laying? I think a trip to the vet is required, but they have never been seperated so might be fun.

Any advice welcomed

Well your right a trip to the vet is in order. Make sure to tell them you had boarded your birds. It could indeed be related to the egg laying but it also could be alot of other things too. Its always better to just have them checked to make certain.

Female birds will pluck feathers from their chest when making a nest. It is called a brood patch. She takes those feathers from her chest and uses them to line the nest for her eggs and babies. As already mentioned I would definitely contact my avian vet to schedule an appointment explaining what has happened and your cause of concern. You know your birds best and your early observations can make a difference in the avian vet being able to best decide if there is a problem and accurately diagnose it and decide what needs to be done. So please check with your avian vet. Oh, I would definitely consider having my birds sexed so that you can know for sure whether you have a male and female or two females. So that you can make a good decision on housing them and contact between the two. I personally don't recommend breeding birds unless you have planned on going into breeding, researched the many problems of breeding birds and sought training assistance so that you are prepared to handle any breeding emergencies or baby emergencies. Good luck!

Jan

If you want to know which one is the female, put them in separate cages for a little while. Wherever the egg lands is definitely female.

Make sure you add extra calcium in one form or another to their diet right now, as well. Egg laying depletes their calcium reserves.

Trip to the vet is in order if the plucking/picking is sudden. Could be mites (from being boarded) or it could just be the stress of being boarded. Better to get it checked out.

Just a word of advice too....don't remove the eggs. Allow the hen to sit on them until she grows bored. Problem with this is you don't know for sure if those eggs are going to be fertile. IF they are, I'm sure you don't want them hatching.

While you wait to get the birds into the vet (and I totally agree with sexing them both), rearrange their cage, cut back on daylight hours and make sure they are both getting extra calcium.

everyone gave great advice and Welcome to the Forum.