WOW...worst scalping ever by coturnix roo...

[First To Hatch]

Cull it, save yourself the time trouble and stress, and relieve the bird.

I was in a very similiar situation this past winter but worse.... I had one kill the other (I think) to this dsy I'm not sure what happened but I remember a dead quail and alota blood I never examined him properly but I just disposed of him.... then theres was another quail half of his head was bone I could clearly see his skull... and he had 1 eye gone...I tried to get him better he started getting better first two days but then got much worse very skinny wouldn't eat or anything.... so I ended up shooting him with my pellet rifle (I couldn't let myself do it any other way with a pellet rifle its just pulling a trigger much easier). As far as "Big Bertha she'll do fine I've had birds live out well with one eye.

 

[thebritt]

I took care of a friend's hen that had all her back skin ripped off from her neck to her tail. She not only survived, but grew back feathers! Just keep the exposed area clean and uncovered with a thin layer of Neosporin on the area. I would also bring her inside for a few days until you're sure there's no risk of infection from getting yard or coop stuff on the owie. I think I would corral that roo, too. Good luck.

 

[monarc23]

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LOL promise you he's a sweet boy normally, he just doesn't have common sense... grabbing a hen repeatedly doesn't change that she's not going to squat lol. Actually his color would cost way less than that to get again, color really isnt the issue because his son is a lot nicer than him, I just like my Ike.

I ended up culling the scalped hen, her skin atrophied so bad that she could no longer close her eyes so trauma on top of trauma I thought rather than have her live that way AND risk her going blind from her eyes drying I decided to not let her suffer anymore.

Lophora, thank you for your input on this, I wished i could have kept Starling alive but it was just too much her poor little eyes were stuck opened because of the way her skin dried/atrophied pretty sick and sad.

Big Bertha with one less eye

is drinking and acting quite normal just sleeping a lot more and the gunk coming out

she's going to get terramycin in her eye here ina little bit now that she's acting better....try to wash up the area some see if theres any other injuries I dont know about.

 

[monarc23]

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Yep that's sadly what it came down to with the skull exposed Starling. She couldnt even close her eyes any longer. No point in living if you're skull is going to stay perminantly exposed AND be blind from not being able to keep the eyes moist. Bertha is doing a lot better

 

[monarc23]

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If that roo prooves to do it again then I'll do something about it but to be honest, he's been in with hens now for weeks and this is the first time. I didnt SEE what happened but i am positive he did it in his anmormous ways of trying to get the hens to squat lol. It's not funny but just saying. But yes if he does it again, hopefully I catch it in time that the hens only beat up a tiny bit and then he'll become compost pile food....

thanks for the well wishes

 

[Southernbelle]

I had a chicken that was scalped and she made it. She was tortured by an older hen and had the skin completely ripped off from the top of her head to the base of her shoulders, her lower jaw was completely exposed, I could see her bones moving.

I thought sure she was going to die, but I couldn't quite make myself cull her.

I isolated her, but the first day she didn't eat or drink, just huddled in her pen. I washed it with a sterile saline solution (1 qt boiled water and 1/4 t salt), rubbed Neosporin on her huge bare spot. The next day, she was eating and drinking. Her poo looked normal, so I decided to wait a little longer to decide if I was going to culll her.

After that, she just got better, she acted normal, her bare spot scabbed over very thick and hard, the scab got smaller and smaller until it fell off. Her exposed area is completely covered with skin, she has a bald spot on the back of her head about the size of a quarter, but the feathers around it cover it for the most part. She's very happy and healthy. It took about 6 weeks from the incident to the scab falling off.

I chose not to give antibiotics or pain relievers. At the time, I didn't have the right stuff to give her and later she seemed to be doing fine without them.

Good luck with your girls!

 

[monarc23]

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Thanks for the info here

I'm really hopeful for BB (sick of spelling out her full name haha). she's going to hate me in a second when I put terramycin in her eye (equivalant to neosporin for animals) LOL. I truely believe she's going to make it, she's inside near other quail but not with them so she feels safe.

welp off to clean her up.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I didn't read all the posts, but I would say that yes, the skin can grow back. If you have antibiotics that you can put them on, try wetting their feed with the antibiotic water, that can't hurt. You could also try spoon feeding her some medicine. Any little bit would help. The severely scalped one at least needs that wound covered!! Put some petroleum jelly on it after you clean it really well. Hope they come out of it!! I wouldn't cull unless it was absolutely necessary. I'm so sorry this happened!! This is why my quail will only be put together if everyone is moved to a new cage!! Seems to throw them off, and makes the 'old' ones not notice there is a new one as much.

 

[monarc23]

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Sadly I put her down, she was doing pretty badly, but yeppers I was planning to do something like that with her, it was disgusting...it was like looking at a skeleton...oh wait...it WAS! LOL. *sigh*


Big Bertha has one less eye but is full of spunk and back to her old self today eating and making a mess *shakes head*

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, I had some chicken chicks this past fall that were scalped like that by the hen they were with. I guess the new chicks were too new, and she could tell they weren't 'hers'. Neither one of the two that were scalped made it, I tried everything but they were just too badly beaten up.