Hi all,
with my disaster quail flock development in order (poor food choice causing severe stunting in chicks), one of my chicks collapsed a couple of weeks ago and lost the ability to walk briefly.
They’re now on a new diet, and I think they’re really starting to grow better already, even Chip has started ‘walking’ around on his ankles in the brooder and can now eat and drink without me having to hold him. I had him in little ‘shoes’ for a week to try and fix his toes and ankles, but I think he was too old into development for it to work, and I’ve finally removed them only to have him straight back to curled toes again. Basically put, he’s a special needs bird now.
These quail aren’t to be bred or anything like that, they’re for education on a farm I work at (feeling embarrassingly redundant considering I couldn’t even purchase viable food for them) but it’s clear Chip won’t be able to survive that kind of life with the way his legs have gone. I’m sure plenty of people would rather I cull him, but as a special needs person myself I don’t like the idea of culling unless he is truly suffering, and since he’s still got a ruly appetite and has been fighting his way alongside his siblings without any bullying occurring, I think he deserves a chance.
So here’s my current dilemma. All his scooting about on the floor (tissue covered) has unfortunately left a bald patch on his belly. I want to create some padding for him to make it safer for him to manoeuvre around, so I’m looking to make him some sort of belly wrap. I have an idea in mind for how to set it up, but my knowledge on fabrics isn’t very big. And what I might consider soft might be very different for the tender belly of a quail chick.
So! Anyone know of safe fabrics available that I could fashion a support out of that would be soft enough to not chaff further against his belly? The fabric itself doesn’t have to be thick as I can apply cotton inside as the padding, I just need something that’s not going to further chaff at the wing areas where it’ll attach from.
No judgement please, I already feel bad enough that this is due to my own errors. I just need some fabric suggestions.
Edit: ignore the image, I’m on mobile and the website decided I can’t post anything without HAVING to include a picture, which is really weird and very inconvenient. Is this a new update or what?
with my disaster quail flock development in order (poor food choice causing severe stunting in chicks), one of my chicks collapsed a couple of weeks ago and lost the ability to walk briefly.
They’re now on a new diet, and I think they’re really starting to grow better already, even Chip has started ‘walking’ around on his ankles in the brooder and can now eat and drink without me having to hold him. I had him in little ‘shoes’ for a week to try and fix his toes and ankles, but I think he was too old into development for it to work, and I’ve finally removed them only to have him straight back to curled toes again. Basically put, he’s a special needs bird now.
These quail aren’t to be bred or anything like that, they’re for education on a farm I work at (feeling embarrassingly redundant considering I couldn’t even purchase viable food for them) but it’s clear Chip won’t be able to survive that kind of life with the way his legs have gone. I’m sure plenty of people would rather I cull him, but as a special needs person myself I don’t like the idea of culling unless he is truly suffering, and since he’s still got a ruly appetite and has been fighting his way alongside his siblings without any bullying occurring, I think he deserves a chance.
So here’s my current dilemma. All his scooting about on the floor (tissue covered) has unfortunately left a bald patch on his belly. I want to create some padding for him to make it safer for him to manoeuvre around, so I’m looking to make him some sort of belly wrap. I have an idea in mind for how to set it up, but my knowledge on fabrics isn’t very big. And what I might consider soft might be very different for the tender belly of a quail chick.
So! Anyone know of safe fabrics available that I could fashion a support out of that would be soft enough to not chaff further against his belly? The fabric itself doesn’t have to be thick as I can apply cotton inside as the padding, I just need something that’s not going to further chaff at the wing areas where it’ll attach from.
No judgement please, I already feel bad enough that this is due to my own errors. I just need some fabric suggestions.
Edit: ignore the image, I’m on mobile and the website decided I can’t post anything without HAVING to include a picture, which is really weird and very inconvenient. Is this a new update or what?
