Lump on back of leg please help!

[TwoCrows]

I know how it is, we worry about our babies.

It looks like infection to me, but why. Synovial fluid may be leaking out of the tendon sheaves in the hock, common with MS. Quail aren't all that susceptible to MS however. More of a chicken thing, MS

You might try some Doxycycline on her. Its great for deep tissue infections and does well with MS just incase it is MS. You can get it at Twin Cites Poultry.

www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1120

Use RO water or distilled with this medication.

Try this for 1 week. Its either going to work or not.

If you have any Baytril, (Twin Cities also sells it) this might work well too.

This is what I would try first.

 

[ashlierami]

I know how it is, we worry about our babies.

It looks like infection to me, but why. Synovial fluid may be leaking out of the tendon sheaves in the hock, common with MS. Quail aren't all that susceptible to MS however. More of a chicken thing, MS

You might try some Doxycycline on her. Its great for deep tissue infections and does well with MS just incase it is MS. You can get it at Twin Cites Poultry.

www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1120

Use RO water or distilled with this medication.

Try this for 1 week. Its either going to work or not.

If you have any Baytril, (Twin Cities also sells it) this might work well too.

This is what I would try first.

What is the survival rate if it is Ms? What are other symptoms of Ms? Is this contagious? I do have chickens but they are housed outside and do not come into contact with the qual. I know my hands or clothing or other things can spread it but I wash my hands if I handle the chickens. Would I need to treat all the quail with this medicine as a precaution?

 

[TwoCrows]

My chickens had MS. With medications, the survival rate is good. My birds had it in the foot joint and the fluid leaked into the pad of the foot. I did bumblefoot surgeries daily to drain the fluids along with Doxy and Baytril combined. The entire process of meds and surgeries took 3 months to heal. I didn't lose any of them.

You would have to get blood work done to be sure its MS. This could still be something else. MS is contagious and they can carry the mycoplasma the rest of their days.

But I do think antibiotics is where to start with this.

I hope she is going to be ok!!

 

[ashlierami]

My chickens had MS. With medications, the survival rate is good. My birds had it in the foot joint and the fluid leaked into the pad of the foot. I did bumblefoot surgeries daily to drain the fluids along with Doxy and Baytril combined. The entire process of meds and surgeries took 3 months to heal. I didn't lose any of them.

You would have to get blood work done to be sure its MS. This could still be something else. MS is contagious and they can carry the mycoplasma the rest of their days.

But I do think antibiotics is where to start with this.

I hope she is going to be ok!!

I made an appointment with a vet. Around here antibiotics are no longer sold in farm supply stores. Tomorrow I take her at 445 to see the vet. I checked the website where the antibiotic is sold. I figured it might be better if I get her seen by a vet in case it isn't Ms I won't b wasting my money. Also I wouldn't have to wait for the medication to be shipped to me. I hope she will be okay and that she can be treated. She hasn't lost any weight and still eats great so that's positive signs to me. Thank you for all your help and advice I really appreciate it

 

[TwoCrows]

Great! If you have a good avian vet, its always the best option.

Keep us posted!

 

[ashlierami]

Great! If you have a good avian vet, its always the best option.

Keep us posted!

I was wondering if Ms affects the birds neurologically? If so what are signs of that? I have my elderly quail that I posted about a few days ago. He acts as if he's bumped his head yet I see nothing to indicate that. He shakes his head and walks backwards fast or has balance issues. It's not always but it does happen several times a day. He will be 6 in April and I thought maybe it's just his age. Could he to have Ms and I just never knew it?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I was wondering if Ms affects the birds neurologically? If so what are signs of that? I have my elderly quail that I posted about a few days ago. He acts as if he's bumped his head yet I see nothing to indicate that. He shakes his head and walks backwards fast or has balance issues. It's not always but it does happen several times a day. He will be 6 in April and I thought maybe it's just his age. Could he to have Ms and I just never knew it?

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.

 

[TwoCrows]

@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!

 

[ashlierami]

@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?

 

[ashlierami]

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.