Help! Button Quail chick w/ Black toes? Spreading!

[Ebony Rose]

That mat in your brooder could be an issue. Their tiny toes may be getting tangled in the floor mat and in their panic to free themselves, they may be causing themselves injury. Wire flooring caused issues with my quail chicks as they spend a lot of time just eating or dozing, and even with a quality hardware cloth floor, they'd get tangled up in it. I've switched to cheap terry cloth bath towels that I fold to size and swap out daily. With a quick shake outdoors to dislodge the clumpy bits, they're easy to launder.

 

[2 many chickens]

That mat in your brooder could be an issue. Their tiny toes may be getting tangled in the floor mat and in their panic to free themselves, they may be causing themselves injury. Wire flooring caused issues with my quail chicks as they spend a lot of time just eating or dozing, and even with a quality hardware cloth floor, they'd get tangled up in it. I've switched to cheap terry cloth bath towels that I fold to size and swap out daily. With a quick shake outdoors to dislodge the clumpy bits, they're easy to launder.

This. I would change your floor bedding.

 

[2 many chickens]

Paper towels could work, pine shavings, etc
That little holey rubber mat could be causing issues.

 

[Chip76]

I found these articles on constricted toe syndrome in birds. It really looks like the toes are not getting enough blood flow.

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/constrictedtoesyndrome.html

https://wagwalking.com/bird/condition/constricted-toe-syndrome

 

[Ebony Rose]

I found these articles on constricted toe syndrome in birds. It really looks like the toes are not getting enough blood flow.

That's what I'm thinking too, since they sit and lay down almost constantly until they're a few weeks old unless startled.

 

[Quailbert Quailington]

Texas Kiki - Yes, that's the feed I use. I completely missed the message about the picture of the rest of the cage and started cleaning it today, so when I put it back together, I'll snap a pic. What's your opinion on the bedding? I have pine shavings, but I noticed my last batch of chicks kept trying to eat them, and I literally pulled one out of a chick's throat. Paper towels? Wash cloth?

2 many chickens- I was using the mat to prevent spraddle. When I did my research before I started my first hatch, I read in a few places that cabinet liner was what to use. They are two weeks, so I'm guessing their legs are strong enough to use something else?

Chip76 -These articles are REALLY helpful. I definitely think that's what my poor little guy is suffering from! Right above the necrotic part of the one toe, you can definitely see swelling. I did another really good sweep of his little legs, and I couldn't find a single fiber or anything that might be constricting his toes or anywhere up his legs. I even gently ran the tip of a toothpick over them to see if it caught on a hair. Funny enough, I had four chicks not make it out of this batch due to birth defects. Two had severe leg deformation which extended up to one wing (that involved many days of hand feeding and watering,) one that had a respiratory issue from the moment it hatched, and one that died while hatching. I bought the eggs off of Ebay, so I'm thinking these birds are very inbred. I also am thinking that this might be an issue due to genetics, if all my measures to adjust their surroundings fail.

My plan so far is to increase the humidity, get rid of the cabinet liner for the flooring, nix the treats, and lower the temp. So far, no sign of the other birds pecking at one another. I've been keeping an eye on them all afternoon.

 

[Quailbert Quailington]

This is what I have going for the brooder. Switched the heat lamp out with a different bulb and It's staying around 84F. Paper towels down instead of the mat. I have the mat beneath the paper towels so they don't slip all over the bottom of the bin. Humidity is around 39% right now. There is a lid with a mesh, but I don't want the brooder to be too hot/make the humidity go up too much. It looks small, but all of them fit comfortably with room to spare on one of those plates. They'll be going into a bigger brooder in half a week to a week, they're outgrowing this one pretty quickly. I've got another one twice as big ready to go, just have to set up the heat lamps in it.

 

[Kiki]

Texas Kiki - Yes, that's the feed I use. I completely missed the message about the picture of the rest of the cage and started cleaning it today, so when I put it back together, I'll snap a pic. What's your opinion on the bedding? I have pine shavings, but I noticed my last batch of chicks kept trying to eat them, and I literally pulled one out of a chick's throat. Paper towels? Wash cloth?

2 many chickens- I was using the mat to prevent spraddle. When I did my research before I started my first hatch, I read in a few places that cabinet liner was what to use. They are two weeks, so I'm guessing their legs are strong enough to use something else?

Chip76 -These articles are REALLY helpful. I definitely think that's what my poor little guy is suffering from! Right above the necrotic part of the one toe, you can definitely see swelling. I did another really good sweep of his little legs, and I couldn't find a single fiber or anything that might be constricting his toes or anywhere up his legs. I even gently ran the tip of a toothpick over them to see if it caught on a hair. Funny enough, I had four chicks not make it out of this batch due to birth defects. Two had severe leg deformation which extended up to one wing (that involved many days of hand feeding and watering,) one that had a respiratory issue from the moment it hatched, and one that died while hatching. I bought the eggs off of Ebay, so I'm thinking these birds are very inbred. I also am thinking that this might be an issue due to genetics, if all my measures to adjust their surroundings fail.

My plan so far is to increase the humidity, get rid of the cabinet liner for the flooring, nix the treats, and lower the temp. So far, no sign of the other birds pecking at one another. I've been keeping an eye on them all afternoon.

I like good ole dirt for bedding.
I actually use peat moss in shallow cardboard boxes.
Brb will a picture.

 

[Kiki]

This is what I have going for the brooder. Switched the heat lamp out with a different bulb and It's staying around 84F. Paper towels down instead of the mat. I have the mat beneath the paper towels so they don't slip all over the bottom of the bin. Humidity is around 39% right now. There is a lid with a mesh, but I don't want the brooder to be too hot/make the humidity go up too much. It looks small, but all of them fit comfortably with room to spare on one of those plates. They'll be going into a bigger brooder in half a week to a week, they're outgrowing this one pretty quickly. I've got another one twice as big ready to go, just have to set up the heat lamps in it.
View attachment 1917074

I think you are over doing it on the heat.


Here are my two week olds, regular coturnix though, outside with no heat since just a few days old.


Notice the dirt boxes under them.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I tried sand like that, but they seemed more interested in eating the sand than in eating their feed, so I removed it. Plain dirt from the back yard is very high in dry, powdery clay that turns into a slick, snotty, 'stain everything red' mess when wet and sand derived from volcanic rock; do you think I ought to give that a try instead of the store-bought sand? @Texas Kiki