found dying quail

[300hj]

this afternoon i found one of my button quails collapsed on the side of its cage with his head sticking straight up. he was looking a little sick the day before but i thought it was because last night was particularly cold. when i picked him up, the posture of the bird was really unnatural. His head was looking directly up and you could see the bottom of the neck protruding from the bottom of the chest. what could this be?

 

[BamaSilkies]

How is its breathing? heavy like its struggling to breathe?

 

[300hj]

well he is breathing but probably will die...

 

[BamaSilkies]

Is he breathing with mouth open like gaping for air? If so if it was a chicken I would say gapeworm but Im not familiar with quail. You could try giving it some sugar water just put a drop on its beak or get something small and touch its beak in the water and see if it will drink.

 

[nurse_turtle]

Sounds like a textbook "boink". How is the ceiling of their enclosure? Is there anything he could have jumped up to and bumped his head? Buttons are notorious for boinking injury which usually leads to death or paralysis.

 

[300hj]

i thought it had gotten hurt too...but it was a bit lethargic yesterday too so i didn't think it was injury related. and he wasn't really gasping for air either