Newbie here from VA. with Quail Emergency!!

[mistymmg]

Hello members, I'm a Virginian (well originally from TN but been here 31 years so it's home)... Hubs brought home pheasant & quail eggs the last day of June & we hatched a total of 20 out of 24 (July 23-24).. The 3 pheasants seem to be doing fine.. 1 quail had the umbilical cord attached & it pulled its guts (I assume) out & passed.. The rest are fine except the last was attached to the cord also, but after a couple hours alone & dried in the incubator I clipped it & put him with the rest in a brooder.l However, he was never steady on his feet & we're still trying to keep him going.. The next morning we put him in a separate brooder alone with a cloth for cuddling!! He falls & flips when trying to walk & can't stand very long & seems a little out of his head.. We're using medicated feed (from our local feed store, they were out of game bird feed) that I ground up & today was given something to put in their water.. I tried getting the runt to eat a tad bit of boiled egg & he didn't acknowledge it.. I dipped my finder in the water & to the side of his beak & he did appear to get some.. He does seem to eat & drink when he can keep his balance long enough to walk.. Anything else I can do?? My 4 children are devastated watching the little fella struggle!! I did try to comment on a previous post & not sure if I done it correctly.. Any Advice you gave would be Great!! Thank you all in advance!! I want to be able to raise these chicks before I get into Chickens (which is what I was suppose to have first, thanks hubs)

 

[lehouseofdog]

I have heard that you should not feed quail the medicated chick starter. A friend said she did that and they started to die. Could have been failure to thrive but I don't have enough experience and am not willing to experiment.

Also, if they are deformed at all, they rarely get better.

have you ground up the food so the pieces are small enough?

 

[mistymmg]

Yes, I ground the food into a powder.. The wobbly one is still the same.. Although he does get to acting better once or twice a day.. Which is still the same.. I woke up to another dalima this am... One of the pheasants little bottom is bloody.. Omg, & now a little quail too & he can't walk good!! I put them in its wobbly!! I'm telling ya, this quail bullying (which I failed to mention) is Horrible!! We've tried our best to find the culprit & I can't keep up with who all it is!!!

 

[Webb1]

I know this sounds crazy but put some random cat toys in there with them. In my experience they pick when they can't find anything else to do. This has worked with even the adults. When they are in screen bottom or just plain brooders, picking seems to be higher.

 

[mistymmg]

I don't have any cat toys & am trying to rack my brain around what would work..

I did get red bulbs this evening!! Yay!! We also think we got all the bullies separated from the rest.. However, our wobbly is still the same & doesn't seem to be eating or drinking.. the other quail & pheasant that was injured this morning don't seem any better either.. It's sad watching them struggle.. The pheasant doesn't seem to be eating either but it is drinking.. I tried the egg again on those three & the quail from this morning is the only one that eat it.. But, afterward he seemed more unbalanced than before???? I'm not giving up although I feel like I should since its consuming every minute of my life right now!!