Female Coturnix swollen knees

[DeeAnn5]

Today I noticed my sweet little pet has swollen ankles, looks like both hallux (thumbs) are broken also. I actually line most of the cage with newspaper and chopped grasses almost all of the time. Sad, but I feel the broken hallux are kind of inevitable for a species that lives on wire flooring most of the time - something I kind of expected could happen and hopefully not too painful... I have brought her indoors for observation. I believe she is not egg bound as all 4 of my hens I believe are laying. I can tell she is kind of in pain since she's missing feathers on her chest - something is making it hard to walk... What is going on and what do I need to do about it? Thanks in advance for suggestions/thoughts/sharing of knowledge. Sorry I didn't get a good pic of the thumbs... mostly concerned about the ankle swelling. The hallux aren't swollen, just bent and not really sure how long any of this has been happening. We were out of town recently and unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, their care went South during that time.

 

[AlderCreekFarms]

Could they be callouses? Is this a sudden development?

 

[AlderCreekFarms]

Maybe it's something diet related...

 

[Kylo_Hen!]

i love Quail and i want one!

 

[le_bwah]

I've never heard of wire breaking birds' toes; why would you even keep them that way if that was a risk? Make sure she isn't on wire while she heals.

 

[AniaOnion]

This looks very similar to what my Baba Yaga had. It turned out to be a manifestation of bird gout. If it is, then it's usually the result of too much protein in their diet. It almost never shows up without kidney damage as well.

However, this could also be the result of an infection. If you are able to get her to a vet, that is your best option.

 

[DeeAnn5]

Could they be callouses? Is this a sudden development?

Sorry for the delay in responding, thank you for your response. Actually what happened is I took her to my Avian Vet. He wasn't actually sure, but said it could be a bacterial infection, arthritis or gout. I got Meloxicam and Baytril and administered it for 11 days...by entubating her. I did not see a change and called the Vet and told him I was discontinuing the meds. We decided to just wait and see but now I think it is possibly gout, I believe she is about 20 months old. We didn't consider callouses...you mean interior callous of the bone? Sorry, don't know if it's a sudden development as I just happened to notice it I think the day I posted...the other 3 hens don't have any problems.

 

[DeeAnn5]

This looks very similar to what my Baba Yaga had. It turned out to be a manifestation of bird gout. If it is, then it's usually the result of too much protein in their diet. It almost never shows up without kidney damage as well.

However, this could also be the result of an infection. If you are able to get her to a vet, that is your best option.

Thank you. Hmm...I keep them on their feed (meat bird feed 22% protein). Plus my girls are completely spoiled, so they get about 1/4 cup dried meal worms often to split...that would be about 1 T. per hen...Is that bad? I read they are actually insect eaters so that's why I thought the meal worms were good for them.

 

[DeeAnn5]

I've never heard of wire breaking birds' toes; why would you even keep them that way if that was a risk? Make sure she isn't on wire while she heals.

Thanks for your concern. This actually took several days, but I kind of decided the hallux (thumbs) weren't broken, but more permanently disabled due to the problem with the ankles...I never found the hallux swollen, and since both legs are symmetric, I decided the odds of her breaking both hallux on the wire and me not noticing it made it improbable... As for the wire, my girls stand mostly on newspaper, cardboard and chopped grass. But yes, as is standard with this species - their housing is constructed of hardware cloth.

 

[le_bwah]

Thanks for your concern. This actually took several days, but I kind of decided the hallux (thumbs) weren't broken, but more permanently disabled due to the problem with the ankles...I never found the hallux swollen, and since both legs are symmetric, I decided the odds of her breaking both hallux on the wire and me not noticing it made it improbable... As for the wire, my girls stand mostly on newspaper, cardboard and chopped grass. But yes, as is standard with this species - their housing is constructed of hardware cloth.

Glad to hear they aren't on bare wire. But the poor hen is still swollen? Keep us posted if you find something that helps.