Sick quail - advice please

[quailmothersyd]

Hello there fellow backyard chickeners!

I live in Sydney Australia and have four pet quails. I have a very sick quail, pictures attached. I haven't found anything on here quite like it. And it's progressed to this in just 4 days, before that, Lily (quail) was just fine.

Does anybody know what this is? Advice much appreciated.

She is still eating, drinking, and hanging out with her quail friends. They aren't bullying her or pecking at her and I probably should have quarantined her earlier in case it is contagious. Which I think it could be... because another one is losing head feathers ((

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[JaeG]

Hello there fellow backyard chickeners!

I live in Sydney Australia and have four pet quails. I have a very sick quail, pictures attached. I haven't found anything on here quite like it. And it's progressed to this in just 4 days, before that, Lily (quail) was just fine.

Does anybody know what this is? Advice much appreciated.

She is still eating, drinking, and hanging out with her quail friends. They aren't bullying her or pecking at her and I probably should have quarantined her earlier in case it is contagious. Which I think it could be... because another one is losing head feathers

((

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Welcome to BYC. Feel free to introduce yourself in the New Members forum.

It could just be the attentions of the male if they are losing head feathers. And Chinese/Buttons can be pretty private about that sort of thing so you may not notice it happening. They can also 'boink' up during the night and hit their heads which can cause feather loss on the head. So I don't think your Lily has any kind of disease.

 

[DK newbie]

Yeah, I agree with JaeG - haven't seen any disease like this, but boinking into the roof or the others pecking her could cause something like this. It could even explain the progression - perhaps she boinked the first day, then she had a little blood on her head causing one of the others to peck at her. Either the pecking or her boinking again to get away from the pecking could then have caused the progression.
It could also have started because one of the others started pecking, which would explain why another one is missing feathers as well.
In any case, I'd separate her and put her in an enclosure with a soft roof (a layer of fabric suspended below the actual roof for instance) - this would prevent both boinking injuries and pecking injuries. If it keeps getting worse after that, diseases might be an option - a bully just seems more likely.
If she still doesn't seem cold and is eating and drinking fine, I'd keep her private enclosure right next to or within the enclosure of the others, to keep her from getting lonely and to make the reintroduction easier.

 

[quailmothersyd]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond guys! I will definitely take this all on board and I am going to separate her to avoid any further bullying or pecking. I can separate the enclosure next to the quails so they can still see each other - they do love one another's company from what I can see

I'm also going to put a fabric layer for head bonkinginjuries.

I hope she gets better and thank you again!