PLEASE can you help me,I'm worried.

[Quail1994]

Ok,tonight my mom called me and said one of the males' head was roughed up and both his eyes were closed.

I nearly crapped myself when I saw him.

He is alone with one female.He is 20 weeks old.
Know I really need to what is going on!!!!????

Did the female just had enough,decided to attack him and pecked both his eyes OR is this a sickness??
PLEASE

I put eye drops on an earbud and rubbed his eyes with the wet earbud,and now they are both half open but not looking good.
Here are 2 photo's.

PLease help me.

 

[saddina]

It looks like she whalloped on him. You do know the hens can fight too (last year I had 2 hens that routienely smacked around thier roos. Only time i've ever processed hens for food).

 

[JJMR794]

Coturnix Hens Are Eye Specialists... They Focus On Eye Pecking, Unlike Bob Hens Which Go For The "hobble Effect" And Focus On Feet/ Ankles

In This Case Looks Like She Dotted Both His Eyes... I Reckon That'll Learn Him

 

[JJMR794]

Seperate Him And Leave Him Be Until He Heals... I Wouldnt Go Messin With Trying To Treat His Eyes As You May Well Cause More Harm Than Good... Just Let Him Heal Naturally... Since He's At Least Temporarily Blinded You'll Need To Make Sure He Gets To Food And Water Several Times A Day Until They Open Up Enough For Him To Be Able To Find It Himself

 

[saddina]

Yep, for a hospital room, I use a solid cage built for small lizards and such ($5-7 at the pet store), just sprinkle the feed on the floor he'll manage.

 

[Chinchilla2]

While it may be a quail roost, the female rules it. That may be why we say roo instead of rooster when it comes to coturnix; he's only in charge when she decides to let him feel worthy. I've seen small hens take down large males with little to no difficulty. With a little TLC, he should be as good as new. Only I would suggest putting him with a different, younger female next time. He may be a little shy in the mating game.

 

[trailchick]

I had some peas that hatched & shortly after the eyes on one became crusty and stayed closed. I think they were scratched on the hay bedding before the little one could hold his head up. When I went to the pharmacy for some eye salve for humans to dr them, I didnt have enough money to get the salve because it was so expensive. I read the ingredients and it had mineral oil in it. I already had some of that at home, so went home and began to use mineral oil for an eye ointment. I applied a tiny bit with a Qtip around the eye. Was afraid the oil would affect their feathers but it they soaked it up and didnt look oily pretty quickly. Their eyes cleared up the next day and a half.
Hope he improves.

 

[Quail1994]

Thanks people.

Now what should I do with the female,was this a once off thing?Will she do it again?
I don't want to kill her,I only have 8 females.

thanks.

 

[saddina]

Well that depends.

If you feel its a one-time thing, then you can try her with a different male (I'd move her to a new cage, to put her at the bottom of the pecking order). Once your roo is healed, you can take him back to his old pen and observe. Note this assumes you only have 1 attacking hen, if they all gang up, swap them all, males stay in thier pens, hens all move to reform harems. If neither work, you may have to seperate out the problem hen wth no roo, and use her strictly as an egg hen, not a breeder (temperment may be genetic).

 

[rjr]

It is awful isn't it?! This happened with my quail and like you i was shocked, i was given varying advice .... i was adviced to hang a cd in the pen to give her another focus?? and another piece of advice iwas given was to remove the offending hen and place her in a pen on her own in an area with less lightfor a week?? We did not have chance to try this as she went totally psycho and attacked other females aswell! hope this is a help .