So, I'm sorry if this is potentially graphic, please don't continue if you're squirmy about blood.
But a week or two ago I went to go check my outside quail and I spotted one with just a lil blood on the sides of its mouth. I checked out the rest and some had some dried blood apparently splattered on them as there were no injuries or obvious source. So I picked up the one with the blood around it's beak to bring to isolation and omfg, it started coughing up blood pretty badly as it panicked. With how bad it was I instantly went to cull it, there was no way it wasn't in dire distress and it was potentially contagious. The thing is I still have no idea what it was that caused that. I didn't see it having any symptoms the day before. And because I was too rattled about it surprising me and the thought of it potentially being bird flu, I didn't do an autopsy on it (not that I'd understand what was up unless something was VERY clearly different from normal).
So relevant facts about my setup. I have 2 hutches attached to a 8'x8'x2' outdoor run. Since it's winter I have all but one corner of the run and hutches insulated with board foam and plastic sheeting, with large clear tarps covering it to keep out snow and rain. It's about a foot deep of deep bedding now, so there is only about a foot of height to the top of the cage. It's also elevated from the ground around it on the outside by about 2" of soil, then about 10-12" of bedding on top of it. My first thoughts was that it was bird flu but I've no idea how it could have gotten to them in there since it's protected from wild bird poop by roof and tarps and protected by water runoff by elevation. I've introduced no new birds there in probably 6 months.
I feed them Purina 30% Protein Starter Gamebird and Turkey Feed from tractor supply. I'm about to change them to a lower protein feed though since they are an older flock now and I've read they only need 30% protein in growth stages. Unless yall know otherwise, any advice is appreciated.
Anyway, does anyone know what that might have been with the one bird doing that? In the 2 weeks since I've seen no other birds having issues.
But a week or two ago I went to go check my outside quail and I spotted one with just a lil blood on the sides of its mouth. I checked out the rest and some had some dried blood apparently splattered on them as there were no injuries or obvious source. So I picked up the one with the blood around it's beak to bring to isolation and omfg, it started coughing up blood pretty badly as it panicked. With how bad it was I instantly went to cull it, there was no way it wasn't in dire distress and it was potentially contagious. The thing is I still have no idea what it was that caused that. I didn't see it having any symptoms the day before. And because I was too rattled about it surprising me and the thought of it potentially being bird flu, I didn't do an autopsy on it (not that I'd understand what was up unless something was VERY clearly different from normal).
So relevant facts about my setup. I have 2 hutches attached to a 8'x8'x2' outdoor run. Since it's winter I have all but one corner of the run and hutches insulated with board foam and plastic sheeting, with large clear tarps covering it to keep out snow and rain. It's about a foot deep of deep bedding now, so there is only about a foot of height to the top of the cage. It's also elevated from the ground around it on the outside by about 2" of soil, then about 10-12" of bedding on top of it. My first thoughts was that it was bird flu but I've no idea how it could have gotten to them in there since it's protected from wild bird poop by roof and tarps and protected by water runoff by elevation. I've introduced no new birds there in probably 6 months.
I feed them Purina 30% Protein Starter Gamebird and Turkey Feed from tractor supply. I'm about to change them to a lower protein feed though since they are an older flock now and I've read they only need 30% protein in growth stages. Unless yall know otherwise, any advice is appreciated.
Anyway, does anyone know what that might have been with the one bird doing that? In the 2 weeks since I've seen no other birds having issues.
