MikeandVicky
Hatching
- Sep 6, 2019
- 4
- 1
- 2
We have been keeping quail for just short of a year. They live on the ground with a board to prevent rats and “easy chick” bedding. Some time ago, early July we noticed one of the smallest quail (we only have 6) had a swollen foot. By mid-July we were worried enough, because she limps a lot, to separate her for 10 days and provide broad spectrum antibiotic cream to her foot. She is a very vocal little one and would sing everyday as well as lay us an egg almost every day too.
We had to reintroduce her by end of July as were going away and a neighbour was set to care for them. The swelling had not really changed at all. From reading online we were confident it was bumblefoot but werent sure.
Roll forward to today and she is now almost immobile, her foot is no more swollen than previously but she isn’t mobile and her attempts to move are more like throwing herself around the coop. Her eggs are very discoloured, they used to be normal with light flecks, the most recent one looks like a small potato!
The infection on her foot hasn’t progressed much (visually) in over 2 months now, there is no black spot, it’s very soft to touch and there is no evidence of hardening, the swollen foot is not hot to touch and we are beginning to wonder if it even is an infection as opposed to anything else.
We aren’t raising the birds for food, just their eggs and I’ll be frank in saying she is more of a pet than anything else. I will cull if I have to but I’m not interested in doing it because it’s the easy way out. We’ve read online about treatments for bumble foot but a) were not convinced she has it and b) the procedure does not look like anything I could do. Quail are super timid, very very small and these girls aren’t used to being handled, we leave them to it. I am confident if I had to cut anything she would struggle so much so we would likely die of shock and / or exhaustion.
Lots of photos attached for help. We are looking for advice on what to do and when to say goodbye and Godspeed to quail heaven!
Thanks for taking the time to read.
We had to reintroduce her by end of July as were going away and a neighbour was set to care for them. The swelling had not really changed at all. From reading online we were confident it was bumblefoot but werent sure.
Roll forward to today and she is now almost immobile, her foot is no more swollen than previously but she isn’t mobile and her attempts to move are more like throwing herself around the coop. Her eggs are very discoloured, they used to be normal with light flecks, the most recent one looks like a small potato!
The infection on her foot hasn’t progressed much (visually) in over 2 months now, there is no black spot, it’s very soft to touch and there is no evidence of hardening, the swollen foot is not hot to touch and we are beginning to wonder if it even is an infection as opposed to anything else.
We aren’t raising the birds for food, just their eggs and I’ll be frank in saying she is more of a pet than anything else. I will cull if I have to but I’m not interested in doing it because it’s the easy way out. We’ve read online about treatments for bumble foot but a) were not convinced she has it and b) the procedure does not look like anything I could do. Quail are super timid, very very small and these girls aren’t used to being handled, we leave them to it. I am confident if I had to cut anything she would struggle so much so we would likely die of shock and / or exhaustion.
Lots of photos attached for help. We are looking for advice on what to do and when to say goodbye and Godspeed to quail heaven!
Thanks for taking the time to read.
