Bloody Quail

[justoldbobo2]

I bought 4 white quail from the feed store 3 wks ago. I'm assuming they are A&M. I noticed 2 crowing with in the first week. Now today one (the main crower) has bloody beak and two of the other three are wounded. One has lost an eye. The fourth shys away from it. Could it be another male or a lone female.

 

[dc3085]

Separate bloody birds immediately, the rest of the flock will kill him out of instinct. Injured birds might not heal as far as the flock is concerned and they'll kill so they don't potentially waste any food. They don't know you can fix it.

Had you researched coturnix before you purchased them you'd know that you cannot keep 2 males in the same enclosure unless it's a couple hundred square feet. Quail are one of the most aggressive birds you'll find in nature so you have to husband them in certain ways or you'll have this happen. You're also going to want to get some more hens. Coturnix roosters breed very aggressively and will breed one or two hens to death or at least to bad health. It's best to have 3 hens for every coturnix roosters. You should probably read the threads in my signature about raising game birds so you have a little better idea about quail keeping. You should also read this thread for coturnix beginners.

 

[justoldbobo2]

I did research them and was told you can't sex white quail until they crow. I was asking if anyone thought the other unharmed quail might be female. And yes I did separate them. Thanks

Edited to remove my rude remark.

 

[justoldbobo2]

Eyes were just bloody. Not pecked out.

 

[dc3085]

Even a lost eye isn't the end of the world. I've had more than one bird live a full life (well none of my birds live full lives but...) with a missing eye or a crippled foot. Best to have a hospital cage around at all times for when these things happen to build injured birds back to health. Also cornstarch/flour to help bad wounds clot or if you're by a feedstore get polling powder for polling cattle it's a very effective blood clotter. Blue Kote is a good antiseptic but if you use it you have to spray the same spot on every bird in the cage or they'll just pick on the one you sprayed since the stuff actually turns blue wherever you apply it. Neosporin works well too just make sure it has no pain reliever in it.

 

[justoldbobo2]

Well today they are all singing. " Look at me" so I'll prob have a good lunch. Not sure if I want to mix them with my browns. But they are only 3wks. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to sex them. My other hatch is a wk today.

 

[djknight]

I have raised hundreds of bob white quail. We incubate and hatch our own for dog training.
Nothing I have ever tried works like beak trimming for babies, adolescents and adults!
I have tried red lights, low to zero light, red enclosures, increased heat, decreased heat, more space per bird, treats, toys and distractions, higher protein food, different brands of food. They always start picking at either nostrils or bums after about a week, so much so that I was losing about 20% of my hatches at some point alout the way to picking.
I resisted beak trimming forever thinking of it only as a last resort and it has turned out to be the miracle I had hoped for with all the other things that I had tried but had failed.
When chicks are about 1 week old use a pair of sharp fingernail clippers and just snip off the tip of the upper beak. It's quick and pretty easy. Sometimes they will bleed just a drop or two but with a seconds pressure against the nick it stops almost immediately.
They will still act as though they are pecking at each other but will do lots less damage as beak tip is now blunt instead of needle sharp.
This has not affected eating or drinking in any way. I do have to trim again when babies are about 6-8 weeks old and again periodically as adults but I find that the aggressive picking seems to usually lessen as the birds age and if they have been introduced to each other correctly.
Occasionally you will have an overly aggressive hen or cock once mature, my theory there is that those should be culled as they will only breed more aggressive chicks in the future if breeding is your purpose.

 

[dc3085]

You posted this exact same reply in several places on the forum in the same day.

 

[Fat Daddy]

You posted this exact same reply in several places on the forum in the same day.

First and only 3 post, all cut and pasted. But Im gonna smile and nod and not notice the first line in the first post ever made was "I disagree".... I guess if you want to be noticed, you walk in and bite the big dog on the a** right outta the gate!

 

[dc3085]

sounds like a sales pitch for beak trimmers...