Strange laying behavior in Bob White quail, need advice.

[Jerank]

Hi. I've got a pet Bob White quail that I keep indoors, and recently she's been acting a bit strange. For the last month and a half, I've noticed that she often spends time in a somewhat fluffed-up stance with a down-pointed tail. Her feces can also be quite liquid and smelly, especially in the early morning. Despite this, she is still quite active and has a very healthy appetite. Until recently I've been letting her spend a lot of time in a run outside until dark, near my other Bob Whites. During this time she stopped laying, as have my other quail that are kept outside. However, now that the weather is consistently bad enough for me to keep her indoors, she's started laying again.

Just this morning I happened to observe her droppings, and nearby I noticed what looked like a minuscule egg sack; a tiny yolk-like fleck of yellow wrapped in white, presumably discharged along with her droppings. Yesterday she laid a perfect egg, and she gets plenty of calcium for egg shells.

The issue is I'm just not sure if she's sick or simply floofed due to the much lower temperatures, even indoors. She still flies about, eats readily and isn't losing weight, but the aforementioned issues are really weighing on my mind. My last pet quail died of egg peritonitis, so I'm deeply paranoid about any potential issues like this in future. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: To make matters more confusing, everyone molted recently, except my indoor birds. She's also so tame that picking her up doesn't really help. It's hard to tell if a bird is lethargic when she'll sit placidly in your hand for hours anyway if you let her.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Hello, I don't keep quail...so I don't think I can help you. Wishing you luck!

 

[Nabiki]

Is she getting enough calcium?

 

[Jerank]

Is she getting enough calcium?

I give her calcium flakes every day. Actually since I posted this afternoon she's been extremely active and was buzzing around everywhere until she laid an egg. The shell was a tiny bit thinner than normal, but I'm guessing that's because she was off lay for ages and we just didn't give her as much calcium due to that.

Her droppings today were very smelly in the morning, but by now they're almost completely odorless. In fact I'd say there's a fair amount of nearly pure water in them.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Is a vet and option for you? If so, I would take to her there if you have any health concerns, just in case it is serious.

 

[Jerank]

Is a vet and option for you? If so, I would take to her there if you have any health concerns, just in case it is serious.

I was thinking about it, but the trouble is my country is in Level 5 Lockdown at the moment. My vet is also not specialized with birds, and wasn't able to do anything the last time I brought a sick bird to her (admittedly that one was too far gone to do anything with).

I've given my girl some wormer for now, since watery droppings can be a symptom of worms. She has immediately perked up now that she's laying again, so I'm not worried about egg peritonitis at the very least. Still, her droppings continue to worry me.