Quail hen is sick- UPDATE *graphic photos*

[Chickety Charcoal]

If you haven't wormed them in a while, get them wormed as well. Worms drain the bird as they eat all the food in the intestines. Kills them over time. So do this if you haven't done so in the last year.

Make sure they have clean water every day. Don't over crowd your birds with at least 1 if not 2 square feet per bird. If you keep them on wire, make sure they have places to get off the wire. They need to bath daily, so include a dusting pan in their cages with sand or plain dirt.

Yes, they have at least 2 sq. feet of space per bird and are not on wire. They have a flat bottomed cage with shavings as bedding. Water and food are checked everyday and they have a sand box. I thought, from reading these forums, that a ratio of 1 to 4 roo to hens was good. I will make sure there are at least 5 females next time.

I didn't think over-mating could cause her to cough up fluid. The fluid and her eyes are what is concerning me. That and how quickly this all developed. I have not wormed them so I can do that. What do you recommend to use to worm quail?

 

[TwoCrows]

Often when a bird dies of anything, you will find them with fluid coming out of their beaks before and after death. The intestinal system shuts down and this is what happens. I have seen it in nearly every bird that has passed here. So I wouldn't be too concerned with this and this event at death is not contagious. Something else she might have had before death CAN be contagious however.

Birds hide their illness very well. Usually by the time you notice a bird is sick, they are on their way out. This is away of protecting themselves out in the wild. Predators can spot a sick bird a mile away.

The easiest way to worm quail is with Wazine. You can get this at nearly every feed store. It only takes care of round worms, however these are the most common worm in quail and other poultry. Round worms do a lot of damage.

2 tablespoons of Wazine per gallon of water. Offer this up for about 24 hours or so. Then go back to plain water the next day. Repeat the Wazine in about 10 days to get any eggs that may have hatched after the first dosage. Do not eat the meat or eggs for 14 days after the last dosage.

 

[Chickety Charcoal]

So it has been awhile and it looks like it is not a disease problem. It appears that the hen suffered some damage to her head or from over-mating and the flock did the rest. The other hens are not showing any symptoms.

The problen is NOW the male that I have separated due to this incident, has a gash on HIS head. It seems that something may have scared him and he hit the ceiling and scalped himself. The cut is making the skin slip back pretty far. I could not figure out a way to bandage it and keep the skin/feathers from sliding around. If I wrapped it with a bandage it would cover his eyes and mouth. I washed the cut and applied some ointment.

I am not sure how he cut himself so badly. The clearance is less than a foot and a half and the ceiling is 1/2" hardware cloth. I can see the spot of blood where he hit the wire. They all been living in this cage for a year with no other incident. This must have happened right before I checked on him because he was acting normally and crowing. Is there a way to save him?