Quail wounds--pictures--inside job or predator?...

[SMMS3617]

My 10 week old hens live outside in a pen.
Maybe 3-4 weeks ago I reinforced it with small chicken wire 2 ft up from the base after one of my hens was beheaded by a predator. (I reinforced it that afternoon.) Then, the following morning another hen had a head wound. not too bad, bloody and some skin missing, but not too alarming. So, I quarantined her and set up a hospital inside. She recovered and her wound was becoming a small scab within a few weeks. She went back outside to join the flock maybe 2 weeks ago.
Then, this morning, I find her with an even worse head wound with more skin missing and all bloody. Along with a deep gash on her lower breast/stomach. So, she's in hospital again after I flushed the wounds, clipped the feathers and applied triple antibiotic.

I don't know what has happened.
I was told that they were all females upon purchase and I checked for myself this evening, they seem to be all females. (Thank you YT Slightly Rednecked).


Any advice? This poor girl has been through so much and I feel so bad. Should she just live separately? She seemed fine since returning and I havent noticed any bullying from the others. But I can see tendons on her neck and her head is all swollen. She's just been through it in such a short amount of time.
Pictures attached.

Thank you in advance.

 

[SMMS3617]

She is very feisty, and was feisty with her last wound. So I'm not super concerned about her pulling through but I'm hoping to get advice on what may be causing her bad luck or suggestions from fellow bird people.

 

[Nabiki]

That is not quail on quail violence. I would recommend using 1/2" hardware cloth and take a good hard look for any place that a small predator can get in or reach through.

Rats can do that kind of damage, so could something reaching through, grabbing a handful of feathers and pulling the skin off along with them. Raccoons are know to pull prey through wire piece by piece if they can reach inside.

 

[SMMS3617]

That is not quail on quail violence. I would recommend using 1/2" hardware cloth and take a good hard look for any place that a small predator can get in or reach through.

Rats can do that kind of damage, so could something reaching through, grabbing a handful of feathers and pulling the skin off along with them. Raccoons are know to pull prey through wire piece by piece if they can reach inside.

Thank you, that's what I was hoping for (I want peace within my girls). I'm going to install more chicken wire upwards another 2 feet or more, as they are in a 6 ft tall pen. Today I put stones around the base too in case it's from below, though I do have wire underneath the pen, covered with dirt for their feet.

It's weird because with the last two attacks there were visible attack sites with feathers and or blood. I didn't find any this time as I did a deep clean after adjustments to my pen.

Do you know any good scent deterents?

 

[Penpal]

Pepper, any kind. They sniff it, can't smell, go away. You would need to re apply after every rain. Same with puma scent.

 

[SMMS3617]

Pepper, any kind. They sniff it, can't smell, go away. You would need to re apply after every rain. Same with puma scent.

Thank you, I think garlic may be good too! I believe I found some deterrent from Lowe's years ago with garlic

 

[Charlie Wooster]

Cats, Coons and Rats do that type of damage.. gotta make it impossible for them to stick a paw in anywhere around the perimeter, top, bottom, over or under.. forttify your corners especially. Pictures of the set up may help with advice..

 

[SMMS3617]

My stone perimeter this morning showed three spots of overnight attempts. Some digging too. Smelled some skunk scent...but girls are safe. Now I know for sure what happened.

 

[Charlie Wooster]

Yes skunks will stay on the ground they don’t really climb.. so a strong perimeter fence will be sufficient to keep skunks out of the yard, that’s the first line of defense. They will go under gates, fences, any gaps or low spots, water drainage, pipes, gulleys anywhere a fence is not secured tight to the ground or a post/structure and also check for and fix any holes in fences and an outbuilding used as a section of fence may be compromised, they will dig under and live a few days under a building in your backyard and move on to someone else’s yard next week, secure all buildings/houses/structures and porches with “underpinning”.. rats, cats and coons will climb and jump a perimeter fence at will.. so perimeter fence inspection and maintenance is key for skunks and then coop repair and reinforcement for all varmints !!