Dead Quail

[dimi]

Hi, all, I discovered a dead female quail today in one of my cages (I have two).
Trying to figure out what happened...

Living conditions have not changed for the past couple of month. In the same cage I also discovered a very small egg in the same cage.
Other quail in the same cage seem active.

Anybody has any ideas what to do next? I still have the body. Anything I can inspect for?
Should I medicate them in some way?

Thanks,
Dmitri

 

[dimi]

I should mention that I keep them in the basement where its maybe 55-60F. I keep them over wire, so its pretty sanitary.

 

[StewedMammal]

Are there any signs of feather pecking/blood? Was her body weight good or was she losing weight? How old was she? What species of quail was she? Have you checked the droppings under the cage for abnormal poop? It could have been something as simple as organ failure, but it could be more serious. Let me know. Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[dimi]

No pecking signs, no blood. Body weight seemed fine. These are Pharao Japanese Quail. She was under year old. No abnormal droppings.
I lost another one about a month and a half but in a different cage (above this one) - same story.

Today's one was a bit bold on her head/back of her neck - they all seem to be missing some feathers - some on their heads, some on their chest. Not sure why, I never witnessed any cruelty/pecking. Besides (what I think normal) male mating.

There are total of seven (was eight) quail including a 1 male per cage.

 

[StewedMammal]

No pecking signs, no blood. Body weight seemed fine. These are Pharao Japanese Quail. She was under year old. No abnormal droppings.
I lost another one about a month and a half but in a different cage (above this one) - same story.

Today's one was a bit bold on her head/back of her neck - they all seem to be missing some feathers - some on their heads, some on their chest. Not sure why, I never witnessed any cruelty/pecking. Besides (what I think normal) male mating.

There are total of seven (was eight) quail including a 1 male per cage.

Yes the feathers missing on the head is normal with males around. Sounds to me like it was organ failure, most likely a heart attack, so nothing bad. I would keep an eye on them and it anything else happens, let me know. I would be glad to help.

 

[dimi]

I have a male in that cage that seems to be alpha/very active. He crows at night a lot, especially right after the light is turned off. I put a night light there in hopes it will keep him quiet but that didn't help.

Thanks for encouragement.. Any other ideas?

 

[Sill]

I vote for a bad head boinking. I'm guessing something scared her, she flushed up and mortally injured her head and/or neck.

 

[TwoCrows]

I agree with Sill here, sounds like a head boink. This is usually the case for sudden death in the pen. Especially when you find them first thing in the morning. They get scared of something in the dark and flush up into the ceiling breaking their necks.

The only other possibility is heart attack. Seems like it is very common poultry have heart attacks at night for some reason.

But I would bet it was a head boink.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[dc3085]

How old are the birds in question? I've forgotten to rotate breeders before and had an old bird die in the cage.

 

[dimi]

dc, she was under a year old.

I re-inspected the body and there was something blackish on the back of her head. It was too far away from the actual neck/outside feathers, so I thought it was poop of other quail. Now I think it might have been blood.
Anyway, most I care is that its not a disease and hopefully this won't happen again.

Question about droppings, some of their droppings are very dark brown/almost black, no white. And some a regular brown with some white. Any ideas if the dark brown/black is a normal poop?

Thanks
Dimi