quail slobber?

[gabrielle1976]

My quail just slobberd on my son one long stream of clear slobber. Has this happened to any one else? Is the quail sick ? Is it a defense of some kind? Help please...

 

[TwoCrows]

Sounds like liquid from the crop being too full. The crop could be soured. Does the quail have enough grit and tiny stones for the gizzard? Not enough grit will slow the digestion down and cause the crop to not be emptying fast enough. Make sure you are not giving him too many treats and he is eating his quail food.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Man I keep missing the most basic stuff . I didnt know that they needed grit . They get chick starter (cant get stuff for quail babies here) and I give them scrambled or hardboiled egg every day or every other day for the protien. Do they need special quail grit or will chick or chicken grit work . Thanks

 

[TwoCrows]

If all they are getting is chick starter and hard boiled eggs, then they do not need grit. Any food that is water soluble will pass thru the gizzard without needing to be ground up. Things like seeds, leafy vegetation, veggies, things that need to be ground up, require grit. So it sounds like something else is going on with your little quail.

HOWEVER....it never hurts to offer them grit and you will need to offer them some when and if you do start feeding other things. You can use parakeet grit that you get from the pet bird section.

Keep an eye on this "drooling". This quail may have a crop or digestive issues going on. Is he on wood shavings? He may have eaten a piece and this is causing problems.

 

[gabrielle1976]

So far its only drooled one time but twice when My son picked him up he started makeing weird open mouth motions almost like gagging. They are one wood pellets that people use for like horse stalls and such. I got tired of cleaning there water out every couple hours of the shaveings. Right now they are in a pet kennel and dont have a lot of room but on the first Im going to be makeing them a bigger pen and in about 4 weeks I am going to be seperateding the white ones (the one with the issues is white ) into a pair and the 3 browns into a trio at least untill the quail eggs I have in the bator hopefully hatch (crosses fingers) and I get enough to make two more pairs instead of haveing the one trio. I will grab them some grit Im shure it woudnt be bad for the chicks to get some grit to as they are getting old enough for more variity in there snacking. To quail eat crickets and stuff like chickens do ?

 

[TwoCrows]

Quail eat similar things that chickens do....all manner of live and dried bugs, cut up apples, peaches, veggies, cabbage, sugar snap peas and corn on the cob are to die for, seeds etc...You can experiment with them and a variety of foods in their diet is good for them and breaks up boredom.

 

[SSTupperware]

You should build the cage today, would you want to wait a month?

 

[gabrielle1976]

I am a single stay at home mom and we live on my sons ssi . He dosnt get a check till the first so we have to wait till the first. Im sure some of you may think that if your poor you shouldnt have pets but my quail are barely 6 weeks old its not like they have been big and cramped for a long time Im pretty sure that they can survive in a dog kennle 3 more days and if not Im very sorry.