quail bleeding

[bkquail]

I hatched out 8 coturnix quail out about 2 and a half weeks ago. everything seems to be going good but today there was some blood in the cage. non of the birds looked injured or anything but a few had blood on them. mainly on their feet. I washed them off an put them in seperat cages to see if i could find out if they were all bleeding or if it was just on. i was able to narrow it down to just one bird bleeding. she has stoped bleeding from what it seems but wont let me pick her up now without screaming and freaking out. I was able to get her back in the cage with the others. I dont think it was due to fighting or anything but should i try to keep her seperated from the others or let them be in the cage togeather, and should I try to get the remainder of the blood on her feet that looks like it has dried or let her deal with it? please let me know asap thanks

 

[Tony K T]

The trick I use is spray paint your light bulbs red.I helps hide the blood if one is bleeding.If they see blood they usually keep pecking until a bird is dead.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[bkquail]

Thank you. so far they all seem good they are all laying nex to eachother and eating and drinking fine. it looking like he just got one of his toes stuck on something and caused it to bleed a little. he/ she is walking fine and no fighting so far

 

[dc3085]

Some people will recommend spraying them with blukote (antibiotic spray) and it works great to stave off infection, but if you decide to go that route, spray everyone's feet so they don't pick at the one bird with blue feet.

 

[stephstuckman]

I had one do thatast week. It was surprising how much blood came out of the tiny cut on the toe. I put a blob a quick stop powder on it I have for my dogs and it stopped instantly. Since it's yellow it blended and nobody pecked at it.

 

[djknight]

I have raised hundreds of bob white quail. We incubate and hatch our own for dog training.
Quail from day one have an extremely curious nature among other traits. They will peck and peck and peck at almost anything and when confined even in large areas and will almost always peck at each others nostrils,eyes, feet, or bums at some point. If they end up drawing blood or the victim has even the slightest difference in looks they will continue to peck away until death.
Nothing I have ever tried works like beak trimming.
I have tried red lights, low to zero light, red enclosures, increased heat, decreased heat, more space per bird, treats, toys and distractions, higher protein food, different brands of food. Mine always start picking at either nostrils or bums after about a week, so much so that I was losing about 20% of my hatch to picking.
I totally resisted beak trimming as a last resort and it has turned out to be the miracle I had hoped for with all the other things that I had tried but had failed.
When chicks are about 1 week old use a pair of sharp fingernail clippers and just snip off the tip of the upper beak. It's quick and pretty easy. Sometimes they will bleed just a drop or two but with a seconds pressure against the nick it stops almost immediately.
Or you can use a styptic pencil or even just plain old cornstarch to stop the minor bleeding.
They will still act as though they are pecking at each other but will do lots less damage as beak tip is now blunt instead of needle sharp.
This has not affected eating or drinking in any way. I do have to trim again when babies are about 6-8 weeks old but I find that the aggressive picking seems to lessen some as the birds age.
Occasionally you will have an overly aggressive hen or cock once they are mature, my theory there is that those should be culled as they will only breed more aggressive chicks in the future if breeding is your purpose.