Egg Binding or What?

[cooltindog]

I don't work for Purina or anything, just wanted to say that.
The guy I bought my quail from said he has raised them for 7 years now, in AZ. He was very clear that I feed them Turkey Starter (w/o antibiotics) until 4-6 weeks, then Purina Game Bird Layena. Layena only has 20% protein, which I asked him about. He said he did not know why, but he knew from having 250 quail at a time, that they lay most consistently with Layena, and that the only quail he has ever lost were due to snakes and other natural predators. He said he used to use a higher protein diet and had some issues with consistent daily laying. So, I have taken his advice. I have 4 coops now and each hen that started laying has laid every day. We'll see how the last to lay does today. (off topic) Also, I have to say, We had a Quail Egg Eating Eggstravaganza Friday and YUM! The three of us ate a total of 28 eggs ( with steak, stuffed in mushrooms, and on herb buttered whole wheat italian bread toast points).

 

[Fat Daddy]

Yes and no. I feed all of my birds 30% and have for a while now, it doesn't cause any long term health issues.

However the feed store botched my order once and I had to feed 19% for a couple weeks and then switched back to 30%. After I switched back I had a few prolapses all within a week. Since I maybe have a couple in a year, I tend to think that me changing protein percentages that far all at once caused them. So while it's fine to feed them high protein, if you raise the percentage, don't do it at all once.

X2, I have always fed my game birds 30% gbs their entire lives..... chuckars and bobs thats about 3 years, and coturnix less. I dont tend to keep many coturnix long term anymore....

 

[313759]

Good to know!

Same thing essentially, except with birds it usually refers to a prolapse of the ovaduct. 

How do you fix it

 

[dc3085]

Euthanasia

 

[313759]

So you kill them?

 

[Fat Daddy]

Euthanasia

X2.... Once they do it the first time, That hen is likely to do it again and again....

 

[TwoCrows]

Many times with prolapse the hen never heals. And if she does heal not only will she be more prone to prolapse but if this is genetic, she will pass this down to her offspring.

 

[313759]

Awwwww...That's so sad

 

[mothersdream]

I had an egg bound young hen. She's not passed any eggs until this afternoon although I knew she was getting ready. I tried to sneak her a little calcium but I literally had to put her beak in the food to even get her to taste it. We tried the warm bath, which she wasn't thrilled with, and she passed a soft egg, after with the yolk out. She was still straining, with a little mixed up egg looking goo coming out, so I gloved up and put a little Vaseline on one finger and checked to see if she still had an egg inside and I didn't find one. My usually noisy, inquisitive Prudy was so quiet it worries me. She ate a little bread, and started grazing, but I'm still worried. They all went to bed. So I will check on them early in the morning. Any thoughts? Here's a photo of her any Penny checking to see if I was doing a thorough job cleaning the car.