Mother quail attacked her chick, what do I do?

Hey folks,
I am posting this as I do not know what to do. My quail hen brooded and hatched her own eggs, two chicks hatched but today I discovered she attacked (only) one of the chicks. My perfectly healthy and happy Chick now has a mangled and bloodied foot and hip

My questions are, why did this happen? And how do I care for the chick with injury?

Poor thing. What kind of quail is it? I'd probably remove both chicks from the mother and put them in a brooder, make sure they are warm and comfortable and have something to eat and drink. I wouldn't do anything about the wound for now, as long as it's not bleeding, to avoid stressing the chick.

If it's leg is mangled I would take the chick into the next room and use a sharp pair of scissors to cut it's head off, most humane solution. There is something wrong with the chick if mum is trying to kill it. The others will kill it slow and painfully. They can't live alone. No reason to make it suffer. I don't see how you can avoid killing a bird occasionally. Prolapsed uterus, too many males, a dying bird. The scissors are humane, hold their body, put the scissors around it's neck and apply pressure around the neck and snip. Continue squeezing the neck to avoid blood squirting everywhere. Takes about 30 seconds for the bird to die but the head is removed so there is nothing to process the pain. It gets easier after a couple. My first was hard and I got sprayed with blood. Now it's clean and simple. I can butcher one and have it in the frying pan in about 2-3 min.

They are a cut throat breed. The males like to poke other males eyes out to establish a dominant male. The losing bird has to stand in the corner to avoid being attacked once it can't see. They are hiding that they are male in the corner. I have an ugly duckling, she is a white Courntix which as you know are supposed to be brown. She also won't mate with the boys. They pecked her head until it was raw. I removed her, for a day to let her recover. I put her back in the cage, but I made her a platform of her own above the other birds. Once I got the male to female ratio down to 1 to 5 they've left her alone, but she's had a rough go of it. I came back after making her the platform and she gave me an egg. She's a producer, so she's safe. She's my only quail with a name and she comes to me when I open the door. Her name is Lucy... She always gets first pick of the treats. I'm trying to give her a chance. Couldn't give you bad news without a good story.

White coturnix are white coturnix, they are not supposed to be brown. They carry the same genes as brown birds and were originated from them, but have two copies of the recessive white gene. They were bred for a specific purpose and their color is as it was intended to be.

Oh wow! Thank you all, for your responses. So sorry that I took a few days to respond, mad days!

@DK newbie, I should have followed through with your recommendation. I separated her but she wouldn't stop calling for her family. After half a day, I placed her with another young family with quail chicks, turned off the lights for TWO MINUTES in hope they will all disappear into the hen's wings for the night. she screeched. i switched on the light to see the chicks and hen curiously pecking her injured foot. Her foot was half dangling off the limb. Sigh.

Anyway. She's now housed separately with a straddle footed chick who is very kind to her.

Not stressing her out is a really goo point that i would other wise never have considered. Thank you )


@jachansen I can't do it! I just can't! I might if it's a prolapsed. :S and thank you for sharing your experiences and stories, it's a real eye opener

I was chewing on what you've said about mother hen killing chicks with a reason that humans can't see. I feel it's a theory we can't prove, but I haven't raise enough chicks to understand any better? The mother hen did cause the another chick's foot swell. I removed him and integrated him with another young family. He's very healthy.

Also wondering, do you guys know what it means when a quail has whitish watery diarrhea? (completely water) my hen is suffering. one thing after another...

mathilda yuen said:

Oh wow! Thank you all, for your responses. So sorry that I took a few days to respond, mad days!

@DK newbie, I should have followed through with your recommendation. I separated her but she wouldn't stop calling for her family. After half a day, I placed her with another young family with quail chicks, turned off the lights for TWO MINUTES in hope they will all disappear into the hen's wings for the night. she screeched. i switched on the light to see the chicks and hen curiously pecking her injured foot. Her foot was half dangling off the limb. Sigh.

Anyway. She's now housed separately with a straddle footed chick who is very kind to her.

Not stressing her out is a really goo point that i would other wise never have considered. Thank you

)


@jachansen I can't do it! I just can't! I might if it's a prolapsed. :S and thank you for sharing your experiences and stories, it's a real eye opener

I was chewing on what you've said about mother hen killing chicks with a reason that humans can't see. I feel it's a theory we can't prove, but I haven't raise enough chicks to understand any better? The mother hen did cause the another chick's foot swell. I removed him and integrated him with another young family. He's very healthy.

Also wondering, do you guys know what it means when a quail has whitish watery diarrhea? (completely water) my hen is suffering. one thing after another...

Click to expand...

Make sure you are not giving your quail meal worms. They can look exactly like toes so of course they would mistake toes for something good to eat.

Depending on how much they drink they can have watery droppings. Mine do most of the summer but I live in one of the hottest places on earth. You say your hen is suffering. How? What are her symptoms besides watery droppings?

Messed up leg story that ended well. I hatched him and he had a leg that stuck out to the back I let him live and now he's a healthy active little guy who lives with his bros in my bachelor group.

He had such a will to live from the beginning I decided to see how he'd do.

Update on my little gimpy quail, I gave him a girlfriend for company and found him a good pet home with a family who loves their " special " birds, having a few with leg problems already.