Injured quail - help please!

[joannas11]

Hi,

I've had my 6 quail for 3 months now and have had no problems. They're all hens. Yesterday, I noticed one chasing another and pecking at her and that the pecked one had 2 bloody eyes.
I've moved the injured quail into a carrier that's raised up in the main area so the rest can't get at her but they can all still smell each other. She seems to be completely blind at the moment but I can't tell if her eyes have been destroyed or just injured. There is blood on her but it kind of looks like her eyes are closed, rather than gouged out.
Overnight she's either eaten a little bit of food or knocked the bowl. There is no poo in the carrier so that makes me think she's not eating.
I rang the vets - not a local vets as my local vets don't do birds - and they said to bring her in. I want to avoid that as it would be so, so stressful for her but its really hard to know if this is a temporary thing and maybe some antibiotic spray would help or if she will suffer for a few days and then die, in which case putting her to sleep would be the kindest thing to do. My quails are pets and I just cannot face culling her myself, nor would I know how to do that.
I would be grateful for any advice about what to do. I can post some pictures.

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

 

[sourland]

I would apply ophthalmic ointment to her eyes and head wounds. Keep an eye on the aggressive bird as she may start attacking others.

 

[joannas11]

Thank you for your response @sourland I've ordered some antibiotic spray.
She is actually looking quite perky now, possibly after having eaten something, and having blundered around the carrier, has found the water dish and drunk some water so I think the immediate risk of dehydration is reduced for now. I guess I will just have to wait and see if there is any improvement with the eyes and if it looks like she has been permanently blinded, take her to have her put to sleep as it doesn't seem fair to leave her isolated and blind forever.
Can anyone tell me how long an injured eye would take to start healing? Could I potentially see some changes in a couple days?
Thank you!

 

[Nabiki]

Quail heal surprisingly fast. You should see improvement in a day or two. She likely still has both of her eyes (I'm guessing from experience since we don't have pictures). From my experience, she should recover completely.

In the meantime, you might want to take the aggressive one out for a day or two to see if that adjusts her behaviour.

 

[FloorCandy]

Thank you for your response @sourland I've ordered some antibiotic spray.
She is actually looking quite perky now, possibly after having eaten something, and having blundered around the carrier, has found the water dish and drunk some water so I think the immediate risk of dehydration is reduced for now. I guess I will just have to wait and see if there is any improvement with the eyes and if it looks like she has been permanently blinded, take her to have her put to sleep as it doesn't seem fair to leave her isolated and blind forever.
Can anyone tell me how long an injured eye would take to start healing? Could I potentially see some changes in a couple days?
Thank you!

You’ll find they heal very fast, and if her eyes are still intact, you will see definite improvement within a couple days. What do the victim and aggressor look like, and are you certain they are both female? I’ve found in my birds, females are generally more likely to get on top and peck, leaving the victim scalped, males swipe at each other, often injuring eyes, and trying to puncture the neck, then after wearing them down, will mount and peck the head, and if hens go for eyes, they are usually warning off a male. That being said, all birds are different, and some will just start picking on others for no reason, in any method possible like a bully. Also if your victim has light blue or pink eyes, the others sometimes peck them, pink eyes for obvious reasons, and blue eyes, because sometimes in bright light, they look pinkish. Another thing, birds are racist, and will often single out ones that look dramatically different in color, and attack them to drive them out of the covey, but in a cage they have nowhere to go.

 

[joannas11]

Thank you @Nabiki and @FloorCandy
Here are some pictures of the injured quail. I think its a female and I've never seen any behaviour to suggest its a male such as making a lot of noise or trying to mate with the others but I am very new to this!
The one that I've seen attacking it is exactly the same colouration - I have trouble telling them apart. I also have 2 Tuxedo, 1 Jumbo and 1 Tibetan. The attack I saw was the other one chasing this one around relentlessly and pecking at the eyes - no attempts to get on top or mount. I wish I'd caught it earlier as I might have been more sure of saving at least one eye. The others may have attacked when I wasn't looking so I don't know for sure who was the instigator.

 

[Nabiki]

I'm pretty sure she still has her eyes. The spotted chest says hen to me.

It looks like you did a good job getting her injuries cleaned, so I would expect her to make a full recovery.

 

[QuailTail]

Thank you @Nabiki and @FloorCandy
Here are some pictures of the injured quail. I think its a female and I've never seen any behaviour to suggest its a male such as making a lot of noise or trying to mate with the others but I am very new to this!
The one that I've seen attacking it is exactly the same colouration - I have trouble telling them apart. I also have 2 Tuxedo, 1 Jumbo and 1 Tibetan. The attack I saw was the other one chasing this one around relentlessly and pecking at the eyes - no attempts to get on top or mount. I wish I'd caught it earlier as I might have been more sure of saving at least one eye. The others may have attacked when I wasn't looking so I don't know for sure who was the instigator.

How is she going today? The poor thing.. there was someone else recently who posted a similar situation where one of their hens had their eyes pecked. Must be something in the water!!

 

[joannas11]

She's still alive this morning and has eaten something because there is poo in her carrier. She isn't showing any signs of regaining her sight and is quite subdued - normally she's one of my more timid quails and doesn't like me near her but she isn't making any attempt to get away from me when I change the water or food in the carrier. She hasn't laid any eggs since she was moved - I guess trauma puts them off? But is there risk of her becoming egg bound?

 

[Nabiki]

Not laying after a stressful event (and for quail, almost anything can be stressful) is perfectly normal. Give her some time and quiet.