Help- quail disease?

[lauragrace]

Hello!
We recently purchased 5 adult quail from a man on craigslist in Virginia in hopes of hatching out babies and starting a small flock (four females and one male). We were keeping them outdoors in a hutch with wind-proofing and a light for heat. Within the week our male quail died. We thought he may have frozen overnight with the cold temperatures and so we brought all of the quail inside and kept them in a makeshift brooder. They didn't have very much space but they were warm and I changed their bedding daily while they were indoors. A few days ago the temperatures were lovely and we took the quail back outside to their outdoor hutch after they had spent about a week inside with us. When we were putting them back in their hutch we noticed one of our females seemed sick. Her feathers were fluffed, she was moving weakly and she had diarrhea. I immediately isolated her from our others, and put her under a heat lamp with clean bedding and water. When she showed signs of worsening- she began shaking intermittently and stopped moving, eating or drinking, I called two local vets. Neither proved helpful so I then went to our two local farmers co-ops in the Annapolis area. One of the men seemed very knowledgeable and recommended I put all of my quail (and my ducks who are housed separately but on the same property) on antibiotics and electrolytes. After 48 hours with no improvement from our dear lady we had a vet put her out of her misery. I am worried about the other quail in our little flock. From what I have read online I suppose this could be quail disease- which would mean everyone would be infected or could be? There is so little information out there about this topic. I plan to keep medicating our other quail for the next week and a half and clean out their coop to the best of my ability. What should I do? Are there any additional precautions I can take? What can we do if we are interested in expanding our flock but do not want to risk getting our birds sick?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you thank you.

 

[chooks4life]

I don't have any first hand experience with quail but garlic works across species. It contains 34+ natural antibiotics which are always different according to the individual plant's genetics, environment etc, so unlike artificial, static antibiotics, diseases can't develop immunity against it.

Garlic has been proven to kill bacteria, pathogens etc that the strongest artificial antibiotics can't. When you crush or cut a raw clove, the enzymes interact to release Allicin, which is very potent indeed but dissipates within hours or a day or so. Garlic is antimicrobial, antibiotic, antibacterial, antiviral, and much more, but targets harmful bacteria rather than just killing everything like artificial antibiotics do. It's also high in natural sulfur compounds and aids in rapid healing and both internal and external parasite control. Takes a while to build up in the tissues to that extent though but it's beneficial in more ways that just that.

I would perhaps check Marek's disease information and see if the symptoms match your animal's. Best wishes with that.

 

[dc3085]

Hello!
We recently purchased 5 adult quail from a man on craigslist in Virginia in hopes of hatching out babies and starting a small flock (four females and one male). We were keeping them outdoors in a hutch with wind-proofing and a light for heat. Within the week our male quail died. We thought he may have frozen overnight with the cold temperatures and so we brought all of the quail inside and kept them in a makeshift brooder. They didn't have very much space but they were warm and I changed their bedding daily while they were indoors. A few days ago the temperatures were lovely and we took the quail back outside to their outdoor hutch after they had spent about a week inside with us. When we were putting them back in their hutch we noticed one of our females seemed sick. Her feathers were fluffed, she was moving weakly and she had diarrhea. I immediately isolated her from our others, and put her under a heat lamp with clean bedding and water. When she showed signs of worsening- she began shaking intermittently and stopped moving, eating or drinking, I called two local vets. Neither proved helpful so I then went to our two local farmers co-ops in the Annapolis area. One of the men seemed very knowledgeable and recommended I put all of my quail (and my ducks who are housed separately but on the same property) on antibiotics and electrolytes. After 48 hours with no improvement from our dear lady we had a vet put her out of her misery. I am worried about the other quail in our little flock. From what I have read online I suppose this could be quail disease- which would mean everyone would be infected or could be? There is so little information out there about this topic. I plan to keep medicating our other quail for the next week and a half and clean out their coop to the best of my ability. What should I do? Are there any additional precautions I can take? What can we do if we are interested in expanding our flock but do not want to risk getting our birds sick?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you thank you.

What is the floor of their coop? Are they on dirt?

 

[lauragrace]

Thank you for the advice about garlic- would I just feed it to them in a dish? Would they voluntarily eat it? I have looked into Mareks disease but my quail didnt show any of the "one leg forward one leg back" symptoms. Instead she just sat in the same spot for about two days. She could move around- which I saw when switching out her food and water but when I wasnt interrupting her she was just lying there, head down tucked into her chest, shaking or staying totally still. I looked into Mareks prevention and it seems there is a vaccine- should I find a farm vet to medicate my other birds?
Hmm thank you for your advice!

 

[lauragrace]

The quail have a set up similar to most chicken coops- an indoor space where they are elevated but a solid floor and then a run where they have access to the ground There is a roof over both their coop and their run. When they were inside with me durring the cold they were in a makeshift brooder with a solid floor. I suppose it could be worms- but it seemed so sudden and violent Im not sure...It seems more bacterial.
Thank you!

 

[TwoCrows]

The quail have a set up similar to most chicken coops- an indoor space where they are elevated but a solid floor and then a run where they have access to the ground There is a roof over both their coop and their run. When they were inside with me durring the cold they were in a makeshift brooder with a solid floor. I suppose it could be worms- but it seemed so sudden and violent Im not sure...It seems more bacterial.
Thank you!

Have these quail been wormed recently? Worms will drag a bird down slowly over the months, lots of diarrhea, weight loss, birds sit fluffed up and die from starvation. Worms slowly eat their food, and take up more and more space in the intestinal tract. I would consider worming them before any antibacterial drugs are started. Worming is fast and quick to notice if the birds respond. Get some Wazine at the feed store, add 2 tablespoons Wazine per gallon of water. Start first thing in the morning and stop the next morning. Repeat in 12 days to get all the hatched eggs.

If you don't see improvements in a few days or one week, then move on to antibacterial drugs.

 

[lauragrace]

Okay thank you- the thing is that the remainder of my quail look perfectly healthy- as do my ducks and chickens. My quail who did get violently sick did so overnight. It was almost an instant occurrence and she was immediately terrible. So I hesitate to think that it is worm which would be affecting her slowly over months. I went to my farm store today and the woman there said just to keep everybody on vitamins and electrolytes and that the upcoming cold weather will get rid of any bacteria that may have been lingering on the premises. I am hoping she is right but I am still holding off on the quail order I was going to place. I suppose I will wait another two weeks or so?
Thanks

 

[TwoCrows]

If your others look good, then most likely it is not worms or a bacterial infection. Lots of things can go wrong internally, so unless you get a necropsy done on the bird, you may never know.

Just take good care of your birds, probioitcs are a wonderful additive to the diet, practice good hygene and you should have healthy birds.

Good luck with your flocks!

 

[layinfram]

I have a bird with the same symptoms. She just sits there with her dead down and doesn't really move or do anything. Real Lathargic. I started adding probotic and electrolyte to her water. Haven't dewormed her yet. I have to make her drink water cause she doesn't eat or drink. Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lauragrace]

Yesterday I went to the farm store and got some diactamacious earth (sp?) to scatter around the quail pen and some additional vitamins for my baby chicks in the house. The farm store person seemed confident that as long as my other quail and birds seem happy and healthy whatever it was could have been an isolated case- especially with freezing temperatures coming up this week. I hope that is the case. I am still debating when to order my new quail babies. Please let me know the fate of your quail and whether or not she makes it. Or if you discover what the disease is.
Thank you,