HELP button quail

[chika10]

so awhile back i hatched some button quails and got 7 to hatch. ive always kept them together. they are 8 weeks old now and still no eggs,but i keep them in a colony. i have never had a problem with fighting because i only have one boy with a bib and he is really sweet. i think i have mostly girls. i came home from school and one of my white buttons looked like this. it is dried up blood and i havnt seen any of them mess with it but its not getting any better. it is on her neck. is this from breeding or fighting. should i seperate her because she would get upset alone or leave her in with the rest.

 

[GrandmaBird]

Can you put her in a cage right next to the one with the other quail so they can not peck at her, just until she heals up? This would be best. Are you sure you only have one male? The white ones are harder to tell, if so that really is too many females for him. I would try to get more males if you plan to breed them if not then separate the one pair from the rest. the females would be okay in one cage but if left with the male fighting will happen. IMHO anyway.

You may want to put a bit of Neosporen on that wound too. (anti-bacterial)

 

[chika10]

i will try to keep her in a cage next to the others and see if it gets any better. this sounds like a good idea. the rest are really large compared to the one with the bib. i only hear one call each time, but i do have another with a red vent and blue breast yet i dont hear his call so i think he may be a male but i still dont know he doesnt have a bib either. thanks i will try that. once they start laying eggs it will be easier to see how many females and males they have

 

[gorabbitgo]

Sometimes males of certain color morphs won't have as obvious a bib, like red breasted and blue faced birds. The red vent feathers are a pretty reliable indicator, though. Assume those with red vents are male until proven otherwise.
As GrandmaBird said above, it's probably best to separate your males and their chosen hens when fighting starts. The mated hens can be particularly vicious and territorial.

Fair warning, your injured bird may not like being separated from the rest of the flock. I also had a bullied chick and when i separated her to give her a break she stopped eating and was extremely distraught. One thing you can do to prevent this is put another bird with her. Make sure it's a hen and preferably a hen that the injured bird gets along well with. You can usually watch them for a few minutes and figure out who the close friends are.

I hope your little bird heals up soon!

 

[chika10]

i checked her today and she had another bad injury so i put him in a seperate cage with my redbreasted hen and they get along great. i should have done this yesterday. since he is with a female it should work out. after watching him for a while i realized that one of the suspected boys were messing with him yet not the red brested hen. he just started calling today so i believe he is a boy thats a logical explanation. thanks for the help.

 

[chika10]

UPDATE well i did seperate him with a female and they get along great. i think i made a perfect pair. when i did seperate him he started to do both the boy calls. no doubt hes a boy. white ones clearly dont have bibs. so i have 3 boys and 4 females. his neck is completely healed just waiting for the feathers to grow back. his new injury on his ear is getting better but im sure will take a while to heal. thanks for everyones help!