Dirty toes and Bloody Birds

[Wandering_r0gue]

Question for anyone/everyone:

My quail keep getting dried balls of poop stuck to their toes, encapsulating their talons.

I have tried to clean them, but it usually results in bloody toes... seems like their claws either pull out or separate from the nail bed. I'm trying to avoid further injury...

Right now, I do deep pile straw, but am looking at Maybe changing that method, but does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning and keeping clean their feet? I was trying to avoid wire to avoid bumblefoot issues, and they seem to like the straw.

 

[le_bwah]

Over 10 sqr feet per bird, I don't really see them getting messy. When it does happen, a soak in warm water (in a plastic bin with a lid) and needle-nose pliers to crush the poo ball seems to cause the least harm. Note that when I say "crush," I mean squeezing the part of the ball that does NOT have the bird's toe inside it—usually the globbiest bit hanging on the top or to the side. This seems to break it apart best without tweaking or squishing the bird's toe.

Wood chips (not wood shavings) can be nice for long-term bedding at lower animal densities because it dries out droppings before they can adhere, and is easy enough to rake/shovel over to reveal cleaner material.

 

[Wandering_r0gue]

I have them in small pens, nowhere near 10 sqf/per. But, quail don't need THAT much space. I use bedding straw, which does absorb moisture well... may just need to layer it more often...

Considered the soaks... but, 20 birds could take a while... all good points to consider though.

 

[HillGuy]

I went through that when I had a aviary. To clean their feet/toes, I had a large plastic box and put a half inch of gravel in it. Then added about a inch of water. Put in some birds and put a hardware cloth lid on top. Let the quail stand in it like a foot spa for a while. Hour, sometimes a few hours and the poop balls would break down and they would have nice clean feet. Until they stepped in sheet again.

 

[Yes]

My birds are still chicks and I thought they were just silly clumsy babies stepping into their own poo. Not sure if I should be horrified or relieved that they will still do it as adults...

My temporary solution at the moment is to place newspaper strips on top of their bedding. It seems to keep them from stepping into their poo as the strips move around and give them more surface area to poo on.

 

[Wandering_r0gue]

I went through that when I had a aviary. To clean their feet/toes, I had a large plastic box and put a half inch of gravel in it. Then added about a inch of water. Put in some birds and put a hardware cloth lid on top. Let the quail stand in it like a foot spa for a while. Hour, sometimes a few hours and the poop balls would break down and they would have nice clean feet. Until they stepped in sheet again.

Thank-you so much, may do that!!

 

[Wandering_r0gue]

My birds are still chicks and I thought they were just silly clumsy babies stepping into their own poo. Not sure if I should be horrified or relieved that they will still do it as adults...

My temporary solution at the moment is to place newspaper strips on top of their bedding. It seems to keep them from stepping into their poo as the strips move around and give them more surface area to poo on.

When we went from paper towels lining to mesh bottom in the brooder, it got better, but in the cages, i didnt want them on wire full time... I am using bedding straw (which they seem to like) which really seems to absorb odor and moisture, but, if we don't keep up with it, they do step in their poo.