- Sep 4, 2012
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Background: My husband is the poultry guru in the home.
He is camping in an area where I cannot call him.
His (first batch of) quail eggs hatched early.
I practice emergency medicine.
I know nada about quail and am learning all kinds of stuff on the fly.
So with that out of the way... 22 Japanese Coturnix quail hatched out of 24 eggs. One One died immediately and the other 21 were doing well. A few hours after they started hatching, I found one in an odd position. It was laying on its side with its head turned 90 degrees so its throat was on the floor. It stayed in this position and pushed its self around the incubator with its legs. When I went to bed last night, it was dry and looked healthy-ish, other than its body position. This morning, it was as wet as when it hatched, eyes closed, peeping hard, and still pushing itself around.
I took put all the other hatchlings in the brooder but left this poor little one in the incubator. I was able to fold its legs under it and get it to sit upright. Then it would give a strong push with both legs and end up chin down, body twisted 90 degrees, legs stretched out.
Yesterday I learned about splayed legs and had to put a band aid on another chick (which is hopping nicely today). So I band-aided this one's legs, too. Didn't work.
Out of desperation, I folded its little legs under its belly and twist-tied it in that position (not tightly). Then I put a soft nickel-sized hair band under it, like an inner tube. This is keeping it upright. I put it in a small bowl, padded with paper towels. There is a cap of chick feed beside it. And about once an hour, I give it some water. This last hour, I put 1/4tsp molasses in a quart of water.
Its drying off now, and seems quite fiesty when I pick it up. There was some poop in the incubator, but I'm not sure if it was this one's poop or one of the late-hatchers that didn't go to the brooder until this afternoon.
Is there *anything* more I can do, anything I can do better? I'm working hard for this little one, just like I would for a critical child... except I don't know if I am helping, hurting, or prolonging a painful problem for it...
Any help appreciated. Will probably be up most of the night checking on it, and here.
He is camping in an area where I cannot call him.
His (first batch of) quail eggs hatched early.
I practice emergency medicine.
I know nada about quail and am learning all kinds of stuff on the fly.
So with that out of the way... 22 Japanese Coturnix quail hatched out of 24 eggs. One One died immediately and the other 21 were doing well. A few hours after they started hatching, I found one in an odd position. It was laying on its side with its head turned 90 degrees so its throat was on the floor. It stayed in this position and pushed its self around the incubator with its legs. When I went to bed last night, it was dry and looked healthy-ish, other than its body position. This morning, it was as wet as when it hatched, eyes closed, peeping hard, and still pushing itself around.
I took put all the other hatchlings in the brooder but left this poor little one in the incubator. I was able to fold its legs under it and get it to sit upright. Then it would give a strong push with both legs and end up chin down, body twisted 90 degrees, legs stretched out.
Yesterday I learned about splayed legs and had to put a band aid on another chick (which is hopping nicely today). So I band-aided this one's legs, too. Didn't work.
Out of desperation, I folded its little legs under its belly and twist-tied it in that position (not tightly). Then I put a soft nickel-sized hair band under it, like an inner tube. This is keeping it upright. I put it in a small bowl, padded with paper towels. There is a cap of chick feed beside it. And about once an hour, I give it some water. This last hour, I put 1/4tsp molasses in a quart of water.
Its drying off now, and seems quite fiesty when I pick it up. There was some poop in the incubator, but I'm not sure if it was this one's poop or one of the late-hatchers that didn't go to the brooder until this afternoon.
Is there *anything* more I can do, anything I can do better? I'm working hard for this little one, just like I would for a critical child... except I don't know if I am helping, hurting, or prolonging a painful problem for it...
Any help appreciated. Will probably be up most of the night checking on it, and here.
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