Lump on back of leg please help!

@Wyorp Rock is right, MS has no neurological issues. What has most likely happened is the bird flushed up into the ceiling of the cage and boinked his head. He has either damaged his spinal cord or has a concusion. This is so common with quail and I urge people to use fake or real foliage in their pens and aviaries for cover. Quail prefer to hang out and linger all day as they would in the wild under brush. When danger approaches, they dive for cover. Without cover they flush up and hit their heads.

As for your little guy, separate him out for a couple of days. Use a heat lamp on him to keep him warm. Use soft towels or bedding and you may need to help him eat. Hand feed him and if he can't drink, dip his beak in the water several times a day. Many times these brain issues have them off poultry feed, so warmed chopped hard boiled eggs is the perfect emergency food to sustain and keep him healing. Eggs have all the vitamins, minerals and building blocks of life in them. This type of injury can take several days to a week to recover from. The thing that usually kills them is dehydration and starving to death so make sure to intervene and help him eat and drink.

And wow, 6 yrs old is old for a quail, you must be giving him a lot of love!! I recently lost a male Bobwhite of 7 years, 5 months and 11 days, died of old age. Hatched him myself, he sure lived a long time. Gosh I miss that bird!

Keep us posted on his progress!
I think today is a week since he started acting strange. He was fine , I had him out of the quail area and he was with me visiting and I put him up. I can't back about 30 minutes to an hour later and he was backing up fast and jumping forward. I was alarmed because he was fine before. I separated him and had him in and out of a separate cage for a few days. He eats and drinks fine. He even lounges,dusts ,and preens his feathers. the only probably is he has these episodes where he shakes his head ,runs backwards, and acts strange. I have a heat lamp for him that he lays under and I let him go back with the others so he doesn't feel lonely. They have soft bedding and they typically lounge all day and sometimes walk around and pick at the ground. I've noticed they are alot less active than chickens and lower maintenance. Yesterday I gave my hens a boiled egg and he came over very quickly and ate the egg like he was craving it. I give him electolyte water as well or acv. He eats gamebird/showbird food mixed with bird seeds and this supplement called kicking chicken drizzled on top. He is the least active of the rest but he is alot older. My other birds are just turning 2. I got him when he was 2 weeks old. he is loved beyong belief. He gets baths when it's summer and he does get privilege to get out of the quail area and come to our area . He's very well behaved. He sometimes sits in his own pet bed on the couch. I think that's absolutely amazing u had a 7 year old! It's so hard to find fellow elderly quail owners! Most people I've talked with have one no older that 2 to 3 years. I'm so sorry your little guy passed! If you don't mine me asking, how was his health? Did he act like anelderlyy quail? Meaning was he slower or like you would imagine a regular elderly person to be? Did he pass suddenly or did he have signs? I always want all the advice and info I can get about elderly quail since it's such a rarity. If he does have a spinal cord injury or concussion will that heal on its own with supplemental care? As in the things I'm doing will he just heal on his own?
 
I'm glad you are taking your girl to the vet:)

MS is usually not associated with neurological symptoms.

What you describe in your male - the walking backwards, shaking the head and having balance issues - if he were a chicken, I would think Wry Neck. Head injury can cause similar symptoms, so can vitamin E deficiency. I do not know how much vitamin E you should give to a quail, so would suggest you discuss that with your vet or use the proper dosage of a poultry vitamin like Poultry Nutri-Drench that contains E.

You may also want to look in his ears, just in case he has ear infection or ear mites.

I'm sure the others will chime in:) I have soooo much to learn, so if you don't mind, please let us know what the vet says about both your little birds.
Thank you so much you have been so helpful. you and twocrows are very knowledgeable. I will look for him some vitamins when I go out today. I will also post what the vet says about my girl. Her name is peanut by the way. I am considering taking junior my elderly quail along to the vet as well. Vet charges are so expensive so if it's not to high I'd love to take him as well. If not I can always try to get him things at the local farm supply store. Yesterday I was so afraid of what could be wrong with peanut. Ms sounded so scary. I read alot about it and although I still have questions I feel much better. Since it's everywhere and most flocks carry it unknown I realize it's nothing I specifically did. I thought maybe I was not attentive enough and she got hurt and got infection. I knew that couldn't be the case since I check on them several times a day and I spend time with them. I just always blame myself when something is wrong with one of the animals but there's alot of things you just can't avoid. With 11 chickens, 5 quail, and 2 cats there's always something going on.
 
Thank you so much you have been so helpful. you and twocrows are very knowledgeable. I will look for him some vitamins when I go out today. I will also post what the vet says about my girl. Her name is peanut by the way. I am considering taking junior my elderly quail along to the vet as well. Vet charges are so expensive so if it's not to high I'd love to take him as well. If not I can always try to get him things at the local farm supply store. Yesterday I was so afraid of what could be wrong with peanut. Ms sounded so scary. I read alot about it and although I still have questions I feel much better. Since it's everywhere and most flocks carry it unknown I realize it's nothing I specifically did. I thought maybe I was not attentive enough and she got hurt and got infection. I knew that couldn't be the case since I check on them several times a day and I spend time with them. I just always blame myself when something is wrong with one of the animals but there's alot of things you just can't avoid. With 11 chickens, 5 quail, and 2 cats there's always something going on.

You are so very kind:hugs

I'm always trying to learn something new. Quail are a mystery to me, so I defer to TwoCrows and other folks that keep them.

No, MS is not something that you have done. Even if it the swelling is due to injury, sometimes these things can't be avoided. A tiny scratch or scuff can turn into infection in birds. I can tell that you care deeply for your Peanut and having an elderly fella that even gets to (watch TV?) on the couch! LOL They are loved very much, I'm sure of it.

Please do let us know what you find out, I hope the vet fixes her leg right up and your little fella gets better soon:)
 
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You are so very kind:hugs

I'm always trying to learn something new. Quail are a mystery to me, so I defer to TwoCrows and other folks that keep them.

No, MS is not something that you have done. Even if it the swelling is due to injury, sometimes these things can't be avoided. A tiny scratch or scuff can turn into infection in birds. I can tell that you care deeply for your Peanut and having an elderly fella that even gets to (watch TV?) on the couch! LOL They are loved very much, I'm sure of it.

Please do let us know what you find out, I hope the vet fixes her leg right up and your little fella gets better soon:)
Yes junior used to watch TV but as he's aged he's like an elderly man that falls asleep in front of the TV.:old He does prefer lifetime movies tho :lau. He is a Texas A&M. I have another Texas quail I adopted and he's a stargazer. He was born that way and his previous owner couldn't find it in her to cull him. She sold me the other 3 quail I have and she reached out to me to adopt him when she had to move to an apartment where pets weren't allowed. I took him in and have had him ever since. He is a character I must say. :weeI have a closed flock and I do not sell or bring in new. If I get new chickens it's chicks from a broody hen I have. I do not sell eggs and I do not incubate them. I have adopted or rescued every animal I currently own. They are all loved by me and my mom and they are all characters within themselves it's never a dull moment. Thank you for the well wishes and kindness. Also I included pictures of my junior as of right now. He refused to look at the camera.
 
Aww...he is adorable! :love 6 years is old for a quail considering their average lifespan is 2-5 years. If this isn't an injury I agree with @Wyorp Rock he may need more vitamins. Aging bodies have a harder time absorbing nutrients. Anything could be going on inside his body at this age. Cherish every moment you have with him! :)
 
@TwoCrows @Eggcessive any ideas?

I don't know much of anything about Quail.

I know it's hard to take a photo and hold a bird at the same time - do you have a helper that can hold her so we can see the leg a bit better?

Hopefully the others will chime in, while we wait, I'm going to ask some questions:)
Does the joint feel fluid filled, hard, etc.?
What treatment(s) have you tried so far?
How old is she?
 
@TwoCrows @Eggcessive any ideas?

I don't know much of anything about Quail.

I know it's hard to take a photo and hold a bird at the same time - do you have a helper that can hold her so we can see the leg a bit better?

Hopefully the others will chime in, while we wait, I'm going to ask some questions:)
Does the joint feel fluid filled, hard, etc.?
What treatment(s) have you tried so far?
How old is she?

@TwoCrows @Eggcessive any ideas?

I don't know much of anything about Quail.

I know it's hard to take a photo and hold a bird at the same time - do you have a helper that can hold her so we can see the leg a bit better?

Hopefully the others will chime in, while we wait, I'm going to ask some questions:)
Does the joint feel fluid filled, hard, etc.?
What treatment(s) have you tried so far?
How old is she?
Thank you so much for responding! It feels hard and when I touch it I can't tell if there's fluid or not. It doesn't seem to cause her pain. I also was afraid she has scaly leg due to someone else telling me her scales look dirty and as if she does have that. Yesterday I made her a warm bath with Epsom salt and washed her legs that's why her feathers look funny around her legs. I then applied a bandage I come up with that had antibiotic ointment on it. I don't know what else to do. My quails are inside birds so I have never had an issue with anything or any sickness. She will be 2 years old this June. I also applied Vaseline to her legs since I was advised she appears to have scaly leg. None of my other quails have this and their legs look fine. I checked everyone else yesterday for blisters and they have none.
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Thank you for posting more photos:)

Does the leg seem swollen or raw on the thigh too? (see red circle on photo)
Have your quail ever had any respiratory illness?

The soaking and application a triple antibiotic ointment won't hurt. @Eggcessive knows more about abscesses vs cysts than I ever will. It almost looks fluid filled, but it's so hard to know.

She does look to have a few raised scales that could be Scaly Leg Mite. The soaking and application of vaseline or even triple antibiotic ointment should help with those. The purpose of vaseline (oil/ointment) is to smother the mites.


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Just to update about peanut I went to the vet yesterday. It was the best experience ever. The vet was so informative and knowledgeable. He suspects Ms and prescribed tetracycline to be mixed into the water for 5 to 7 days. After that if there's no change or progress he wants to take a sample of the lump and run a culture to see what specifically it is and prescribe another medication. He was confident this medicine would work and take care of the issue. Due to her size he didn't want to do too much to her to soon. He said antibiotics was the way to go right now. She is eating and drinking like always and I started her on the antibiotics last night. The vet visit was reasonable priced and the antibiotic pack was just $11! I'm so glad I got her seen about! Thank you twocrows and wyorp rock!
 

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