Quail acting strange

[holiday hawk]

I just walked out to their pen to find this quail acting very strange. She was almost dragging herself on the ground. I thought maybe i spooked her while she was doing a sand bath, but she did not get up. I picked her up and looked her over, but did see any wounds or blood, but noticed she's very light. When I set her down she did start to actually walk instead of drag herself. I put her in the hutch and she started to eat when she was near her food, but was doing this strange motion with her neck after every bite. After eating a few bites, she took a few steps away from the food, and almost hunched over, I don't really have a better way to describe it and keep doing that strange motion. If it was a mammal I would have said she's trying to throw up. She just kinda started there lurched over doing that for a couple of minutes and then just stood there. By the time we got a phone to record she was mainly just standing there, but you can see her do it towards the end of the video. I almost took her out back to put her out of her misery, but I wanted to see what people here says first.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qgqNvJggpQMSB4sCA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/e9Vg7pBQWpA51dKSA

 

[Mallards and Quail]

Hmm. Weird I have never seen something like that happen. I would contact an avian vet in your area.

@Nabiki any thoughts?

 

[Nabiki]

A few questions for you, but I would start by isolating her:

When you say she's very light, did you happen to feel her keel (breast bone)? Is it prominent?
What are you feeding her?
What does her poop look like?
Are her joints swollen at all?
Do the bottoms of her feet look normal?
Are any of your other birds showing any symptoms?
How many birds do you have?
What is their home like?

 

[holiday hawk]

A few questions for you, but I would start by isolating her:

When you say she's very light, did you happen to feel her keel (breast bone)? Is it prominent?
What are you feeding her?
What does her poop look like?
Are her joints swollen at all?
Do the bottoms of her feet look normal?
Are any of your other birds showing any symptoms?
How many birds do you have?
What is their home like?

1. Went back out and looked again and it is definitely more prominent then the other girls.
2. https://www.chewy.com/bluebonnet-feeds-game-bird-breeder/dp/231966. They also get cracked corn as a treat, but it makes up way less than 10% of their diet.
3.I'm not sure hers specifically since there are 9 other quail in there with her, but I haven't seen any that looks odd.
4.They did not look swollen.
5.No, I was actually looking at her feet when I first picked her up b/c I was afraid maybe she broke her leg somehow. They did not look swollen or seem in any pain.
6.No, just her.
7. 9 hens and a rooster for a total of 10 quail.
8. Ignore what I'm saying, this video is from another post making sure their environment was not stressing them out since I was not getting many eggs (a couple more have started laying since I took this video actually), but it will give you a good idea of their enclosure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hntW2S6mEAGPum2M9.

When I went to look at her breast bone again she was laying down again and was trying to drag herself away when I walked in. When I put her down after looking get over she ran off on two feet though.

Thank you in advance for anything you can tell me!

 

[CliftonQuail]

1. Went back out and looked again and it is definitely more prominent then the other girls.
2. https://www.chewy.com/bluebonnet-feeds-game-bird-breeder/dp/231966. They also get cracked corn as a treat, but it makes up way less than 10% of their diet.
3.I'm not sure hers specifically since there are 9 other quail in there with her, but I haven't seen any that looks odd.
4.They did not look swollen.
5.No, I was actually looking at her feet when I first picked her up b/c I was afraid maybe she broke her leg somehow. They did not look swollen or seem in any pain.
6.No, just her.
7. 9 hens and a rooster for a total of 10 quail.
8. Ignore what I'm saying, this video is from another post making sure their environment was not stressing them out since I was not getting many eggs (a couple more have started laying since I took this video actually), but it will give you a good idea of their enclosure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hntW2S6mEAGPum2M9.

When I went to look at her breast bone again she was laying down again and was trying to drag herself away when I walked in. When I put her down after looking get over she ran off on two feet though.

Thank you in advance for anything you can tell me!

It looks like you have a pretty good setup. Do the birds have much trouble climbing the ramp? It looks like it might be a little slick.

 

[holiday hawk]

It looks like you have a pretty good setup. Do the birds have much trouble climbing the ramp? It looks like it might be a little slick.

Surprisingly not really. We have been meaning to get kitchen no slip pads or something just to make it easier, but I've never seen anyone slip or stumble on it. Anytime you look out there someone is usually coming or going from the feeder and they don't seem to struggle.

 

[Nabiki]

1. Went back out and looked again and it is definitely more prominent then the other girls.
2. https://www.chewy.com/bluebonnet-feeds-game-bird-breeder/dp/231966. They also get cracked corn as a treat, but it makes up way less than 10% of their diet.
3.I'm not sure hers specifically since there are 9 other quail in there with her, but I haven't seen any that looks odd.
4.They did not look swollen.
5.No, I was actually looking at her feet when I first picked her up b/c I was afraid maybe she broke her leg somehow. They did not look swollen or seem in any pain.
6.No, just her.
7. 9 hens and a rooster for a total of 10 quail.
8. Ignore what I'm saying, this video is from another post making sure their environment was not stressing them out since I was not getting many eggs (a couple more have started laying since I took this video actually), but it will give you a good idea of their enclosure: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hntW2S6mEAGPum2M9.

When I went to look at her breast bone again she was laying down again and was trying to drag herself away when I walked in. When I put her down after looking get over she ran off on two feet though.

Thank you in advance for anything you can tell me!

The feed looks okay for adults. How old is she?

To check her keel, you actually want to pick her up and feel it. You're not going to be able to tell visually how thin she is through her feathers. This may help.

You definitely want to separate her for two reasons:
1 - if she has a disease, you don't want her to pass it on to the others.
2 - You will be able to observe her better. You will be able to see if she's eating and drinking normally and what her poop looks like.

Are her eyes and nostrils clear?

 

[holiday hawk]

She seemed to really bounce back yesterday. I don't think I saw her laying on the ground all day, the only way I could tell which one she was, was by saying who weighed much less than the others. I checked on her several times (luckily I only worked half a day yesterday so I could go out multiple times), and each time she was just walking and meandering around like normal. Today she was once again on the ground and her leg looks really bad. She is struggling to even put weight on it unlike two days ago when she was in the ground. She is going to struggle to even to eat with his she is at this point, so I am going to put her down. I just wanted to wait just a little bit to see if someone sees photos of her today and know just what it is from the new photos and see if it's easily treatable with medicine.

It's just so strange since she was acting so normal yesterday and the leg was not red at all two days ago when I was first posting.

Update: she is now standing in her cat carrier isolation cage. She would flop over if I say her on her two feet 30 minutes ago. Uploaded another picture.

 

[Nabiki]

That leg looks pretty badly bruised. It looks like an injury rather than anything contagious. It may heal on its own.

 

[holiday hawk]

That leg looks pretty badly bruised. It looks like an injury rather than anything contagious. It may heal on its own.

Should I just keep her in that cat carrier? Will I be able to put her back in with the rest of the group with no issues if she's been gone for several days to a week? I actually just came to add another update that she is eating and drinking with no issues in the carrier.