Coturnix quail chicks' crop large + one with foamy poop

[loyalcrowlist]

I feel a little lost, all the research I did before hatching my quail hasn't seemed to prepare me or maybe I'm just overly paranoid.

I just moved my quail to a larger brooder. I have a thermometer to gauge the temperature, they have fresh water and I'm feeding them 26% protein starter feed that I've ground up. The bedding is pine shavings and I drilled air flow holes into the plastic towards the base. Onto the issue:

Since moving them, I've noticed that their crops seem a bit bigger. Not all of them, but a few. The biggest changes I've made are the bedding (from paper towels to shavings) and leaving out more food (previously I placing the food on the paper towel and checking it every one or two hours and giving more, now I have it in a feeder). My thought is, access to more food at one time means they might have eaten more. My worry is, did they eat some of the pine shavings? They're all acting normally insofar as walking around and drinking and eating, etc.

Another quail (no crop problem) had a foamy poop as I was checking them to take pictures to ask about the crop issue so I thought I'd take a picture and ask about it as well.

 

[InterestingChickens]

Check their crops in the morning before they have eaten/drank anything. It should feel empty. As long as they are eating drinking and being active with the occasional rest, I wouldn't worry about it.

As for the foamy dropping, is the bird in question doing that regularly? If not, your quail chick should be fine.

 

[loyalcrowlist]

Check their crops in the morning before they have eaten/drank anything. It should feel empty. As long as they are eating drinking and being active with the occasional rest, I wouldn't worry about it.

As for the foamy dropping, is the bird in question doing that regularly? If not, your quail chick should be fine.

Crops are normal in the morning and that was the first and only time that chick had a poop like that. I think it's definitely a case of me being overly paranoid again! Thank you!

 

[MontiSage]

The foamy poop comes from a rooster.

 

[InterestingChickens]

The foamy poop comes from a rooster.

A foamy dropping has nothing to do with the sex of a bird.

 

[Nabiki]

A foamy dropping has nothing to do with the sex of a bird.

It does with coturnix quail. Males will often have foamy poop.

 

[MontiSage]

Coturnix males produce foamy poops. The foam is a secretion from their kidnies.

 

[Nabiki]

Coturnix males produce foamy poops. The foam is a secretion from their kidnies.

Ummm... Yes, male coturnix produce foamy poop, but it's not secretion from their kidneys. It's from their testes.

 

[007Sean]

I think all of you are missing the point!!! That chick is too young to be producing foam (sperm). Foamy poop in adult males, yes but not in chicks.
Most likely, it's due to temperature of the brooder and not all chicks will show that condition....some can tolerate heat better than others.

 

[MontiSage]

I never saw the age of the birds mentioned. I have coturnix producing foam at 5wo.

I mispoke regarding kidnies being the source of the foam. It's the proctodeal gland.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4087722