Watery Quail Poop

[Doriss]

My quail has been passing diarrhea for about a month. Often, it is almost clear. This causes her to try and consume it, like water, so I'm worried that any infection is just going round and round. Her companion hen eats the same diet. Both consume large amounts of lettuce and water, but only the one is getting diarrhoea non-stop, which makes me think it is something more. If it were diet, why hasn't the other one got it? Previously, the poopy hen was lethargic, but is now much more active, and seems normal except for the constant diarrhoea. I clean them out every day without fail, wiping dirty places with a solution of 50:50 white vinegar and water, and drying immediately afterwards, I change their water twice daily. This is nothing new, but I'm getting ever more scrupulous about hygiene since this started. I make sure the run is dry, and now, I've begun cleaning up poop the minute I see it, particularly the diarrhoea as they'll obviously walk in it and tread it into their food. Both have had short periods of diarrhoea in the past, but I've never seen anything this bad. Any ideas?

 

[DotToDot]

You’re doing really well, but I’m not sure what to do. This will disappear from the Unanswered Threads column soon, so I’m replying so people will see it. In the meantime, I’ll do some research. Good luck!

 

[BastyPutt]

@Nabiki @eddie_van_quailen @007Sean

 

[Nabiki]

What are you feeding them? Lettuce is a treat and may be causing the diarrhea, so it should be fed sparingly. No more than 10% of their diet should be treats.

Watery poop definitely sounds like they're not eating right. Diet can affect one individual more than another, just like in people.

What is their setup like?
What kind of quail?

 

[Doriss]

You’re doing really well, but I’m not sure what to do. This will disappear from the Unanswered Threads column soon, so I’m replying so people will see it. In the meantime, I’ll do some research. Good luck!

Thank you.

 

[Doriss]

What are you feeding them? Lettuce is a treat and may be causing the diarrhea, so it should be fed sparingly. No more than 10% of their diet should be treats.

Watery poop definitely sounds like they're not eating right. Diet can affect one individual more than another, just like in people.

What is their setup like?
What kind of quail?

Hello, they are button quail. What do you mean by 'setup'? They have a small bit of millet spray and general ground-bird complete feed+egg biscuit in the early afternoon, then quail layers pellets (complete feed) at night. I read somewhere that they should have fresh greens every day. What's more, I try to give them dark lettuce as I know that light lettuce is toxic to quail. I think you must mean housing when you say 'set-up'. They are in a transparent, polypropylene run which has the top ajar, and either have a netting top or get moved into a cabinet with quail-sized mesh as the weather gets hotter. They are indoors.

 

[Nabiki]

I did mean housing when I said setup.

I am guessing that their diet is an issue. I would change over to the quail layer pellets only for a while. Once they've stabilized, you can start giving them treats (all of the other stuff you mentioned), but limit it to 10% or less of their diet.

The layer pellets should contain all of the nutrition that they need, but if you could post a picture of the nutrition label, that would help.

 

[Doriss]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, my mobile has stopped sending images, but it's a good-quality layer feed - Marriage's, in fact. There's only one issue with that, and it's that they don't really rush to gobble it up. That's why I remove all the other 'nibbles' at night so there's only the proper feed for them to eat. I could change my layers pellets, of course, and see what happens.

 

[Nabiki]

I found it online, and I posted the nutrition information below. The calcium level is good for layers, but the protein level is a bit low. It should be around 22% protein for ideal health and for healthy chicks if you do plan to breed them.

The calcium can go as low as 3.5% and still be good for layers. If you find a good feed with the proper protein levels but not enough calcium, you can supply calcium on the side with oyster or egg shell. Just make sure the pieces are small enough for them to eat.

Ingredients and nutrition​

Composition:
Wheat 60.3%, Hipro soya 27.1%, Minerals 8.4%, Veg. fat 3%, Lysine 0.6%, Vitamins 0.5%, Methionine 0.2%.

Analysis:
Oils and Fats 3.2%, Crude Protein 17.0%, Crude Fibre 4.2%, Ash: 13.2%, Lysine 0.68%, Methionine 0.30%, Calcium 4.05%, Sodium 0.15%, Phosphorus 0.55%.

 

[Doriss]

I found it online, and I posted the nutrition information below. The calcium level is good for layers, but the protein level is a bit low. It should be around 22% protein for ideal health and for healthy chicks if you do plan to breed them.

The calcium can go as low as 3.5% and still be good for layers. If you find a good feed with the proper protein levels but not enough calcium, you can supply calcium on the side with oyster or egg shell. Just make sure the pieces are small enough for them to eat.

Ingredients and nutrition​

Composition:
Wheat 60.3%, Hipro soya 27.1%, Minerals 8.4%, Veg. fat 3%, Lysine 0.6%, Vitamins 0.5%, Methionine 0.2%.

Analysis:
Oils and Fats 3.2%, Crude Protein 17.0%, Crude Fibre 4.2%, Ash: 13.2%, Lysine 0.68%, Methionine 0.30%, Calcium 4.05%, Sodium 0.15%, Phosphorus 0.55%.

Thanks for this. I hadn't noticed the protein content was low. Might get some dried BSFL.