URGENT two quails blinded in 24 hours.

[rosesroost]

Hello my cortinux quail are now 2 1/2 months old. We moved them outside at 1 1/2... I live in cornwall uk s temperature is mild but damp. I keep wellsummer chickens, and quail only. I am new to Quail. Since being outside the Q had all stopped laying, but 3 weeks later (wich brings us to yesterday) I went up to find one bird bleeding from both eyes, in their drinker, it couldn't move. tHey have a heat lamp to keep them snug and laying, and have a 3 by 3ft run as well as a 2 by 2ft bedroom. I bought it in straight away, put it in a clean indoor run, and bathed its eyes every four ours with cooled sterilised water. This morning it started eating and seemed quite perky, then this Afternoon it opened one eye that I had thought had completely gone. Then this evening I went up to check and another little girl had had one of her eyes pecked Apart, I now have her in a seperate basket inside. She has one completely good eye but the other I am bathing the same way, I keep 6 all together, one of which is a cock, what am I doing wrong? And how can I stop it?a nd can these victims have a happy life even if kept seperate and as pets? Xxx

 

[mnferalkitty]

It is one of the other quail that is doing this I would get rid of the mean quail asap and its not always the cock but females can be super mean to other females. You can keep them as pets if you want.

 

[AngieO]

good luck finding out which one is the aggressor. I would definitely remove it from the flock. I am sorry you are going through this! I would suggest keeping the injured birds separate until they are completely healed or it will happen again.

 

[James the Bald]

From what you are saying, you are not doing "anything wrong". You won't be able to sit there and watch to see which one is the "meanie", but one thing you could do is get a video camera set to record your quail pen. To determine which one is which, you can get several color markers and color some small zip ties. Put a different color Zip tie on one leg of each bird. Set your video to record, then after an hour, review the video to see which one needs to fill the freezer.

I hope this helps.

 

[TwoCrows]

Are you keeping these quail WITH the chickens? Chickens will kill quail. Keep the injured ones under a heat lamp for a few days. Injuries can send them into shock which can kill them faster than the injuries themselves. And the first thing shock causes is severe internal cold. Keep the temps up between 80 and 90 degrees F. Keep them in a quiet area as well.

If it is a quail doing this, separate out the aggressor, possibly permanently.

 

[Chick Charm]

Are you feeding 24/7? And is your feed high enough in protein?
Are you cots in a sterilized pen/cage system? Can your Welsummers be getting to them?
Even Cots will peck at anything resembling blood until they do some serious damage.
As previously mentioned, separate and give them heat along with water and GBS or turkey grower at least.

 

[rosesroost]

This morning they are both looking well...I have them in seperate indoor housing with heat lamps, high protein feed and water, but they don't seem to be drinking on eating, scratching and pruning themselves. I haven't had them with the chickens no, they have their own seperate area of the garden in their own run, no one can get to the so it must be a quail doing it. I will put my phone to video record later today. Thanks guys. Can anyone suggest anything better for the healing process of the eyes? At the moment I'm just using surgical cotton wool and sterilised water xxx

 

[TwoCrows]

Other than some terramycin drops for the eyes, there isn't much you can do at this point. If there is torn skin around the eyes, you can apply neosporin or something similar to heal the skin on the face. Keep them warm for a few days til they get their appetites back.

Try feeding them anything they WILL eat as they are probably not hungry for gamebird food. Try some hard boiled eggs, warm grits, warm oatmeal, sliced fruit, berries etc...soft foods are more appealing to a sick bird than dry hard gamebird food.

 

[rosesroost]

Thankyou all so much. The girls are looking much chirpier at the moment, I've put them both in together under close watch and they seem quite happy, I think they will be friends. They are nesting into the wood shavings and snoozing, and have both enjoyed a nice lunch. Will keep y'all updated. X