Subduing unwilling quail

[Hungarianquail]

I have two quail with bumblefoot and no help treating them. They are sweet and quite tame, but not fond of me messing with their feet (quite understandable). So I used the top part of a long sock (cut off) to subdue my dears while treating them. It is more gentle than me squeezing them to hold the wings down and I think they found it quite comforting, too. And it allowed me to use two hands to bandage the feet. As for the bumblefoot, it's my first time treating one, so I hope it will work. I didn't do surgery, but did soak in epsom salt water and with tweezers I chipped away the nasty black stuff as much as I could to expose the healthy flesh underneath. Then I sprayed it with Vetericyn, packed it with Neosporin and covered with Duoderm CGF. Wrapped with vet-wrap to keep it clean and keep them from messing with it. Tomorrow I will change the bandage and try to clean away the dead stuff again. Both birds seem content: eat, drink, walk, stand... even lay eggs. Hopefully I caught it early on to heal them up.

 

[Erkenstein]

Great idea, and very stylish!

If you have two birds with bumblefoot, what's going on?

 

[Hungarianquail]

Great idea, and very stylish!

If you have two birds with bumblefoot, what's going on?

Good question. Their coop is about 70% vinyl coated wire, the rest is sand and pine shavings. I have been scrubbing it down and disinfecting once a week. Change the shavings and sand every other day... maybe some dry poop on the wire? I can't see anything sharp in there. So that's my best guess.

 

[Sara L]

Great idea with the socks, I'm gonna use that next time I need to treat one of mine. I hope your birds heal up quickly.

 

[Binki]

Love the sock idea! nearly every single time I hear of bumblefoot in quail it’s from wire - I agree with your guess of dried poop being sharp, causing the bumblefoot.

I also had some quail get bumblefoot from jumping down off a low platform onto sharp edged hay

Could you cover the wire with cardboard/newspaper or a piece of wood maybe?

 

[cosmosue]

Great idea with the socks I never thought of that! Brilliant! I wonder if it works on my parrots haha prob not they are too big and will bite a finger off lol

 

[Broodygranny]

Great ! Love it!

 

[RosieR]

Lovely idea, they look fairly content from the pictures, or at the least easy to doctor

 

[le_bwah]

What a great idea! Easier for you and more calming for them, I'd assume.

 

[Hungarianquail]

Love the sock idea! nearly every single time I hear of bumblefoot in quail it’s from wire - I agree with your guess of dried poop being sharp, causing the bumblefoot.

I also had some quail get bumblefoot from jumping down off a low platform onto sharp edged hay

Could you cover the wire with cardboard/newspaper or a piece of wood maybe?

I just make it a point to scrub the wires daily. Got a scrubber with a handle. Should make it easier. Also, I was thinking maybe in their enclosed space, when they dig up the newspaper and scratch around the pine shavings, maybe they get hurt on the part where two wires meet. I covered with newspaper, but they just shredded it. So I put a silicone utility mat down. Then cover it with paper and bedding. Hopefully that solves the issue.