Quail Injury Help

[007Sean]

My only guess is that she hit her head on something and has some kind of nerve damage... I had another quail that was injured by a cat before I doubled down on the wiring and she acted similarly and her neck was a bit displaced. I’m wondering if this one flew up and hit her neck or something because it was so random.

That is a possibility? I've lost a few to flushing but they broke their necks, had one that boinked pretty hard and was 'loopy' for about an hour. Others with the low hanging wings, injured their wing while flushing into the side of the pen wire.

 

[Dsauce91]

That looks like she flushed and broke her neck. She may have done so before but not as hard, which would explain why she seemed injured. How high is the roof of your pen? It should be either too low for them to get up enough speed to harm themselves when they flush or high enough that they don't hit the roof.

The roof is about 4ft tall. It has chicken wire on the top. Do you think I need to make it smaller/taller?

 

[Nabiki]

The roof is about 4ft tall. It has chicken wire on the top. Do you think I need to make it smaller/taller?

That shouldn't be causing those kinds of injuries. Do you have a picture of your setup?

 

[Dsauce91]

That shouldn't be causing those kinds of injuries. Do you have a picture of your setup?

I do! I’m lowering it now because it sounds like all the advice says to do a small hutch instead...

 

[Nabiki]

I do! I’m lowering it now because it sounds like all the advice says to do a small hutch instead...

Yeah. A quail could injure themselves on the beams across the top. I would also recommend using half inch hardware cloth. It is better for keeping predators out. Everything likes to eat quail.

 

[Dsauce91]

Thanks for the advice. I’m gonna redo the roof and lower it to a hutch size

 

[Dsauce91]

Update: I made the coop smaller (about 20”) and redid the roof with another material. Hopefully this helps.