HELP!!!!!!!!! Quail was acting funny (neurotic), hours later she had both eyes shut tight, huddled..

Binki · May 20, 2017

Are her eyelids normally that red? They look inflamed compared to my quail, just throwing this out there but could be an allergy? Have you fed them anything different lately?

The poo could indicate liver problem or anorexia - I've done this with birds before that won't eat -

I use Tropican baby bird powder (petsmart) mixed with water in a syringe without the needle and dribble little bits at a time at the corner of the beak - bird will usually instinctually open their mouths a bit and swallow some.

It's a slow process but if she's not eating or drinking it seems the only thing to get her strength back during whatever this is. It has worked wonders before.

Alternatively you could soak her game bird crumble to a slurry and use that, or even mix in a raw quail egg for extra nutrition.

You may also want to look up electrolytes for quail, I know people use them chickens, unflavored pedialyte sometimes but I'm not sure if there's a dose - I wonder if a bit of that with some quail egg instead of all water would be beneficial?

Crazy_Quail_Lady · May 20, 2017

I'm thinking this is related to what happened in the past 2 weeks..
I have the bunny cage directly under the quail cage and within the past 2 weeks I completely cleaned out the bunny cage (he's litter trained so a big clean out doesn't happen as often).
Anyways when I was done I took a cotton ball and put lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree oil on it and rubbed it around the cage and in his litter box, thinking that would keep bugs away and keep it fresh in there.
I thought it would be safe because I wasn't using it ON anyone..
3 days later one of my hens died.
I couldn't be sure it was related though, because what I read online after she passed was that they would be dead within 24 hours if they had been poisoned. So I though surely it was a coincidence and she maybe had an egg stuck or something that I didn't see. They had all been acting completely normal and fine..
Then she died.
That was May 11/12 (I found her the morning of the 12th.)
I mean I know this sounds so obvious now.. that it's got to be the oil..
Friggg I can't believe I did this.
So now what? Do I take apart the bunny cage and clean it again?
Or will the oils have dicipated? Do they just stay on forever?
Omgoodness I can't believe this.
I thought I was doing a good thing not using chemicals

I feel like such an idiot. :hit

Binki · May 20, 2017

Crazy_Quail_Lady said:
I'm thinking this is related to what happened in the past 2 weeks..
I have the bunny cage directly under the quail cage and within the past 2 weeks I completely cleaned out the bunny cage (he's litter trained so a big clean out doesn't happen as often).
Anyways when I was done I took a cotton ball and put lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree oil on it and rubbed it around the cage and in his litter box, thinking that would keep bugs away and keep it fresh in there.
I thought it would be safe because I wasn't using it ON anyone..
3 days later one of my hens died.
I couldn't be sure it was related though, because what I read online after she passed was that they would be dead within 24 hours if they had been poisoned. So I though surely it was a coincidence and she maybe had an egg stuck or something that I didn't see. They had all been acting completely normal and fine..
Then she died.
That was May 11/12 (I found her the morning of the 12th.)
I mean I know this sounds so obvious now.. that it's got to be the oil..
Friggg I can't believe I did this.
So now what? Do I take apart the bunny cage and clean it again?
Or will the oils have dicipated? Do they just stay on forever?
Omgoodness I can't believe this.
I thought I was doing a good thing not using chemicals
I feel like such an idiot.

Too much of anything can be toxic, we were just discussing that here https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-parsley-poisonous-to-quail.1168948/

So it is possible the oil is affecting the quail, I would ventilate the room/move the quail cage to another room away from the oils and clean out the rabbit cage again.

I would use water with a bit of safe soap and absorbant paper towels to wipe out the cage and replace any bedding because the oils could have absorbed into it and still be emitting the vapor or whatnot, whatever might be irritating your quails eyes and maybe lungs, that could explain her behaviour earlier where she was spazzing out, trying to get away from it?

Since they seem so sensitive to it I would probably clean out the quail cage as well, wiping the outside as well as the inside with fresh paper towels to not transfer oil around if it's now on the outside of the quail cage since the rabbit one was directly below.

I'm not sure if you could/would be safe to use maybe aloe gel on her eyes? Perhaps keep flushing it several times a day with a tiny soft squirt bottle of warm water to soothe and remove any irritants that might still be present, maybe stinging her eyes when she opens them?

Also try to feed her the way I described earlier or her body will fail before she has a chance to maybe bounce back :O

I would have done the same thing, it was an innocent mistake, if that is what has happened. If you're concerned about bugs I really recommend food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) - has killed feather lice and bird mites for my injured wild birds and bought quail with no chemicals and is actually used as a feed additive to absorb moisture to prevent mold and kill pests in the feed.

There are also studies on horses and dogs about its effectiveness on removing internal parasites

it's like a powder, made from tiny itty bitty fossilized algae, no chemicals, okay if eaten (in moderation of course lol).

Crazy_Quail_Lady · May 20, 2017

Binki said:
Too much of anything can be toxic, we were just discussing that here https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-parsley-poisonous-to-quail.1168948/

So it is possible the oil is affecting the quail, I would ventilate the room/move the quail cage to another room away from the oils and clean out the rabbit cage again.

I would use water with a bit of safe soap and absorbant paper towels to wipe out the cage and replace any bedding because the oils could have absorbed into it and still be emitting the vapor or whatnot, whatever might be irritating your quails eyes and maybe lungs, that could explain her behaviour earlier where she was spazzing out, trying to get away from it?

Since they seem so sensitive to it I would probably clean out the quail cage as well, wiping the outside as well as the inside with fresh paper towels to not transfer oil around if it's now on the outside of the quail cage since the rabbit one was directly below.

I'm not sure if you could/would be safe to use maybe aloe gel on her eyes? Perhaps keep flushing it several times a day with a tiny soft squirt bottle of warm water to soothe and remove any irritants that might still be present, maybe stinging her eyes when she opens them?

Also try to feed her the way I described earlier or her body will fail before she has a chance to maybe bounce back :O

I would have done the same thing, it was an innocent mistake, if that is what has happened. If you're concerned about bugs I really recommend food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE) - has killed feather lice and bird mites for my injured wild birds and bought quail with no chemicals and is actually used as a feed additive to absorb moisture to prevent mold and kill pests in the feed.

There are also studies on horses and dogs about its effectiveness on removing internal parasites it's like a powder, made from tiny itty bitty fossilized algae, no chemicals, okay if eaten (in moderation of course lol).

Thank you so much for your response!!
I'm not sure what I'll be able to do here.. I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with no car. I've never had a problem before so I don't have any of these supplies on hand.
I don't even have a syringe anymore (needed one for when bunny had surgery but that was 2 years ago).
Omgoodness.
Okay I have that no name polysporin, is that safe? Is there anything I can make myself to put on her poor eyes?
Am I doing well with the warm water thing? I'm not sure how I'll make her eat..

Binki · May 20, 2017

Crazy_Quail_Lady said:
Thank you so much for your response!!
I'm not sure what I'll be able to do here.. I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with no car. I've never had a problem before so I don't have any of these supplies on hand.
I don't even have a syringe anymore (needed one for when bunny had surgery but that was 2 years ago).
Omgoodness.
Okay I have that no name polysporin, is that safe? Is there anything I can make myself to put on her poor eyes?
Am I doing well with the warm water thing? I'm not sure how I'll make her eat..

No problem! Don't use polysporin on her eyes, stick with warm water and maybe softly dab it dry with clean cotton pads or qtips to try and get some oil off (if there is any residual) without irritating her eyelids further.

Hmm try this,

Use a little bowl, soak her game bird crumble with warm water to a slurry, then take a few drops in the smallest spoon you have and tip the liquid against the corner of her mouth - should inflict an automatic swallow response where she will open and close her beak slightly and swallow a bit.

If you have a straw and a shot glass, you could put the slurry in the glass and dip a straw in it, then plug the other end with your finger and lift it out of the slurry to the corner of her beak and release a little there.

Can also try setting around her beak even hang a droplet of slurry on the tip of the beak, whatever stimulates her to swallow. It will get messy so have paper towels on hand and just go slow with her, after she has a few swallows let her rest for about 15 mins and repeat, mine eventually took to the dribble once they perked up and looked for it.

Good luck!!

Crazy_Quail_Lady · May 20, 2017

Binki said:
No problem! Don't use polysporin on her eyes, stick with warm water and maybe softly dab it dry with clean cotton pads or qtips to try and get some oil off (if there is any residual) without irritating her eyelids further.

Hmm try this,

Use a little bowl, soak her game bird crumble with warm water to a slurry, then take a few drops in the smallest spoon you have and tip the liquid against the corner of her mouth - should inflict an automatic swallow response where she will open and close her beak slightly and swallow a bit.

If you have a straw and a shot glass, you could put the slurry in the glass and dip a straw in it, then plug the other end with your finger and lift it out of the slurry to the corner of her beak and release a little there.

Can also try setting around her beak even hang a droplet of slurry on the tip of the beak, whatever stimulates her to swallow. It will get messy so have paper towels on hand and just go slow with her, after she has a few swallows let her rest for about 15 mins and repeat, mine eventually took to the dribble once they perked up and looked for it.

Good luck!!

Omgoodness!! Thank you so much!!! I had no idea what I was going to do!
I'll go do that straw trick right now

Thank you!!!

Binki · May 20, 2017

Crazy_Quail_Lady said:
Omgoodness!! Thank you so much!!! I had no idea what I was going to do!
I'll go do that straw trick right now
Thank you!!!

You're very welcome

Eventually I made the slurry into a thicker sludge (lol) when they started wanting it and they would gobble it up as I pushed it out of the syringe, at this point they will tell you when they've had enough for now.

Hopefully she will perk up soon! It's also beneficial for an ill animal to be kept warm and draft free, especially since she's getting a little bit wet with her eye cleaning/soothing