I stepped on my Quail! Help me!

[Octavian Echoes]

I stepped on my Baby Quail of 1 week.
Now, one of Hatchet's legs does not seem to function properly. I have examined the area, and I've concluded that his foot/leg is not broken. I am also able to flex/unflex his leg and he does not seem to feel any pain from this.

The problem is, he is limbing! He can stand on both legs, yet when we decides to go anywhere, he is jumping from his malfunctioning leg to his functioning leg.

He is sleeping more than usual, he is adventuring to his food/water sources, and he is very quiet; he's not shaking, and he's not quailing for my presence.

I need to ease my mind: Is this type of injury normal? Will he be able to heal? Is he suffering?

 

[nightowl223]

I stepped on my Baby Quail of 1 week.
Now, one of Hatchet's legs does not seem to function properly. I have examined the area, and I've concluded that his foot/leg is not broken. I am also able to flex/unflex his leg and he does not seem to feel any pain from this.

The problem is, he is limbing! He can stand on both legs, yet when we decides to go anywhere, he is jumping from his malfunctioning leg to his functioning leg.

He is sleeping more than usual, he is adventuring to his food/water sources, and he is very quiet; he's not shaking, and he's not quailing for my presence.

I need to ease my mind: Is this type of injury normal? Will he be able to heal? Is he suffering?

It's extremely hard to tell if a bird is suffering. Being prey animals, their instinct is to act completely normal right up until whatever hurts or is bleeding kills them. It's just the way they are. As for your little one, specifically, if it's still moving about, and eating & drinking normally, all you can do is watch it and wait to see if you need to intervene.

 

[nightowl223]

As long as it IS getting around, whether by hopping or limping or whatever, it's usually best to let it continue doing so, if you don't know exactly what's causing it to limp. Quail (at least in my knowledge) don't do well with braces or "shoes" or other things we would normally do for a chicken chick. They spend all their time trying to get out of or off of whatever it is you've used on them, and ignore everything else until they've succeeded (or until they die).

 

[nightowl223]

One other thing - this really should be posted in the Emergencies forum, where you'd get a better chance of having more than one or two people seeing it. Let me see if I can hunt down one of the admins to see if we can get it moved for you.

 

[Octavian Echoes]

As long as it IS getting around, whether by hopping or limping or whatever, it's usually best to let it continue doing so, if you don't know exactly what's causing it to limp. Quail (at least in my knowledge) don't do well with braces or "shoes" or other things we would normally do for a chicken chick. They spend all their time trying to get out of or off of whatever it is you've used on them, and ignore everything else until they've succeeded (or until they die).

Thank you for the quick reply!

My Quail IS getting around by hopping/limping, and he IS getting his food/water. I guess the best thing to do would be to watch to see if he is suffering or not, and to see if he will heal.

Thanks for sharing that knowledge about the brace/shoes. I tried to brace him up, but he refused to cooperate! I'll avoid doing so.

 

[nightowl223]

Thank you for the quick reply!

My Quail IS getting around by hopping/limping, and he IS getting his food/water. I guess the best thing to do would be to watch to see if he is suffering or not, and to see if he will heal.

Thanks for sharing that knowledge about the brace/shoes. I tried to brace him up, but he refused to cooperate! I'll avoid doing so.

He or she may just hurt, and once it doesn't hurt as much, they will go back to using it like normal.

 

[Octavian Echoes]

One other thing - this really should be posted in the Emergencies forum, where you'd get a better chance of having more than one or two people seeing it. Let me see if I can hunt down one of the admins to see if we can get it moved for you.

I did post this in the emergency forum, but since I'm new to the forum, I was not sure whether it would be appropriate and/or deleted since my little fella is a Quail.

 

[Octavian Echoes]

He or she may just hurt, and once it doesn't hurt as much, they will go back to using it like normal.

Oh, those words sound like heaven!

 

[nightowl223]

Oh, those words sound like heaven!

We can only hope! That's the problem with having birds... when they're hurt or sick or whatever, they don't tell us about it. We have to work really hard to know what our featherbabies look like when they're feeling their best, so we can recognize when they're sending those tiny little clues that tell us they're not feeling their best.

 

[nightowl223]

@BYC Support do you think this should be relocated to the Emergencies forum? Thanks!