Please Help! Quail in trouble

[007Sean]

You can sift through the whole new bag of feed but that's labor intensive. When you feed just casually look at the feed, if you see anything that looks like this then I would suspect the feed would be contaminated.
Sometimes the fungus won't attack the whole grain, it usually only attacks the germ or the inner most part of the grain, so only a 1/4 to 1/3 of the grain will appear darkened.

 

[YWoody]

You can sift through the whole new bag of feed but that's labor intensive. When you feed just casually look at the feed, if you see anything that looks like this then I would suspect the feed would be contaminated.
Sometimes the fungus won't attack the whole grain, it usually only attacks the germ or the inner most part of the grain, so only a 1/4 to 1/3 of the grain will appear darkened.
View attachment 3637956

Thank you! Good to know. I'm feeding crumbles, but I just went out and smelled the feed at @Nabiki 's suggestion and it smells great, like I could eat it myself, especially the Organic bag (which has a slightly green color), the Purina Layer smells OK too, just slightly old I guess. But definitely no trace of mold smell. I keep it dry in my garage. Here is the feeder I use...

And here is the Organic crumble feed that makes up the majority of their intake (mixed with 1/3 Purina Layer Crumbles)

 

[YWoody]

Hello Folks, @Nabiki, @007Sean, @Patiocoturnix & @CliftonQuail ... I hope things are well in your worlds.
This is an update regarding my hen Myrtle... She is still kenneled inside; today will be a full week. She's slowly steadily improving , eating, drinking & pooping normally. She has both Nutri-Drench & plain water but only seems to be drinking the Nutri-Drench. She is managing to stay upright now but still has some difficulty with balance/equilibrium; she walks with a stiff, halting gait and teeters a bit now & then but manages to stay on her feet; and this is a huge improvement, because she's not tumbling over & over like she was.
Plus she's talkative again, and seems happy to see me come in instead of getting freaked out. She has even laid an egg the past 3 days, despite being in the darkened room
She can hear the other hens out in the aviary in the early mornings and she tries to talk back to them it seems. But I don't feel comfortable putting her back out there yet. She is much improved, but not steady on her feet.
I'm so thankful that she seems to have survived this injury, but now I have questions about next steps & hoping you guys can give me some feedback...
How long can I keep her separated from the "flock" without risking them rejecting her when she re-joins them? and I've heard that quail can die when isolated from the other quail, is that accurate?
My thought was to give her at least 4 more days to recover and then give her a trial in the Aviary when I can observe her most of the day....
What do you guys think?

 

[Patiocoturnix]

Hello Folks, @Nabiki, @007Sean, @Patiocoturnix & @CliftonQuail ... I hope things are well in your worlds.
This is an update regarding my hen Myrtle... She is still kenneled inside; today will be a full week. She's slowly steadily improving , eating, drinking & pooping normally. She has both Nutri-Drench & plain water but only seems to be drinking the Nutri-Drench. She is managing to stay upright now but still has some difficulty with balance/equilibrium; she walks with a stiff, halting gait and teeters a bit now & then but manages to stay on her feet; and this is a huge improvement, because she's not tumbling over & over like she was.
Plus she's talkative again, and seems happy to see me come in instead of getting freaked out. She has even laid an egg the past 3 days, despite being in the darkened room
She can hear the other hens out in the aviary in the early mornings and she tries to talk back to them it seems. But I don't feel comfortable putting her back out there yet. She is much improved, but not steady on her feet.
I'm so thankful that she seems to have survived this injury, but now I have questions about next steps & hoping you guys can give me some feedback...
How long can I keep her separated from the "flock" without risking them rejecting her when she re-joins them? and I've heard that quail can die when isolated from the other quail, is that accurate?
My thought was to give her at least 4 more days to recover and then give her a trial in the Aviary when I can observe her most of the day....
What do you guys think?

I’m so glad she’s doing better my advice for when she can go back to her covey I would wait untill she’s mostly healed you can bring the cage she is in into the aviary during the day so she can see her friends then inside at night and she should be fine with the rest of the covey but once she fully healed she can go back out full time.

 

[Nabiki]

I'm not sure she'll make a full recovery, but I'm glad to hear that she's doing well. I would take one of your gentler hens and put her in with your injured bird. That will give her company as well as make it a bit easier to reintegrate her with the other birds. It's usually better if you can introduce more than one bird at a time because that gives multiple targets in case of aggression.

 

[YWoody]

I’m so glad she’s doing better my advice for when she can go back to her covey I would wait untill she’s mostly healed you can bring the cage she is in into the aviary during the day so she can see her friends then inside at night and she should be fine with the rest of the covey but once she fully healed she can go back out full time.

Great idea! Im going to do that! Thank you!

 

[YWoody]

I'm not sure she'll make a full recovery, but I'm glad to hear that she's doing well. I would take one of your gentler hens and put her in with your injured bird. That will give her company as well as make it a bit easier to reintegrate her with the other birds. It's usually better if you can introduce more than one bird at a time because that gives multiple targets in case of aggression.

ANOTHER great idea! I know just the hen to put in with her! Thank you!
L know what you mean Nabiki... I'm not sure she'll fully recover either; I'm a registered nurse and I know how long term traumatic brain injuries can manifest in humans, even if there's no spinal cord involvement. A lot of the effects can be permanent.
But this bird is such a trooper, she has already amazed me twice! I just cant figure out why it's always her that this stuff happens to

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

Birds are tough, even wee little quail. With your patient care I am optimistic for a full recovery!

 

[YWoody]

Birds are tough, even wee little quail. With your patient care I am optimistic for a full recovery!

Thank you for that, I appreciate the vote of confidence in her. I sincerely hope you are right. She has been out in the Aviary with the covey for a full day now & spending the night out there tonight. She seems so happy to be out there and spent most of the day dirt bathing. She eating and drinking fine and laying every day again. She's still a bit unsteady on her feet, (walks a little bit like she's drunk) but not falling over at all anymore. She's clearly happy to be back out there, but does not seem to be reoriented to the other hens yet, she keeps to herself, and pecks at them if they come near her, which is different behavior for her. I hopeful that will resolve once she doesn't feel as vulnerable anymore.
So far so good!
I appreciate all you helpful folks so much!

 

[EARR]

One of my Coturnix hens (Myrtle- she's 10-11 weeks old) is in real trouble... She is NOT egg bound, all 5 of my hens have been laying every single day, including today. If you just saw her nestled down you would think there was nothing wrong with her. But she was walking like a drunken sailor, having difficulty staying on her feet and sort of recklessly lunging herself around and stumbling. The other hens are fine.
I have now separated her from the rest, she is in a kennel in the house. I have looked her over and she is not wounded or even missing feathers, but when stressed from handling she started panting with beak open. I have given her a few drops of electrolyte solution...(1 cup water, 1 teas sugar, with pinch of salt & baking soda) & she has Poultry Vitamin "Drench" solution in her water source in the kennel, but I have not observed her eating or drinking yet..
If one of you amazing Quail experts could give me some guidance I would soooo appreciate it. This poor Quail has had roughest summer ever. 1st the Rooster injured her (he's GONE!), then she got terribly egg bound and she survived both disasters! Now THIS!
I'm hoping one of you folks that are so knowledgeable & have helped me before will see this.... @Nabiki, @007Sean, @CliftonQuail

I am new to this by had the exact same thing in one we took in, he had a slow blockage (ingested something he could not digest prior to us taking him in) and it slowly stopped him from eating and passing poop. Unsure if it helps, we just had this last week. Hope your little one gets better