damaged wing

faerytech

Hatching
Sep 14, 2015
3
0
7


We went away for a few days and having moved house didn't know anyone to watch the quail so put lots of food in and hoped for the best... came back to find our youngest female holding her wing strangely. some days later she was still not tucking it in properly and best i can describe it is her wing is shivering but the rest of her isn't.
closer inspection and this is her wing; half of it seems to be missing! no flight feathers at all. pulling it out for inspection she was ok with but folding it back in seems to cause discomfort.

Any suggestion what to do with her and what might have been going on welcome!
she was one of 2 chicks our quail hatched last year. Also found our male dead today so no idea what's going on :/
 
Any predators in the area? I'm thinking something (even a dog) could have snatched her wing through the cage bars and snapped it off, leaving splintered bones that cause discomfort. If there are any large gaps in the cage, I guess she cold have got stuck on her own and perhaps panicked enough to tear the wing off, but I don't find that very likely.. With regards to the dead male, if he showed no previous signs of illness, I guess it's most likely he boinked (depending on what kind of cage they are in) - that could also have been caused by a predator that scared him..
I hope she gets better!
 
Check for predator access so more birds are not harmed... You might try some medicated salve on the exposed wound.... her wing is not needed for a long productive life, and it will heal so it does not cause her pain...loss of the wing should not cause her many problems.

Or... perhaps it's time for a quail supper?
 
They have a run with wire mesh sides & top 1/2" square gaps, hutch on one side, fence on another.
We have 4 cats in the area, the quail generally don't seem to pay them much attention because the cats of our previous neighbours have been sitting on and around their run since they were chicks, unless these cats have some new tricks and got her somehow.
The male, I'm hoping is nothing catching. we came home the other day and he was quite wet, more so than if they've just been out in the rain. he seemed to be eating alright etc, but he was the oldest of our birds so i'm hoping it might just be coincidence and he was winding down.

ps - mikeh53 - i hope not, she's the first of our home grown chicks after one of our ladies became broody and finally hatched some last year, i want to see if she's got the broody gene in her too
 
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