Immobile Quail Chick

[Quailobsessed]

Hello,
I am new to this forum but I have been reading posts and threads for ages. I've been keeping quails since December last year. I thought it would be good to join to get advice and share my experiences.

So recently one of my japanese quails went broody and hatched 10 chicks. Around the same time I had just gotten a Janoel 12 incubator and wanted to try it out. I put 2 eggs in that the quail hadn't sat on in the incubator. Both chicks hatched 4 days after the mother hatched hers though one didn't survive. When the parent-raised chicks were a week old, I noticed one of them had a bad limp. I removed the chick straight away as I knew it wouldn't last long with the competition. I examined the leg and found nothing physically wrong with it. wanting to give it heat as quickly as possible, I put it in the brooder with the younger chick as I also thought that one could have company (I've had a king quail chick in a brooder alone and she'd cry for me all night). The two of them got along well and the limping one started to improve. Though recently I've noticed the other chick who is younger and smaller was having trouble standing and looks as if she's been squashed too many times by the limping chick who is 4 weeks old today. I have put a divider in the brooder now as I didn't know what else to do. I've examined the younger chick and found that she sits with her legs crossed and can't stand properly. I'm making sure she has access to food and water.

I have bred king quails a few times but this is my first clutch of Japs.

If anyone has any advice that would be very much appreciated.

 

[muddy75]

Hello,
I am new to this forum but I have been reading posts and threads for ages. I've been keeping quails since December last year. I thought it would be good to join to get advice and share my experiences.

So recently one of my japanese quails went broody and hatched 10 chicks. Around the same time I had just gotten a Janoel 12 incubator and wanted to try it out. I put 2 eggs in that the quail hadn't sat on in the incubator. Both chicks hatched 4 days after the mother hatched hers though one didn't survive. When the parent-raised chicks were a week old, I noticed one of them had a bad limp. I removed the chick straight away as I knew it wouldn't last long with the competition. I examined the leg and found nothing physically wrong with it. wanting to give it heat as quickly as possible, I put it in the brooder with the younger chick as I also thought that one could have company (I've had a king quail chick in a brooder alone and she'd cry for me all night). The two of them got along well and the limping one started to improve. Though recently I've noticed the other chick who is younger and smaller was having trouble standing and looks as if she's been squashed too many times by the limping chick who is 4 weeks old today. I have put a divider in the brooder now as I didn't know what else to do. I've examined the younger chick and found that she sits with her legs crossed and can't stand properly. I'm making sure she has access to food and water.

I have bred king quails a few times but this is my first clutch of Japs.

If anyone has any advice that would be very much appreciated.

Most of the time, a “defective chick” does not survive the brooder. You can sometimes however raise them successfully but you need to consider your overall goal as they will most like be “special needs” for as long as you keep them. It depends on the severity of the defect and is definitely a “quality of life” issue. Personally, I would consider culling if they have to be kept alone/separate and are not thriving.
@Texas Kiki

 

[Kiki]

Can you post pictures of this younger chick's legs?

 

[Quailobsessed]

Thank you for your replies.

I don't know that it's a hatch defect as she's only been like this at three weeks old so I thought it was an injury from being with a larger chick, though I am willing to take advice from more experienced people.

I've added some photos here.

She does seem very alert and eats and drinks which I think is a good sign.

 

[Kiki]

Poor thing.

I don't know what to say.

If it just happened and it is an injury I can't imagine it not being in pain.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Can I put her in some sort of brace to let her legs heal?

 

[mixedUPturk]

Can I put her in some sort of brace to let her legs heal?

You might be able to try that but it sort of looks like it was splayed legged or deformed at hatch and limped all its life. Then it got a slipped tendon while in with the button. This wouldnt be entirely visible to a novice only a small piece of meat wouldve shifted then it would swell and nothing is visible. The whole leg and foot then turn up and in weird direction.

So as muddy said it becomes about your goals with Your birds. The bird may be able to recover but it also may not be able to and as Kiki said it may be in pretty severe pain. Sometimes they are pets and you want this tiny individual to have every ounce of time and attention in your life. In my case they are livestock and rasing that chick would mean special consideration given to providing a suitable cage and feeder and water then extra time and i cant do that. The chick would be left to slowly die and thats plain wrong. Plus youve got several healthy chicks. If it were me in my program then i would cull it.

Often when these types of injuries pop up at ages beyond the newly hatched theres a much lower chance of fixing it.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Thank you for all your responses and advice. I am raising for pets and I will do whatever I can for this chick. The chick hadn't limped when it was younger and I don't notice any swelling. I will see what I can do for her and will update if I get any improvement or not.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Just for clarification as my story is a bit confusing:

10 coturnix chicks hatched with the mother.

1 hatched in the incubator.

The incubator chick is four days younger than the other 10.

One of the 10 started limping at a week old.

I put her with the incubator chick.

At three weeks old the incubator chick got the twisted leg problem.

The twisted leg chick and the limping chick are different chicks.

They are all coturnix, not button.

Sorry about the confusion, that's why I said the twisted leg chick didn't seem to have the problem since hatching as she wasn't the one with the limp. By the way, the limping chick (not the twisted leg chick) is doing well.

 

[Maiahr]

Try with a brace. I have a success with quail legs deformations by spending tiiiiiime, initially holding the chick AND the legs in the proper position in my hand. Then hold the chick with properly positioned legs without moving it, i.e. do not allow it to move, just keep it stand on its feet. If you spend time doing that, and is the splayed legs problem (weak muscles) it will start improving after 2-3 days.