Lost a J. Cortunix breeder hen this morning

[Buttercup Chillin]

I went out to the quail pen this morning and 1 breeder hen was down. Egg bound. I noticed blood on the droppings pan yesterday and checked each of the birds that hung out in the area. Couldn't find a problem. This morning one looked off (her eyes were off). Still didn't see what was wrong. A few hours later she was dead and her egg was partly out but not releasing. I broke it out of the membrane, but she was already dead.

She was my largest girl. So is this common? The temperatures have been in mid 90's with heat index 105 or so for over a week. I've been changing out water 3-4 times a day. Adding ice bottles as well.

Quess this a good reason to keep a few extra's for replacements.

 

[Stellar]

There could be many factors for eggbinding:

~it is the first time the quail hen has laid an egg,
~the oviduct is too small for the egg to pass through,
~the egg may have broken and cannot slip through or
~the shell of the egg is too soft to let the egg pass through.

Young quail sometimes find it difficult to lay their first few eggs as the onset of lay for female quail is from about 6 weeks of age and it is not unusual to find that the first few eggs that they lay are elongated in shape or speckled with blood.
Sometimes it is obvious that a quail hen is egg bound as they will be straining.
Egg binding can be relieved by gently massaging the egg out. If the egg breaks inside the quail hen then there maybe a risk of infection. If the quail strains too much, death can result as stress.

My feelings towards this is that the hen was in stress with the heat and too much strain so she just didn't make it. So sorry for your loss

There are deficiencies that can also result to egg binding too so make sure that there is adequate protein, selenium, calcium, vitamins A and E in your Quails diet.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

They are on game bird breeder feed. I will check it though.

Its been really hot for more than a week now. We have been under extreme heat advisory (over 108 index) for most of that time. They are just 8 weeks old yesterday so they have just started laying about a week ago, each day I am getting 1 or 2 more eggs.

This had to be her first egg. I literally ripped the egg from her, it was small and blue and I did crack it getting it out. I felt around for opening for egg to come out and couldn't find it, so I just took it out. (She was already dead and I wanted to hatch it).

Just bothered me that yesterday I butchered 2 other females and now I lost her. I thought I had to many hens, but maybe I need to keep extras. But if she had a physical problem, then its best this way.

We live in a hot humid area and all my birds have to make the adaptation to this climate. Sometimes, it doesn't work out, but the strong survive and their prodgeny are more acclimated. But these eggs came from this area, so I was not expecting a heat problem and don't think that was much of an issue but did contribute.

 

[Stellar]

I hope it gets cooler for you guys! That temperature is terrible!!!!

 

[mxpres]

I had 11 hens and two roosters in one cage.one of the roosters suddenly started fighting with the other rooster,I finally removed the bully to a cage with three hens and no rooster,the hens were strange to him since they were in a different cage for about two months,next morning I checked on him and the hens had bloodied him up pretty bad,he was backed into a corner with his head down looking battered,,half scalped,Is this normal for hens to turn on a strange rooster like that?

 

[Stellar]

Yes, hens can be as feisty as males

especially a newcomer. I would isolate the battered male until he gets some feathers back. Neosporin works for his bloody head.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

When she puts him back with hens all should go to a new cage, right? That is once he is healed.
I have yet to add to an established pen. So I am quessing.

 

[Stellar]

Reintroducing the rooster and hens in a different environment will help a lot when he recuperates. The hens seemed to be territorial to their surroundings when the rooster was first introduced.