Hurt Quail

[hauenstein]

I have a few quail that are being pecked by other quail. One of them has a bald head that is red and appears that her eyes are shut. I separated her. I then found another quail that has been pecked as well. Is there anything I can do to help these quail? And what can I do to prevent this from happening again?

 

[mustangrooster]

Hmm...im going to suggest @TwoCrows on this one, she knows everything about Quail

 

[DK newbie]

How many quail do you have, how big is their enclosure, how old are they, how were they introduced to each other and how many are males and females? Usually this kind of issue is caused by multiple males in the same enclosure, but there could be other reasons.

 

[Binki]

They are coturnix quail? You have to seperate the bully or the injured, and sometimes non bully quail will peck at injuries because it's so tempting.

If you're not sure what's happening, take out the injured ones and spend some time watching the quail to see if you can figure out the offender - @DK newbie has some great questions in the last post to try and help resolve this

 

[TwoCrows]

They are coturnix quail? You have to seperate the bully or the injured, and sometimes non bully quail will peck at injuries because it's so tempting.

If you're not sure what's happening, take out the injured ones and spend some time watching the quail to see if you can figure out the offender - @DK newbie has some great questions in the last post to try and help resolve this

X2 Always remove bullies from a flock, not the docile quail or you will teach the rest to be aggressive. If you suspect this is a male causing the trouble, definitely remove him.

Make sure they have at least 2 square feet per bird in their area and your ratio is correct for the species of quail, for Cots its 1 male to 5 to 7 hens. Any less and the male can over mate the hens to death.

Keep more than one food and water station in the pen so there is no competition for sustenence. And putting fake or live foliage in the pen will help settle their nerves, make them feel safe, help curb aggression and stop flushing into the ceiling.

For now, remove the injured ones, use some sort of antibiotic lotion (not blukote) and they should heal in a weeks time. (Blukote is good for hiding healed bare skin, not raw wounds, its too drying for flesh wounds)

Good luck!

 

[stricklandquail]

How is the lighting? If they're getting natural light, it should be ok, but if they're on artificial light and are on a timer, maybe you should just give them enough 12 hours of light

 

[hauenstein]

They are cortornix quail. They are in a hutch outside with a tarp partially covering the hutch.There are five out there and two are males. I also had 3 in a rabbit cage in the garage and two are female, the quail that was severely pecked was in the garage cage. She is doing much better now, after I separated them. I noticed today she opened her eyes and is eating normally.

 

[TwoCrows]

They are cortornix quail. They are in a hutch outside with a tarp partially covering the hutch.There are five out there and two are males. I also had 3 in a rabbit cage in the garage and two are female, the quail that was severely pecked was in the garage cage. She is doing much better now, after I separated them. I noticed today she opened her eyes and is eating normally.

Great to hear they are doing better! You will need to remove one or both of the males. You cant keep 2 males in with so few hens. Not only because of over mating but it will cause too much stress. This might be the reason for the attacks?