Question. New to quail. What to do with disabled hen?

[Rosanna9246]

Hello all. My first post here. I’m new to quail. I hatched about 30 quail in the past few months. I have 16 that are in pens outside. (4-6 weeks old) and 13 2 week olds in a brooder. Anyway, my question is, one of my oldest hens (6 weeks) has wry neck. It’s been getting better with vitamins, however when she’s with her flock she gets knocked over. (Not picked on, just run over.) I was constantly finding her on her back. So I separated her and put her in a bird cage while giving her vitamins. She is no longer falling over but I’m worried about putting her back with her friends. She seems lonely. Her cages is next to the brooder and she watches the chicks. Would it be ok to introduce her to the 2 week olds when it’s time for them to go into the grow out pen? Or should I just put one or two in the cage with her and let her be an indoor quail? She’s quite sweet and I don’t want her to be bullied.

 

[therandomhatcher]

Just separate her for a week or two giving her vitamin E. Once she is looking like a quail instead of a dinosaur with a twisted neck, you can put her back in with the others. I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago. Gave her GARDEN DELIGHT and she recovered within 2 weeks.

 

[Rosanna9246]

Just separate her for a week or two giving her vitamin E. Once she is looking like a quail instead of a dinosaur with a twisted neck, you can put her back in with the others. I had the same problem a couple of weeks ago. Gave her GARDEN DELIGHT and she recovered within 2 weeks.

That’s what I had done for a couple weeks. She still looks like a dinosaur, but no longer falls over. She eats and drinks just fine. I’m afraid to put her back into the flock. When I introduced the two flocks 4 and 6 week olds a fight broke out for a few minutes. Mainly because of the Roos. Needless to say they went to the bachelor pad. I have all kinds of colors in the coop. The 6 week olds are standard colors. The 4 week olds are silvers, tux, and fees. I don’t know the sex of them yet. I’m watching for crowing and male behavior. So far I haven’t seen any. Can you vent sex a 4 week old? Anyway to the original point, I think it might be best to put Wry neck in with the young flock when it’s time to go outside. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Ravenlover]

That’s what I had done for a couple weeks. She still looks like a dinosaur, but no longer falls over. She eats and drinks just fine. I’m afraid to put her back into the flock. When I introduced the two flocks 4 and 6 week olds a fight broke out for a few minutes. Mainly because of the Roos. Needless to say they went to the bachelor pad. I have all kinds of colors in the coop. The 6 week olds are standard colors. The 4 week olds are silvers, tux, and fees. I don’t know the sex of them yet. I’m watching for crowing and male behavior. So far I haven’t seen any. Can you vent sex a 4 week old? Anyway to the original point, I think it might be best to put Wry neck in with the young flock when it’s time to go outside. Thanks for the reply.

If you do watch super closely for a long time, some take to it others attack babies and not always at first and some are just accidents since adult pecks and be pretty strong, but like you said she a sweety and has wry neck so maybe, also make sure the babies dont pick on her

 

[therandomhatcher]

can you post a picture?

 

[Nabiki]

I've heard that the vitamin E helps chickens, but I've never seen it help a quail. I've had a few with wry neck, and I've let them get big enough to eat, then culled. Some may live a fairly normal life, but it sounds like yours isn't going to.

 

[FloorCandy]

That’s what I had done for a couple weeks. She still looks like a dinosaur, but no longer falls over. She eats and drinks just fine. I’m afraid to put her back into the flock. When I introduced the two flocks 4 and 6 week olds a fight broke out for a few minutes. Mainly because of the Roos. Needless to say they went to the bachelor pad. I have all kinds of colors in the coop. The 6 week olds are standard colors. The 4 week olds are silvers, tux, and fees. I don’t know the sex of them yet. I’m watching for crowing and male behavior. So far I haven’t seen any. Can you vent sex a 4 week old? Anyway to the original point, I think it might be best to put Wry neck in with the young flock when it’s time to go outside. Thanks for the reply.

I had one who did better on vitamin e. But she really got better when I changed her to a different feed called Hudson feed game bird pellets, available thru chewy.com. I’ve compared the ingredients, and I’m unsure what it has that other feeds didn’t, but she stopped stumbling and shuffling around like a wheelbarrow, with her chest on the ground.