BQ head injury--feather loss around eyes and face

[kimbits]

Hi all, I've been noticing that Bee, who recently suffered a pretty serious head injury which has since healed, is losing more of the small feathers around her eyes and sides of her face. Both of her ear holes are exposed.

I've noticed that she smells a bit mustier than her little brother, and it mostly smells that way around her balding head. Also, at the back of her head it looks as though there are lines of white crust forming around the base of some of her remaining head feathers. The top part is all grey (I'm assuming due to the injury, unless BQ's have a mix of grey and pink skin?). Could this just be new skin growing?

Again, appetite seems to be normal (she's pecking at some egg food now) and she likes to preen and hop around first thing in the morning. I'm used to dealing with budgie injuries, and have never seen this sort of peripheral feather loss before.

I haven't used hydrocortizone or anything other than Neosporin for the duration of her treatment.

[Hezz]

I wonder if the feather loss could be where the AB spray may have settled? Hopefully it is just something simple like that and the feathers will regrow with time, when the skin is fully healed. I know nothing about quails, sorry, and am just guessing!

[kimbits]

Could the ointment have "suffocated" the feathers, causing them to fall out? I've noticed that on the top of her head she's got some black pin feathers starting to poke through. I bought some Vitaflight supplement and sprinkled it over her food. Hopefully that will help with the feather re-growth! Also, she's been dropping body feathers more than usual so I wonder if she's not moulting as well.

Silly Bee! lol

[Hezz]

Poor Bee! A healing head, and feather growth around the area on top of it! Too much for a poor quail to deal with. Glad that the feathers are starting to come back, but yeah, that was my thinking, that the ointment may have somehow caused the feather loss. So she may be a prickley Bee for a while.

[Bird Junky]

Hi. I would take her to a bird vet ASP. It's better to get a

professional opinion. She may have picked up anything

while her immunity levels were compromised by her

accident. Yours B.J.

PS by way of interest, how did she injure her head?

[kimbits]

She "boinked" sometime during the night and whacked up against a hard piece of plastic at the top of her pen It wasn't a serious injury at first, and I was treating it with peroxide and neosporin. But when she kept re-opening it and making it worse was when I had to take her to get sutures put in place. It's healed really well, you can't even see a scar!

I went to the craft store last weekend and bought 1/2" upholstery foam to cover the underside of her pen.

I'm not sure a vet is warranted at this point. She's eating, drinking, active, and alert, and the crusty patches of skin are not crusty any longer, just bare. I'm hoping that the vitamin supplements will help