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

 

[holiday hawk]

You will have to be careful when you reintroduce her to the others. If you can, take all of the birds out, clean and rearrange their pen then put them all in at once, preferably at night. that way they wake up in completely new to them surroundings and they're a lot more likely to accept the "newcomer" without fuss.

Thank you for all the advice, I'm really glad I decided to wait on culling for a couple of hours. If she does start to improve over the next week or so, would it be helpful to put the cat carrier out in the pen with everyone else and let her stay in it for a few more days? That way they can be "introduced" to her through the door on it but not beat up on her?

You got good advice from Nabiki. I agree that you should stay the course and see if the leg improves with rest in isolation. Weight loss is hopefully from decreased mobility. Just adding on that I wouldn't rule out an infection, especially since the leg wasn't noticeably red when this all started 2 days ago. It's possible a small injury became infected, and it may get worse. But it may also get better! And I hope it does It's a good sign that she's eating & drinking.

I'm actually much more optimistic after seeing her eating and drinking now that the food and water are easier to access in that carrier. When our rats quit eating and drinking was how we decided it was their time, so when I noticed how much weight she lost the other day I was thinking it might be the same from her, but she might have just struggled to get to the food with a bum leg. I wonder if that's why she showed some improvement yesterday, since we placed her by the food to get a good video of her to post on here, it might have been the most she's eaten in a while, which gave her a little bit of strength to look and act better for a little bit.

 

[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?

 

[Nabiki]

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.

You will have to be careful when you reintroduce her to the others. If you can, take all of the birds out, clean and rearrange their pen then put them all in at once, preferably at night. that way they wake up in completely new to them surroundings and they're a lot more likely to accept the "newcomer" without fuss.

 

[eddie_van_quailen]

You got good advice from Nabiki. I agree that you should stay the course and see if the leg improves with rest in isolation. Weight loss is hopefully from decreased mobility. Just adding on that I wouldn't rule out an infection, especially since the leg wasn't noticeably red when this all started 2 days ago. It's possible a small injury became infected, and it may get worse. But it may also get better! And I hope it does It's a good sign that she's eating & drinking.

 

[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?

 

[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?