my adult female coturnix is lame

[stephboden]

all of a sudden, I noticed that my adult female is laying on her side and cannot stand when I try to stand her up. What could this be? She is in a wire floor rabbit cage with another younger female. The adult was born in March. please help

 

[DK newbie]

What do you feed her? Calcium, vitamins and proteins are all important and lack of either could supposedly cause symptoms similar to lameness(like lack of balance or strength to stand).

 

[stephboden]

22% meatbird starter/grower crumbles

 

[DK newbie]

Does she lay eggs? I don't know for sure, but I don't think a crumble intended for growing birds has enough calcium to sustain egg laying, so if she does(or did, before she became sick), you will probably need to give her additional calcium. The protein is a bit low too, but I don't think that is bad enough to prevent her from standing.
I would suggest trying to feed her hard boiled eggs, shell and all. Make sure to crush the shell properly so she can easily eat it. This will get her both proteins, vitamins and calcium.

If she has any damage to her head, another option might be that she has boinked into the cage top.

 

[stephboden]

I am pretty sure her head is fine. she is a good egg layer. I give my chickens that crushed oyster shell, but haven't given it to my quail. I was under the impression that I needed something for game birds, and this is the only thing available at my farm store. They have a couple others that show game birds , but have the methione....or something like that, that I think is medicine and didn't want them to have that anymore. I will try the egg. can I just offer the oyster shell crushed finer in a separate bowl from now on to my girls? I have them separated from my male, but they are still by him and visible ...he is just too much of a bully and I only have two females.

 

[DK newbie]

I only have button quail, but I give them the same crushed oyster shell people use for chickens and it works fine. I ground it till it's almost powder and do as you suggest - put it in a separate bowl so they can take it or leave it as they please.
From what you say, I think it is very likely that lack of calcium caused the problem. It might take a while for her to be able to walk again, but it should be possible. We had a duck which I believe had the same problem recently. She could walk, but she almost used her wings as much as her legs to do so and in general only did it to move between food and water. It took a while before we caught on to what was going on with her and began giving her oyster shell in her feed a couple of times a week. After a month or so, she now stands while eating and moves around a bit more - she used to eat while lying down. But perhaps her recovery was just slow, because it took so long for us to start treating her, and because we didn't give her oyster shell every day.
Good luck with her

 

[dc3085]

Most likely she either hit her head on the ceiling or ran short of water. might heal, usually dont. Keep it warm, feed it whatever it will eat. Add some electrolytes to the water or if you dont have them a bit of sugar helps.

 

[stephboden]

still no improvements . cant get her to stand or eat. forcing water with a dropper. she seems to have labiored breathing now...opening and closing her mouth.

 

[DK newbie]

That sounds bad. Usually calcium deficiency isn't that bad in the beginning - though I've never seen it in quail, I've been very careful about giving them access to extra calcium ever since I got them. Perhaps she did hit her head, but she could also have had a stroke or the problem could be from something completely different. I'd still try mixing calcium in the water, though. And whatever else might help - electrolytes, nutrients..