help? quail has been scalped

[sammit]

my babies have reached sexual maturity. i have one male currently in isolation as its clean ripped the feathers off the backs and necks of all of my females and scalped another male.

how do i deal with the scalping? the bleeding is fresh, theres a scab forming and the poor bloke looks like hes gone through a clothes dryer with the amount of feathers missing (also possible wing injury as hes holding it down and out). the hole in his head is about the size of a pea, just above his eye but theres no feathers and i can see skull (and blood). should i let it scab over and it will heal? ive given him some spark in his water and have him seperated from the main group in case they attack him for his injury.

 

[USAmma]

I know most people would say to cull it, and maybe you should . . I am not the most experienced one here. I can't believe the damage one quail has done to the others. Yikes! I had one that was very injured with a skin flap hanging from the neck. I separated it and put antibiotic ointment and kept it quiet and warm, and it made a full recovery. I don't know if the skin will grow back on the scalp or not. It sounds pretty bad. :-(

 

[sammit]

ive got him seperate and quiet. hes eating and pooping and crowing. the bleeding has stopped and ive cleaned the wound. he seems ok?

 

[beakmaster]

They are remarkable healers... of themselves. He will most likey be fine. The culprit may do it again, given the chance. Isolate for a couple weeks would be my idea. Maybe the other females will forget about him and when he returns he will be the outcast. They will warm up to him but maybe he will learn his lesson. I have seen skull more than a couple times and never had a death so far.

 

[TwoCrows]

X2

They can heal quite well. Keep him quiet for a few days. Make sure he doesn't get cold as sometimes injury can cause them to get a bit shocky and they get quite chilled. Use a heat lamp for a few days if he looks all fluffed up. Apply some neosporin to the wound for a few days to help it heal. Keep him by himself until he is healed up. He may or may not grow feathers back in that spot.

Make sure you are giving them plenty of space as aggression is generally a sign of being cramped in. Offer up hidey places in the pen and propping up cut branches from a tree outside to create a jungle like feel will help keep them calm.

Keep the ratio of males to females correct as well.

When you do mix this bird back in, if one particular bird is still acting aggressive, separate the cranky bird out for a while. If for some reason, this injured bird is always being picked on, find another bird or birds that do get along with him and keep them separate.

Good luck!

 

[James the Bald]

Keep the injured male in quarantine. About the aggressive male... for once I differ from everyone else. The first thing I would do is prepare a "marinade". If he did this once, he won't change his ways any time soon. I made the mistake of giving one a "second chance" after a month in a time out cage. He hurt another hen right away, and I had no problem looking him in his eyes when I cut his head off.
James

 

[sammit]

oh dont get me wrong, ive definately thought about culling the aggressor. hes still trying to get at everyone and hes got a set of bars between him!!! pity hes a silver though, i was hoping to breed with him but i dont want an *** hole tempermant running wild in the babies. injured male is by himself. the wound has scabbed over nicely and hes crowing his little feathered butt off. i had him inside under lights last night and he would NOT stop so i had to put him under the pergola.

ive always had the correct ratio of males to females, its just these guys have hit 8wks old and are starting to show now. out of 9 babies, i have 3 males so far (injured male, in prison male and another whos still in with the girls).

my pen has 15 quail in it and then pen is 1.2m wide x 4m long plus another meter at the end which is a little concrete shed with a roof. they have enough space to get away from anything!

 

[Scgamebirds]

One thing you should do as soon as possible is clip beaks. You didn't say what type it was but some types are more aggressive than others. Contunix can be especially bad and should have monthly beak trims or this will happen again. They do make a methyl blue solution that will help heal and discourage future attacks until healed. One fellow told me to put vaseline on attacked part and to deture attacks. Worked the one time tried it.

 

[RJSchaefer]

As far as the injured one, Blue Kote works wonders for pretty much anything. It will also remove that red, fresh skin look once he's healed over, so the others won't be inclined to beat him up again.

The first advice I got when I got my quail was to send any aggressive animals to "freezer camp" immediately. It's not advice I liked, but it was sound. :-/

 

[sammit]

i will never clip a beak on a bird. i find that unnecessary. not to mention, thats for use in close quarters and the space i have is well over 3ft per bird plus flying room. i put some neosporin on it (i have parrots so i do that with any of their injuries)