Hawk attack and injured quail.

[JimmyJames]

We have 9 quail in a raised hutch with 1/4" hardware cloth around the sides and top, and coated 1/2" on the bottom. They have another side of the hutch that is completely covered and protected on all sides with plywood.

There has been a hawk hanging around, but because I was scrupulous about predator protection, I would just wave it away when I saw it and think not much of it.

But then it happened.

We had an attack this morning. I noticed two quail were acting funny.
One had a small cut on its beak, which we cleaned and put a non pain relief bacitracin ointment on and she seems to be totally fine.

The other was definitely attacked while sitting on the hardware cloth and has about an 1/2"-1" of feathers and skin removed.
The injury is not deep and not bleeding, just fresh and raw looking and we can see her muscle.
We took her out, cleaned the wound with a saline solution and then put a layer of bacitracin ointment on it and are keeping her in a little box in the house.
My questions are...

1.) Does having an area of feathers and skin removed pose a very serious threat of death even if cleaned well?
2.) How long would an injury like this take to heal?
3. )If it takes over a week or two to heal, will we be able to safely reintroduce her to the flock, or will she get attacked and seen as a new bird?

 

[Nabiki]

It sounds like an ugly but minor wound. Pictures would help.

From your description, I would expect her to heal up just fine. She'll probably scab over within a day and start getting new skin quickly. Once she's completely scabbed up, you might be able to reintroduce her to her covey and just make sure to check her daily and make sure her wound stays clean.

Keep in mind that I'm not a vet, and I'm going off of your description only.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Do you have a small cage you can put her in to keep her separate from the other quail, yet put the cage in with her flock, so she remains socialized with them? Just remove her and the cage briefly to treat her, then put her back. It does not sound like a mortal wound.

 

[Whiskybear]

Side note: are you sure the hawk got to them? Just by description, that sounds like a domestic squabble between your quail.

 

[Nabiki]

Side note: are you sure the hawk got to them? Just by description, that sounds like a domestic squabble between your quail.

It sounds more like rat or raccoon to me since he said the attack was from the bottom. Quail on quail is almost always injuries to the head.

 

[JimmyJames]

Thank you so much for your replies,

We are pretty certain it was a hawk because we have had one hanging around the hutch for like a week and a half. On it, Under it, anywhere it could hope to find a week spot.
I have now put another layer of hardware cloth about 8 inches under the bottom so that their poop can still fall through but nothing can get their little paws or beaks into the 1/2 mesh directly where they are.

We have her in a box in our bathroom that we are cleaning daily etc. We will keep an eye on her for maybe another couple of days and then see about reintroducing her to the covey.

She doesn't seem lethargic at all and is happily eating and drinking, so we feel good about that.
I suppose the best thing that we can do is just keep an eye on her and keep diligently checking the wound.

I think I might try and make a cage to put her in, inside the hutch so that we can reintroduce her safely.
Probably will keep an eye on her when we let her back into the flock fully just to make sure she or the others aren't aggressive to a seemingly new bird.

Thanks again for all your thoughtful responses!

 

[Nabiki]

I'm glad to hear that she's recovering.

 

[JimmyJames]

I built a small transportable hutch for her and any other bird we might need quarantine in the future. Once we had the mini hutch, we used blukote on her wound and took the opportunity to take all the girls out and use it on their backs where they were missing feathers to try and stop any of that nonsense. We put them all in the mini hutch (including hawk attack gal) to test to see if they would accept her back.
They did!!
and we now have 8 of the 9 back in the hutch and they're doing well.
Thank you for all of your help.
Lesson after lesson in this wonderful endeavor. Very thankful for this group.

~James

 

[Nabiki]

I built a small transportable hutch for her and any other bird we might need quarantine in the future. Once we had the mini hutch, we used blukote on her wound and took the opportunity to take all the girls out and use it on their backs where they were missing feathers to try and stop any of that nonsense. We put them all in the mini hutch (including hawk attack gal) to test to see if they would accept her back.
They did!!
and we now have 8 of the 9 back in the hutch and they're doing well.
Thank you for all of your help.
Lesson after lesson in this wonderful endeavor. Very thankful for this group.

~James

That's great news. I'm so glad that she made it and is doing well.