Ear problems and minor deformities in quail

[SummerQuails]

I bought a female king quail around one week ago and i placed her in a quarantine pen to let her settle before I gave her a full check over. I noticed that one of her ears has since turned black/dark red and lost the feathers that cover it. When she first came home, her ear looked perfectly normal, but now it almost looks like her ear is covered in a lauer of dry blood (it feels like it too). Is it possible that she just scratched her ear, or is it more likely to be a bigger issue.
I have attached photos of both before and after - when she had a normal ear and when i noticed the issue (in the second image, the orange-brown stain on her head is an antiseptic that i was using to treat a minor scratch on her head)
Additionally, i noticed that her eyes seem to be a little more sunken into her head than other quails i own. Although i think it makes her look kinda cute, i worry that it could cause issues in the future and/or with future generations. I had plans to breed with her but if it is likely to cause issues, I wont risk it. This can sort of be seen in the images, but its a little more obvious in real life.

 

[SummerQuails]

I bought a female king quail around one week ago and i placed her in a quarantine pen to let her settle before I gave her a full check over. I noticed that one of her ears has since turned black/dark red and lost the feathers that cover it. When she first came home, her ear looked perfectly normal, but now it almost looks like her ear is covered in a lauer of dry blood (it feels like it too). Is it possible that she just scratched her ear, or is it more likely to be a bigger issue.
I have attached photos of both before and after - when she had a normal ear and when i noticed the issue (in the second image, the orange-brown stain on her head is an antiseptic that i was using to treat a minor scratch on her head)
Additionally, i noticed that her eyes seem to be a little more sunken into her head than other quails i own. Although i think it makes her look kinda cute, i worry that it could cause issues in the future and/or with future generations. I had plans to breed with her but if it is likely to cause issues, I wont risk it. This can sort of be seen in the images, but its a little more obvious in real life.

Edit: a friend mentioned that sunken eyes could also indicate dehydration, and come to think of it i dont remember seeing her actually drink, but surely she could not survive a full week without doing so. She had constant access to fresh water. Regardless, it would explain why i didn’t notice the sunken eyes until recently.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I noticed that one of her ears has since turned black/dark red and lost the feathers that cover it. When she first came home, her ear looked perfectly normal, but now it almost looks like her ear is covered in a lauer of dry blood (it feels like it too). Is it possible that she just scratched her ear, or is it more likely to be a bigger issue.

I have attached photos of both before and after - when she had a normal ear and when i noticed the issue (in the second image, the orange-brown stain on her head is an antiseptic that i was using to treat a minor scratch on her head)

i noticed that her eyes seem to be a little more sunken into her head than other quails i own. Although i think it makes her look kinda cute, i worry that it could cause issues in the future and/or with future generations.

Let's get some Quail Folks in here. @TwoCrows @007Sean (who am I forgetting?!)

I don't know much about Quail, but I would inspect her very well for lice/mites.

She had a minor scratch on her head - could be she's injured the ear from scratching, but look in the ear too for signs of infection.
Have you noticed any indication of respiratory symptoms? I don't know about Quail much, but in chickens sunken eyes can often be an indication of respiratory disease like Mycoplasma. I'm not sure if Quail are susceptible to MG, but it the eyes may be from some other type of illness, so I would continue to keep her in quarantine for observation.

 

[TwoCrows]

I am so sorry! I really don't know what this could be other than an injury of some sort or possible infection as @Wyorp Rock has suggested. She is totally alone and no other quail could have done this? Possibly it happened before you got her and it is now showing signs?

If this appears to be blood, it's possible it will heal on it's own, she may have cut it somehow and it is healing. If it looks like pus is coming out of it, you will definitely need to intervene then with some sort of topical antibiotic.

Let me tag Sean again here... @007Sean

 

[blackoaktammy]

It looks to me like she boinked her head. Is she in a cage with bars on the top? That would explain the line of feathers that is missing. King quail can be very flighty. I recently had a hen startle when I was feeding. I have a routine and did nothing new or different, but the hen boinked so hard she started having seizures and died. There are several thoughts about cage height. Low cages (12" or so) so they don't have enough velocity to hurt themselves, 18-24", and high cages. I have birds in all sorts of setups, and I think it just depends on the bird. I will say I have had less injuries in a 12" high cage that is a converted bookcase. The tops of the levels are solid and those birds rarely boink.

 

[SummerQuails]

Let's get some Quail Folks in here. @TwoCrows @007Sean (who am I forgetting?!)

I don't know much about Quail, but I would inspect her very well for lice/mites.

She had a minor scratch on her head - could be she's injured the ear from scratching, but look in the ear too for signs of infection.
Have you noticed any indication of respiratory symptoms? I don't know about Quail much, but in chickens sunken eyes can often be an indication of respiratory disease like Mycoplasma. I'm not sure if Quail are susceptible to MG, but it the eyes may be from some other type of illness, so I would continue to keep her in quarantine for observation.

Thank you for replying I havent been able to look inside her ear for other signs of infection, as the black ‘scab’ covers the whole ear. Ive considered picking it off but im worried it will hurt her and will do more harm than good. I also haven’t noticed any signs of a respiratory infection - she seems to be breathing normally. However, she doesnt run around as much as my other quails and tends to sit in one corner, but i figured that this was because she was in a new, probably scary environment and she was alone. Definitely going to keep her in quarantine for now though

 

[SummerQuails]

I am so sorry! I really don't know what this could be other than an injury of some sort or possible infection as @Wyorp Rock has suggested. She is totally alone and no other quail could have done this? Possibly it happened before you got her and it is now showing signs?

If this appears to be blood, it's possible it will heal on it's own, she may have cut it somehow and it is healing. If it looks like pus is coming out of it, you will definitely need to intervene then with some sort of topical antibiotic.

Let me tag Sean again here... @007Sean

Yeah, she’s completely alone. She has some branches in the corner of her quarantine cage to make it look a little more natural, so i think if she scratched her ear, it is likely it was on one of those. Thank you for your reply

 

[SummerQuails]

It looks to me like she boinked her head. Is she in a cage with bars on the top? That would explain the line of feathers that is missing. King quail can be very flighty. I recently had a hen startle when I was feeding. I have a routine and did nothing new or different, but the hen boinked so hard she started having seizures and died. There are several thoughts about cage height. Low cages (12" or so) so they don't have enough velocity to hurt themselves, 18-24", and high cages. I have birds in all sorts of setups, and I think it just depends on the bird. I will say I have had less injuries in a 12" high cage that is a converted bookcase. The tops of the levels are solid and those birds rarely boink.

Yeah, she is in a cage with bars. Its around 13” but its the only spare cage i have at the moment as my only other is being used for a different new quail from a different breeder (I figured I probably shouldn’t quarantine them together). I think she got the cut on her head from boinking against the bars. I treated it with antiseptic, and it was while doing so that i noticed her other issues. She does seem quite skittish and flighty compared to some of my others, but it could just be because shes in a new environment and is scared. Hopefully she’ll calm down. Thank you for your help

 

[TwoCrows]

Yeah, she’s completely alone. She has some branches in the corner of her quarantine cage to make it look a little more natural, so i think if she scratched her ear, it is likely it was on one of those. Thank you for your reply ☺

I wouldn't pick at this, at least unless it gets full of pus, then you might want to drain it. I would just leave it alone for now and see if it heals. If it's just blood, what ever is healing under there will cause the dried blood to flake off as the skin heals.

 

[SummerQuails]

Update: the quail is doing a lot better, thank you to everyone for your help. The dried blood on her ear started to crumble away and it turns out that the feathers which are supposed to cover her ears hadnt come out (like i had previously assumed) but were hidden inside the scab. The scab had come away from her skin and was just attached to her feather so i just rubbed it between my fingers and it crumbled away. As for the sunken eyes, that seems to have resolved itself too, thiugh im not sure how as shes not drinking any more than she was previously. Maybe her body was just using the energy from water to heal itself rather than normal uses..? Idk. Regardless, shes doing a lot better now. Thank you guys for your help