Cattt123
Chirping
Hi all!
So this is a complicated issue, just wondering if anyone’s had anything similar.
I have a coturnix girl who’s about a year and a half old. She’s always been healthy and happy, laying eggs well etc. She’s happily in a group of 5 (one male). She’s not stressed, she’s a pet and she’s a very chill bird.
When I got her (she was rehomed to me) she had very small bald patches on her back (like hips area), which I assumed was from mating. The current male she’s with loves her - she’s the favourite and gets mated with a lot. The patches slowly grew (we’re talking over a year or so) and now is covering half her back and much of her tail. The back of her neck is also a little bald.
I no longer think it’s just mating. She is pulling her feathers herself (I’m 95% sure it’s her and not another quail) and making them bleed.
Ive checked for mites, and she has a sand bath with diatomaceous earth added.
She is on good quality quail pellets, has mealworms and plants daily. Oyster she’ll available and I supplement calcium and d3, vitamins etc on a rotation.
It’s got a lot worse recently. She was also acting very poorly, didn’t want to eat and drink much etc.
After a vet trip they determined she had an infection in her reproductive system. She also had very high levels of the yeast they naturally have. She had a lot of swelling, produced some lash eggs and had two rounds of antibiotics. Still didn’t go fully so she had a hormonal implant fitted which effectively ‘turns off’ the reproductive system.
She’s had diarrhoea, foamy beige poops and runny white poops. Many of her poops have been blue/grey and clay like in texture. I immediately thought of ulcerative enteritis but that has been ruled out with a poop sample. Her diarrhoea is literally explosive - although that seems to have settled after the implant. Still runny but not explosive.
Throughout this though she’s started making herself bleed by pulling feathers several times a day. She’s also not really eating or drinking much. I supplement her at the moment with critical care formula. Her back looks dry and sore, and she freaks when I touch it.
So my question is this:
If stress, boredom, mites or diet isn’t the cause - is there anything else that this could be? Vets want to try taking blood and doing scans which all becomes very costly, and is also risky when she’s not well.
They’re also just kind of looking for what might be wrong - not looking for anything specific.
She’s also had every poop sample analysis under the sun - parasites, bacteria, yeast etc. One of my group had worms so they’ve all been wormed recently.
I worry about her losing blood all the time, but she won’t eat much so spinach etc. to supplement iron is not going to work. The only thing she does seem to want to eat is pine nuts. Not even mealworms are doing it at the moment!
Any thoughts would be really appreciated! I know you’re not vets but would be great to hear some opinions.
So this is a complicated issue, just wondering if anyone’s had anything similar.
I have a coturnix girl who’s about a year and a half old. She’s always been healthy and happy, laying eggs well etc. She’s happily in a group of 5 (one male). She’s not stressed, she’s a pet and she’s a very chill bird.
When I got her (she was rehomed to me) she had very small bald patches on her back (like hips area), which I assumed was from mating. The current male she’s with loves her - she’s the favourite and gets mated with a lot. The patches slowly grew (we’re talking over a year or so) and now is covering half her back and much of her tail. The back of her neck is also a little bald.
I no longer think it’s just mating. She is pulling her feathers herself (I’m 95% sure it’s her and not another quail) and making them bleed.
Ive checked for mites, and she has a sand bath with diatomaceous earth added.
She is on good quality quail pellets, has mealworms and plants daily. Oyster she’ll available and I supplement calcium and d3, vitamins etc on a rotation.
It’s got a lot worse recently. She was also acting very poorly, didn’t want to eat and drink much etc.
After a vet trip they determined she had an infection in her reproductive system. She also had very high levels of the yeast they naturally have. She had a lot of swelling, produced some lash eggs and had two rounds of antibiotics. Still didn’t go fully so she had a hormonal implant fitted which effectively ‘turns off’ the reproductive system.
She’s had diarrhoea, foamy beige poops and runny white poops. Many of her poops have been blue/grey and clay like in texture. I immediately thought of ulcerative enteritis but that has been ruled out with a poop sample. Her diarrhoea is literally explosive - although that seems to have settled after the implant. Still runny but not explosive.
Throughout this though she’s started making herself bleed by pulling feathers several times a day. She’s also not really eating or drinking much. I supplement her at the moment with critical care formula. Her back looks dry and sore, and she freaks when I touch it.
So my question is this:
If stress, boredom, mites or diet isn’t the cause - is there anything else that this could be? Vets want to try taking blood and doing scans which all becomes very costly, and is also risky when she’s not well.
They’re also just kind of looking for what might be wrong - not looking for anything specific.
She’s also had every poop sample analysis under the sun - parasites, bacteria, yeast etc. One of my group had worms so they’ve all been wormed recently.
I worry about her losing blood all the time, but she won’t eat much so spinach etc. to supplement iron is not going to work. The only thing she does seem to want to eat is pine nuts. Not even mealworms are doing it at the moment!
Any thoughts would be really appreciated! I know you’re not vets but would be great to hear some opinions.
