Help Needed: Newbie Quail Keeps Shutting Eye

[Caille]

Hi everyone,

About two days ago I tried introducing my 1 month old Italian quail female to a group of Japanese quails, consisting of one male and three females. The flock lives in an outdoor floor cage with plenty of space and shelter.

When placing the Italian quail in the cage, the other quails checked it out at first by walking around it, and after a while two of the females and one in particular started chasing and pecking the Italian quail, mostly around her back area and near her eye. I distributed food to break the tension, and it worked for while.

A day later, I noticed one of the Italian quail's her eyes was shut, and on prying it open there were no signs apparent signs of soreness, bleeding to the eye or damage to the cornea. I have since removed the bird from the flock and she's now in her own cage.

The bird keeps shutting her eye intermittently, and sometimes she keeps both her eyes open while looking for food etc.

As there are no apparent signs of injury to the eye, I would like to know whether there's a need to get a vet involved? The bird seems fine other than that (eating, drinking, and not being afraid in general).

I will appreciate your assistance in the matter at hand!

Caille

 

[Stellar]

Your Manchurian female might have gotten something in her eye. I would keep her inside and monitor her.
How old were the other quail??

 

[Caille]

Thanks for replying!

I will definitely keep an eye on her. How long should I wait and see if there's any change with her eye?

The other quails are already sexually mature. I bought them about 2 months ago, and they were already cawing (the male) and laying eggs.

 

[Stellar]

I bet she got picked on the eye. If you see no marks, just apply a warm cloth on it so it soothes her a bit.

I would wait until she is fully mature before introducing her to the flock.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
I bet too she got picked on the eye. Quails are known to poke out eyes of victims they pick upon.

Unfortunately.

 

[Caille]

Thank you all for replying!

I kept a close eye on the bird, and it seems her eye is better now. She also just started laying eggs about around the time the incident with the eye happened

 

[Stellar]

awww, I am so happy she is doing better

 

[Caille]

Thanks for your kind words; I'm glad to report her eye is okay now and she keeps it open

 

[Stellar]

Woot!!!!

 

[JJMR794]

As A General Rule Its Best Practice To Not Mix Quail That Arent Evenly Sized... And When You Do Mix Them They All Go Into Neutral Territory Simultaneously. So When Shes Healed Up And Fully Sized Place Them In A New Pen At The Same Time... Dont Have Another Pen? Take The Old Estabolished Group Out Of Their Current Pen 2 Wks Before The Introduction And House Them Someplace Else Temporarily. Also If You Can Rearrange Stuff In The Old Pen--- Move The Feed And Water Dishes Around, Change The Dustbath Container, Etc... Now When Everybody Goes Back Into Your Pen It's Neutral Territory And Nobody Has Any Territorial Boundaries That They Have To Protect. And A Few Hiding Spots Help Greatly Too.