10 hour old quail won't open eyes or walk

[allygibbs73]

I have a newly hatched quail that I helped out of the egg a good bit (he hadn't made and progress for over 12 hours) both his feet were curled but now one has fixed itself but he still can't walk but he is trying but just falls over. At first he couldn't lift his head at all but I gave him some sugar water and now he can lift it for short periods of time. He still won't open his eyes but he has opened them slightly a couple times. He was completely out of the egg at 2:30am and it is now almost 12:30pm with some progress. His feathers are not dry yet. Any advice on how to help him get stronger is greatly appreciated!

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

Do you have poultry nutri drench on hand? You can put it on a qtip to wick into the beak...don't squirt in the beak as you may aspirate it. If you don't have that some sugar water maybe? Also you can make a splint for the still curled toes...search on here or YouTube how to.
Also, not trying to be a Debbie downer, but be prepared for loss. It happens sometimes with assisted hatches as well as unassisted.

 

[allygibbs73]

Thank you! I will try that!

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

Best of wisheskeep me updated??

 

[Erkenstein]

During my most recent hatch, the latest chick was like that. I had to cull it the next day because it wasn't going to be able to find its feet and would have had no kind of life.

Birds that hatch late seem to have these types of issues the most. One of my latest hatchers in the last batch had curled toes on both feet. I've managed to correct one foot and am still doing therapy on the other one. If your bird does get its feet but still has curled toes, they may not correct on their own, so here's what I do: take a regular-sized band-aid and stick the bottom of the foot with the toes in the correct position. Then sandwich the foot with the other sticky end of the band-aid and carefully trim off the excess. It will look like a duck foot.

You can't do this until the bird recovers from the hatch, but if you decide to try it you shouldn't wait too long to start.

 

[allygibbs73]

UPDATE: My little Cricket is now 2 days old. He's fully dry and both feet have self corrected and he can now run around like a normal chick! I believe it was because I was good about giving him sugar water or an electrolyte solution every 30-60 minutes. He now eats and drinks on his own and started pooping last night. I'm so proud of this little fighter, I just hope he keeps growing and improving! Thank you all for your advice!

 

[allygibbs73]