bullied to death?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocketbunni 

i had 3 coturnix quail, one texan range and two common colored,(all hens) I found one dead this morning it looks like its bled to death from injury to its wing, nearly all the feathers from the wing were pulled out and inside the hutch, on closer inspection another one is injured badly under its wing too, I've isolated her and treated the wound but i'm very worried about her , the only one intact is the texan range, do you think she has done this damage? they moved into new accomodation 2 days ago so could be a territoial argument?

Sorry to hear about your losses. Can you post a picture of your cage? It sounds like predation to me...something grabbed through the wire and got them. or even a mouse or rat got in with them. Most quail to quail attacks are done to the head/neck/eyes area....

Rats will go for anything they can get a hold of...if the quail were herded to a corner...then the side would be vulnerable. In the UK, you have weasel/ferret like critters too, don't you? I would reinforce my pen with smaller opening wire. An owl or bird of pry can even hang on the wire and get a chunk out of side too....just some thoughts

They may have done it to themselves, I had a hen that injured the underside of her wing too, think she just hit it on something, the change of scenery may have spooked them, they can be flighty and injure themselves easily, she kept on opening the wound up and this too happened when I moved her, are yours in a cage with a lot of wire? she is now outside in a coop with more space and the wing has healed, when quails fight they usually go for the head/eyes so doubt this was the other quail.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocketbunni 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20342781/IMAG0408.jpg

 

this is the hutch they are in, the texan is in on its own now and was fine this morning, the injured one is limping as the skin on her thigh is torn

I'm so scared to put them back together after shes healed, incase the other one did do this?

 

We do get weasle type creature here in the uk but they are rare in the suburbs, do you suppose a rat could have done it but not taken any part for food?

 Looks like 1x2 welded wire .Way too large holes rats and snakes can get through and coons will reach right in.I would say 1/2 X1  or 1/2 in hardware cloth would be  way better at keeping out critters..cva34

I agree those bars are quite far apart, the worse critter we get here in the UK as far as our birds are concerned are foxes, have you seen any aggression from your birds to one another? it still does sound like the two normals were spooked by something or something getting them through the bars, the hutch does have close confines that when a bird is panicking it will hit into everything causing damage to itself, I would be inclined to cover the bars with smaller mesh and perhaps cover it over at night, I have found that normal wild type birds do tend to spook more easily than any other colour type for some strange reason!

The leg injury is probably from a rat biting her. I would think the rat took a bite. she jumps to get away. and her skin tears from were the rats teeth were in her.

hope you can get it situated, and yea i'd cover those wire up, or just replace it and save the welded for something else.