Gambel chick with injured leg

[Jannbo]

Paper towels can move...and the birds can hurt themselves on the slippery tote floor.

That’s good to know. I know it can move, but I didn’t know they could hurt themselves this bad on the floor. I switched the tame ones over to pine chip flooring a week or so ago but didn’t do it for these two since they get so stressed out by being handled and I can change the paper towels a lot quicker than the pine chips. Figured it was better for them since it wouldn’t stress them out as much from the cleanings in the long run. This one will just have to put up with a bit more involved cleanings for its own safety

 

[Jannbo]

your loss, if it just had food and water in a tiny area and left alone it would have healed, it's not going to eat from the stress of you handling it and it being alone from it's friends.

It was kept in a small area with food and water within reach right next to the brooder that it and it’s sibling were living in. I checked on it every 12 hours. I wasn’t just sitting there constantly poking at it. I handled it to get it out when I noticed the injury and again when I went to cull it. I know what stresses out my own birds and I do my best to avoid it. Handling it how you suggested to fix the leg would have caused it an immense amount of stress and hurt it more than it already was. I would absolutely do that for my quail that aren’t flighty because I know they won’t get stressed or try to run away despite their injury, hurting themselves more, but for this one, it just wouldn’t be right