Removing poop off quail feet?

dc3085 said:

The sand acts like cat litter and dries the poop out. Any that does stick sort of gets sanded off by walking. Also if they walk in their water a lot try adding marbles like you would for chicks so they cant troop around with wet feet through the poop

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kwalden86 said:

I know this post is really old but I'm glad I found it! We unfortunately had some flooding and now have these balls to deal with. I'll be trying the pliers at first light!

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SouthernAlberta said:

I acquired two buttons a few months ago and used the bedding I had on hand, alfalfa hay. Overnight one of the birds had a poop ball on a toe. I found a solution on Youtube. One quail fancier puts her birds in a wire bottomed birdcage and sets that cage in a tray of warm water. As the birds walk across the wire, the friction and warm water loosen the poop balls. My buttons are in a terarrium. I don't have a wire birdcage for them, so I never tried this. A different bedding -- pine pellets -- ended my problem.

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SeptemberQuail said:

My 4 month old quail are getting poop stuck on their feet, like dried clumps on their toes.
Around two or three of my hens have these balls on their feet which we tried dipping their feet in warm water and it wouldn't come off.
They hated it anyway...
We ended up with two pulled nails on two hens but we managed to stop the bleeding.

Any ways on how to calm them down and get rid of the poop? they're used to being handled, but they don't like getting their feet stroked to remove the poop...

Thanks.

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TwoCrows said:

I do apologize to anyone if it sounded like I was being to harsh here. It was not my intentions. However as for myself, I am a firm believer in cleanliness. The key to good health starts with the utmost care in keeping the birds in a clean environment.

I am not talking about just poop on feet. The subject was poop balls. Poop balls form when the quail repeatedly step in poop and it is allowed to dry on the feet. And I am ONLY speaking for myself here, but in my facilities, poop balls are unexceptable.

And this is the number one reason I preach giving the birds as much space as possible. For myself, 1 square foot is not enough space for quality of life for a quail. And certainly the amount of poop being expelled, keeping birds in such tight quarters can be overwhelming enough to cause poop balls and disease.

Also, if the pen floor is not 1/2 wire, the poop is not going to fall thru.

I clean my pens, cages and aviaries daily. And in nearly a decade of keeping quail, I have never had a single poop ball on any of my quail's feet. I am not saying that if you don't clean your cages as much as I do, you are doing anything wrong. But for my personal standards here at my facilities, it is a must. Yes, maybe I DO have an OCD about being clean, (feel free to laugh at me here, LOL) but that is just how I work. And my birds health shows for it.

I am glad that this person asking for help. That is the only way to learn. So again, I do apologize if I came across harshly.

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