Quail Feet on shavings?

[FeatherSmith]

Today when checking my quail I turned one over and noticed scabs on her feet. They seemed healed over. I ran some water over them and felt her feet to be sure they were scabs and not just debris.

I then tested birds at random and found several females with similar marks, though the lighter males were all fine.

I had them on 1/4 inch uncoated hardware cloth for the first week in the hutch but became unhappy with it because of how messy it was and last weekend I crawled under (wearing tight goggles and a mask, not pleasant!) and replaced it with 1/2 coated wire. Half the hutch is on this green coated wire and half is indoors with shavings or sand depending on what I have.

I took a moment and ran my hand all over the wire and it felt smooth like pvc should.

I didn't see any redness or lameness... what do you think? Did I catch the problem without knowing by changing the wire to a softer one? Or will I have more problems? Can shavings cause quail bumblefoot? I change bedding every other day and it don't get too nasty.

 

[Nabiki]

I'm guessing that you prevented worse by your change. Your birds can get bumble foot on pine shavings, but only if you don't keep it clean enough. Bumblefoot is basically a staph infection. The bacteria gets into an open wound and causes infection.

 

[FeatherSmith]

Thanks. I think I'm going to change the shavings daily, though I was going a day in between. I'll monitor for a week to make sure things are improving and not going back. I'd like to provide a picture or two for future browsers. But.. zzz it is bedtime for now.