Egg bound quail?

[Dman34]

I had a hen with vent prolapse a couple days ago that died today. She was about 7 weeks old and didn't lay any eggs yet. I put her in warm water to attempt to ease the egg out. It didn't work and it looked like she wasn't pooping either.

When I butchered her today, I saw a small egg inside her. The weird thing is that she had 4 yellow balls and a bunch of smaller white balls, in the same area, inside her too. I assume those were embryos forming, but why would there be so many of them? They were arranged in a spiral.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Firstly, I wish to express my sorrow at your loss. You were definitely on the right track with her treatment.
The yolk formation sounds normal, they should have been progressively larger/smaller... like beads on a string in sizing. You didn't mention if the egg was still soft shelled or fully formed (hard shell), so on to the next question. Was the egg you discovered inside of her still within the uterus or had it become bound past that stage, in her vagina? Linking a website with images of the female chicken reproductive tract, to help you identify normal vs abnormal components that you may have discovered in your necropsy. https://articles.extension.org/pages/65372/avian-reproductive-systemfemale
The warm bath you described giving her to help her lay was good, but could have been assisted with some calcium supplement ground into her food and mixed into a mash (to be sure she ate it and perhaps a bit of personal lubricant in and around her vent. This added calcium could have been ground up (human) calcium supplement from the grocer (vitamin/mineral section of store), part of a TUMs (TM) tablet, calcium supplement powder from the feed store, or even some hard boiled egg (shell and all). The calcium helps strengthen your hens contractions, making it easier for her to pass a stubborn egg. I prefer to use a water soluble lubricant with my flock, something like K-Y Jelly, as it's very easy to wash out of their feathers after it's served its purpose.

 

[Dman34]

Firstly, I wish to express my sorrow at your loss. You were definitely on the right track with her treatment.
The yolk formation sounds normal, they should have been progressively larger/smaller... like beads on a string in sizing. You didn't mention if the egg was still soft shelled or fully formed (hard shell), so on to the next question. Was the egg you discovered inside of her still within the uterus or had it become bound past that stage, in her vagina? Linking a website with images of the female chicken reproductive tract, to help you identify normal vs abnormal components that you may have discovered in your necropsy. https://articles.extension.org/pages/65372/avian-reproductive-systemfemale
The warm bath you described giving her to help her lay was good, but could have been assisted with some calcium supplement ground into her food and mixed into a mash (to be sure she ate it and perhaps a bit of personal lubricant in and around her vent. This added calcium could have been ground up (human) calcium supplement from the grocer (vitamin/mineral section of store), part of a TUMs (TM) tablet, calcium supplement powder from the feed store, or even some hard boiled egg (shell and all). The calcium helps strengthen your hens contractions, making it easier for her to pass a stubborn egg. I prefer to use a water soluble lubricant with my flock, something like K-Y Jelly, as it's very easy to wash out of their feathers after it's served its purpose.

She was prolapsed and the egg appeared to be almost out of her. The egg itself appeared to be a little bit soft, which I suppose could've made it so it was even harder to slide out. I feed my quail a 28% turkey mash with 1.5% to 2% calcium. The feed itself isn't entirely uniform, which I suppose could've lead to them flicking around the food and eating parts with lower calcium levels. I tried to make the feeder waste-free as possible to prevent them from messing around with their food too much.

So this presents the more complex question of how to ensure they're getting proper calcium levels. If I mix even more calcium into the feed, I assume some of them could possibly eat too much calcium. I plan to incubate a portion of the eggs, so I don't know if excess calcium will affect my hatch rates. What about providing a calcium supplement for them on the side? Will they even eat it and will they know how much to eat? I've seen 50lb oyster shell bags at my feed store, but the pieces look too big for them to eat...

 

[Ebony Rose]

Serve the oyster shell on the side (or you can further grind it in a strong food processor, like a ninja). Birds that are fed too much calcium have as many (or more) problems than birds fed too little. Fortunately, they seem to know if, when and how much they need and will avoid it altogether if they don't need it (given the choice). Yes, a soft shell egg is more difficult for them to pass. I'd put that turkey feed through the food processor too, they prefer it a bit finer than turkeys since they have much smaller mouths to fill. Oyster shell is NOT the only option though, your feed store should also offer bags of ground up eggshell or something they generically label 'calcium supplement', or you could make your own if you use enough eggs. I microwave the empty egg shells for about one minute, then drop them and a little bit of plain (read that as construction grade, uncolored, unbleached) sand and offer that on the side (serve immediately as the eggshells will have some fresh egg cooked onto them that could spoil if you attempt to store it); acts like grit plus calcium. You can also grind up human calcium supplements (from the vitamin aisle at the grocer)... or even make a once a week treat out of some mashed hard boiled eggs (shell & all).
Eggshells are roughly 40% calcium with each gram about 380-400mg. Half of an eggshell is enough calcium to provide an adult human their daily needs of calcium. The hard boiled egg itself, without shell, offers 50mg of calcium with the bonus of 6g of lean protein and a complete range of amino acids (complete protein), vitamin D, zinc, and all of the B vitamins.

 

[blackoaktammy]

After a few different attempts at getting the right size calcium and grit, I started using parakeet/cockatiel grit and calcium supplement. The buttons love it and I don't have to grind chicken grit down to their size.