Sick quail, breathing heavily and ruffled feathers

[Little-Farmer]

Hello all!

I could use some insight!

I have 11 five week old quail- 4 males and 7 females I beleive.
The smallest of the males is sick, I think. He seems to be separating himself from the crowd, staying up in the coop a lot, and his feathers are consistently ruffled. I first thought he may have poop stuck to him but cleaned him up and he's still ruffled. I also thought he may be getting bullied as I assume the females are about ready to start laying eggs and a pecking order will happen soon BUT I'm not seeing any activity with him and the other males so I'm not sure that is the problem either. He's also breathing hard with his mouth open unlike the rest of the quail.

He's still moving around, eating and drinking. This has been going on for a few days now. Should I seperate him from the crowd? Give him anything to help?

If he needs medicine, I'm looking for natural remedies as we are raising our covey for organic eating. My son has medical issues and this is a must.

Any suggestions as to his problem?

Thanks a bunch!!!

 

[TwoCrows]

He sounds like he could have coccidiosis. They will sit in the corner with ruffled feathers and generally do not eat or drink. At this age, cocci is common. You might get some Corid or something with Amprolium in it at the feed store and dose the flock. As long as she is not being picked on I wouldn't separate, but watch that this doesn't happen as it could in the near future. The flock will try to run this one off.

What color are the droppings? Are the firm or runny? If this is not cocci then it may be a bacterial infection of some sort. But I would try the Corid first.

 

[Fat Daddy]

X2.... I believe Leyla has told you true here.... I know you dont like the idea of Amprolium as it does not fit with organic, I understand that. But I know of nothing organic that will work. I would normally treat the water for the whole group. If Leyla is right, its likely this bird will pass about 2 days after starting to stand puffed up and hang dog look'n. I lost 13 albino chukar in 3 days, early this winter to this before I could get a handle on it. They were in a raised pen too. It is also likely to run thru your other birds grouped with him if left untreated..... If you chose to not treat him, I would surely separate him from the others. Good luck and post up the results to help others walking the "organic path".....

EDIT TO ADD: http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/coccidiosis/overview_of_coccidiosis_in_poultry.html

 

[Little-Farmer]

Thank you both or your response. They are truly helpful. And now that I have researched the cocci, I agree with you both that this is the problem.

So this my plan of attack...

We culled the sick little guy. Sadly, he would have been culled next week anyway since he was the little guy of the crowd and I have too many roos. I didn't want to chance any more getting this and I'm trying to keep it under control naturally as I mentioned.

We transferred all the birds into their brooding cage and thoroughly bleached out the coop.

Now I have oregano oil in their water. This is how I treat my family in getting rid of bacterial, fungal and viral infections and when I searched "oregano" on the threads, others have said that it works immediately on cocci. I did not give each bird a drop in their mouth but I diluted it in their water and plan to continue to do so for the next couple days.

I will bleach their cage out again in a couple days after they have been completely treated.

Thank you for helping me pinpoint the problem. I'll let you know if this works!

 

[TwoCrows]

Sorry you had to cull the little guy.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Little-Farmer]

Update: all is well!

We cleaned the cage and added oregano drops to the water for three days. No new issues. All birds are healthy and flourishing.

I was worried they wouldn't drink the water because of the taste but they must have been thirsty enough. They took to it well and never skipped a beat.

I recommend trying it!

Thanks again for the help!

 

[TwoCrows]

Great to hear all is well!!