timmyhay
In the Brooder
- Apr 29, 2021
- 5
- 11
- 21
Hello,
I have four wonderful little button quail, who my daughters and I adore. I have tried many kinds of bedding for them, but I can't seem to stop them from getting what we call "poop toe." In one case, one of our little ones lost part of his toe to this. I am very diligent about keeping their homes clean, but they just poop so much, it is impossible to keep them from walking through their own poop. Currently, I have coarse sand with aspen shavings on top, which I skim off and replace frequently. But nothing seems to really prevent poop toe when they walk through their poop and then it acts like glue picking up whatever is lying around and forming a terrible blob of cement on their poor feet! I have a few questions:
Could their food be the issue? Maybe it is making their poop more sticky? They eat some kitchen veggie/fruit scraps, egg and live mealworms, but also always have a dish of Mannapro Gamebird Starter.
Is there a gentle way to remove these blobs of poo cement from their feet once they have hardened? I've tried soaking the foot in warm water and then gradually working the blob off, but this doesn't work that well and often stresses them and I hate doing it. Two of my four are quite hand tame, and I don't want to ruin that.
Would changing their bedding to something like pebbles help? I feel like if the bedding were something that is too heavy to get embedded in the poop, it would be more likely that just running around would keep their feet cleaner.
Please help!
I have four wonderful little button quail, who my daughters and I adore. I have tried many kinds of bedding for them, but I can't seem to stop them from getting what we call "poop toe." In one case, one of our little ones lost part of his toe to this. I am very diligent about keeping their homes clean, but they just poop so much, it is impossible to keep them from walking through their own poop. Currently, I have coarse sand with aspen shavings on top, which I skim off and replace frequently. But nothing seems to really prevent poop toe when they walk through their poop and then it acts like glue picking up whatever is lying around and forming a terrible blob of cement on their poor feet! I have a few questions:
Could their food be the issue? Maybe it is making their poop more sticky? They eat some kitchen veggie/fruit scraps, egg and live mealworms, but also always have a dish of Mannapro Gamebird Starter.
Is there a gentle way to remove these blobs of poo cement from their feet once they have hardened? I've tried soaking the foot in warm water and then gradually working the blob off, but this doesn't work that well and often stresses them and I hate doing it. Two of my four are quite hand tame, and I don't want to ruin that.
Would changing their bedding to something like pebbles help? I feel like if the bedding were something that is too heavy to get embedded in the poop, it would be more likely that just running around would keep their feet cleaner.
Please help!