Quail eye problem

There are many-many possible causes for a swollen eye. Different kinds of bacteria and viruses, items stuck behind the eyelid, damage to the eye or eyelid, even allergies.. A picture would help to determine how bad it is, but probably won't determine the cause unless someone has seen the exact same thing before and knows what it is. If damage to the eye is the cause, it's not likely to show up on a picture unless it's really really bad. Vets use dye to color the eye - this makes even small scratches on the surface show up more clearly. Damage to the eye is really painful and takes long to heal - if it heals. Bacteria can be treated with antibiotics, items stuck need to be removed, damage to the eyelid will likely heal on its own unless it is badly infected, allergies just suck. As only one eye is swollen, it is most likely that the cause is items stuck or damage to eye or eyelid, but the other options can't be ruled out either. Had it been a dog, I would recommend you to find a good flash light and use that to look for any kind of damage and to search behind the eye lids for possible causes and then to bath the eye with sterile salt water and maybe add a drop of antibiotic ointment to the eye. But being a tiny quail, it will likely be almost impossible to check it properly and it will probably stress the quail immensely, which might do more damage than just leaving it alone. So for now, I would probably just wait and see whether it gets better or worse - perhaps try the flashlight while the quail is in the cage, without touching it. You might be able to see something.

This is the appoach I am taking right now, DKNewbie. My one quail's about a month old. He's always been a little "squinty-eyed" since I got him/her over a week ago, seeming to close one eye a lot. But now I've noticed that he absolutely won't even open that one eye. He keeps it closed at all times. If he does "blink" it and open it for a split second, I can tell that they eye isn't "normal" underneath. It looks really weird. I don't know wat the cause is, but when I try to examine it, he gets really, really flustered, so I've decided to just leave it alone. Hopefully, it will either heal on its own, or just get healthy enough that it doesn't bother him!

I keep an eye wash solution on hand for any bird showing eye problems. I got it online at a vet supply. Any time I have a bird showing eye problems I carefully flush the eye with the solution in case it is something I can flush out. Often this works, or at least gives some temporary relief.