Quail on its side both legs kicking

[DavidFromGlenEden]

Hi all,

My quail is not feeling well It's been on its side for a couple of days and cannot stand up. Both legs are kicking just like pedaling on a bike. Its eyes are black, hard to see any dilated pupils but my guess is no.

Head is moving fine, alert, eating and drinking fine. It's been on quail feed protein 21%, with bovatec, and a mash of plantain and dandelion. It's under a 40w heat lamp.

Any help appreciated.

Many thanks

 

[Ulaidian]

Has it been poisoned by anything? I keep quite a few animals, and when any show that they can moved their legs, but can't actually use them, I look for them having eaten something they shouldn't have.

 

[JaeG]

I had one boy I think was grabbed by a rat through the wire (I now have much finer wire on the cage). I couldn't see an injury but he couldn't walk - he seemed paralysed. It took awhile but he did recover. He always walked a little funny. Do you think it could've been something similar? Or perhaps it's flushed and given itself a good whack on the head. Either way they are amazingly tough little birds so hopefully he'll recover. I'd expect other symptoms if it were a disease. It's more likely an injury if he's alert and still eating well.

 

[Binki]

Hello is there any way you could prop him up like in a plastic cup or something? Can you add more traction to the ground? Newspaper is slippery and some quail get leg problems from it, although your quail looks different than typical splay leg... Is it possible the leg under him is dislocated?

 

[DavidFromGlenEden]

thank you all for the feedback, it's day 3 with still the same symptoms and no improvements.

Dislocation: Would it be able to move both legs like that?

Poisoning: maybe but from what? They're raised on wire, drink from a nipple drinker, eat a starter mash which is very fine. There are some split corn that might have been too big to digest. It's still alert after 3 days.

Injury? Yes it's a possibility, it could be due by children handling. Sometimes the quail runs around the carpet and hides under the bed. True it could have swallowed something on the way.

Rats/predator: My chicks are raised in a basement flat. No signs of them here.

I gather from your feedback that it's most probably not a disease and therefore not contagious. This was my real big worry.

Thank you all once more, any other feedback are welcome. This would benefit a lot of other anxious owners

 

[JaeG]

All I know is they are tough little birds so hopefully, with a little tlc, it will recover. I think my boy took about a month to be walking really well again and I didn't do anything special, just made sure he could eat and drink. Let us know how it's doing.

 

[DavidFromGlenEden]

thanks JaeG for your support. This reminds me I had a Cali quail that went from brooder to aviary and never saw a perch before. She was up and down for the whole day than a few days later she was limping. She could still walk and stand straight but was limping and sleeping on the ground. The other Cali quail were all perching. I isolated her, back in her brooder with a hot water bottle then I fed her the same chick starter with plantain mashed into it. Her water was also ground with plantain as well as a natural anti-inflammatory. Not sure if the plantain worked but it was about her third week that she felt better. She's now flying up and down her perch all day and never sprained her leg ever again!

Yes fingers crossed for that quail laying on one side. I've got time on my hands, 2 school kids to help the chick eat and drink. Plenty of attention, we're ain't giving up!

Cheers

 

[Binki]

Good luck!! I don't know much about plantains? When I have an injured/weak bird I like to mix up some baby bird powder (Tropican hand feeding formula) with a raw quail egg and some water

Any change in the bird? :O

 

[DavidFromGlenEden]

Hey Binki,
Thanks for sharing your recipe I'll certainly keep it in mind when I'll get some quail eggs. It just makes sense!

I use plantain for my quail's injury and inflammation. I use dandelion for any tummy problems.

As for my chick quail, it's still laying on its side with both legs kicking. It's day 4 now. The feed is medicated (bovatec). I can't really afford a vet so we'll just have to let time do its job. The heat lamp helps as well.

Thanks for your support Binki

 

[Binki]

Hey Binki,
Thanks for sharing your recipe I'll certainly keep it in mind when I'll get some quail eggs. It just makes sense!

I use plantain for my quail's injury and inflammation. I use dandelion for any tummy problems.

As for my chick quail, it's still laying on its side with both legs kicking. It's day 4 now. The feed is medicated (bovatec). I can't really afford a vet so we'll just have to let time do its job. The heat lamp helps as well.

Thanks for your support Binki

Hey no problem! ^^ poor thing, maybe check out this site - might give you more of an idea of what's going on/how to at least make him more comfortable with these ridiculously adorable chick braces.. Omgosh xD

https://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/

Well apparently that site is outdated but it has much better pictures than the updated one here - https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry