Odd Quail Death

[kjoseph93]

I started with quail and may and hatched two of my own eggs about 7 weeks ago. I have kept the two now full grown quail in the brooder box as I need to build a new coop for them outside. I turned the heat lamp off last week but it is still about 70 degrees inside my house here.

Yesterday when I got home I noticed one of the quail sitting peacefully in the same spot for a long period of time. I thought it was a bit off but left her alone. This morning I noticed the quail was in the same spot. So I reached to move her and she was dead. It looks like she died in her sleep or something. They had access to food, they filled their water with litter but at most that was only a few hours before I cleared the trough. This was my first quail death and I think its tougher because I raised these two as chicks.

Any idea what could have happened? She looks perfectly healthy. I attached a picture. It looks like shes sleeping.

 

[Binki]

Is it possible she could have hit her head? Sorry

 

[lomine]

Sorry you had to experience this.

Is her crop really big? Based on the way the feathers are sticking out a bit it looks enlarged. Maybe it got impacted.

 

[kjoseph93]

Update: when I can home from work today and picked up the deceased quails hatch/brooder mate...clear liquid came out of her beak

Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? Don't want to lose my second one

 

[lomine]

Poor thing. Does the liquid smell really bad? It could be sour crop. You may want to do a search for sour crop symptoms and see if it fits. I've never experienced it and can't offer any advice on treating it. Good luck.

 

[Binki]

It's happened to me before by healthy quail, she probably had some water in her crop and it was displaced