Please help! My quail has a mass on her head.

[Robecki]

Hi, I have a pet quail that I rescued from the feed store who was being pecked by the other baby quails last year. I took her to the vet because her right eye had swollen shut and was given eye drops, but now her head is swollen on that side and she has something swollen in the corner of her eye. I don't think the vet knows much about birds. Please help me. She is my little angel Lucky! Thank you.

 

[DK newbie]

Take a look at this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1128777/advice-needed-regarding-quail-hen-with-head-enlargement

Yours doesn't quite look the same way, but my advice would be the same: cut it open and get whatever is inside out.

The swelling at the corner of the eye is most likely just caused by fluid floating to the site of infection and spreading to the surrounding tissue - it'll go away once the infection is gone.
Choose a place where the skin seems thin and where you are very certain you'll find something 'removable' near the surface, cut it with a very sharp blade - get a scalpel if possible - and get everything out. The cut made by a scalpel causes very little tissue damage, very little pain and heals quickly.
Apparently, cutting a small hole for the head in and old sock and placing the quail in the sock to keep it still during the operation works very well.

 

[Binki]

Aww I would see the vet again or find a better one - is it at all possible that the drops are irritating her skin or is that in the past now?

 

[Robecki]

Thank you for the thread to read. Do I have to numb her head first? And what kind of antibiotic do I put on it afTea wards?

 

[Robecki]

Aww I would see the vet again or find a better one - is it at all possible that the drops are irritating her skin or is that in the past now?

I live in a town where my vet is the only vet that "treats" birds. I stopped the eye drops about a week ago. Her nasal passage is damaged from when she was being pecked as a chick. Her beak grows curving to the right and at fast rate. She does have her nasal passage plug up sometimes and I have to clean it with a q-tip dipped in warm water.

 

[DK newbie]

Thank you for the thread to read. Do I have to numb her head first? And what kind of antibiotic do I put on it afTea wards?

If you have a topical analgesic that you KNOW is safe for birds - use it. Otherwise, no, it shouldn't be too painful to get a clean cut through the skin with a scalpel. And the skin might even have been numbed from the infection already.

 

[Goldie Russell]

How is your bird now? I am new to this site... I realize this is an old thread...