Sudden Death

MilotheQuail

In the Brooder
Jan 23, 2019
18
15
39
California, USA
I need help. My Coturnix quail suddenly died and I don’t understand why, she was still so young (not even a year old yet). I think maybe it was mostly stress, but if it was some kind of disease/environment issue then I need to know because I have two other quails in the same enclosure. I kept her by herself separated from the others by a small barrier because the male kept harassing her and she didn’t like it, she’d always make a very sad sound. Recently it’s been raining a lot more and I think ever since that time it rained overnight and she stayed in her little sandbox out in the rain, she’s made a little noise in the back of the throat, which sounded like a whine or like someone with a sore throat. Other times she sounded perfectly fine though. I didn’t think much of it at the time (I thought it would go away with time) but looking back on it now I should have rushed her to go see the vet. Even before it rained though, she stopped laying eggs. Again, I didn’t think much of it since it was starting to become winter time (although maybe I should have because my other female quail was laying perfectly fine daily)—I thought maybe it had to do with the fact that she was a bigger quail than my other quail (I think jumbo Coturnix instead of Coturnix). Today I cleaned our her enclosure, sandbox, food bowl and all. Looking back on it now I think I shouldn’t have done so, I think perhaps I caused her a lot of stres so she died. I feel so bad, I don’t know what to do. I heard her flap around so I ran to see her and I saw her on her back; I panicked and I thought maybe she was choking or something since she sometimes made that strange sound in the back of her throat starting a few weeks prior, so I picked her up. Of course I didn’t know what I was doing. When I put her down again she flapped around a few times and her head went limp. I shouldn’t have picked her up I must have caused her to panic and stress even more. Please if anyone can help me, please let me know what to do. What can I do to help the other quails so that this does not happen again, was it just stress that she died or did she catch some kind of bacterial infection? I feel like I could have done better, I dont know what I should do. I’m sure I’m at fault at least partly for her death.
I live in a mild climate, so it hasn’t been very cold, only rainy.
 
The ground and walls are concrete so they’ve never been bothered by predators before. I’ve placed two small sandboxes, a few plants, and her food/water bowls. There’s also a plank of wood and piece of cloth if she wanted to rest on another surface. Unfortunately there isn’t much dirt for her to really play around in so I was planning on buying or making a large but shallow planter box next week but I guess it’s too late now. The whole area of her enclosure is also smaller than I would like, but there was very little I could do about that. You can’t see in the picture but there is a little overhang above that can shield part of the rain.
8DFB5BE9-6AA3-429E-B830-929F8E412B1A.jpeg
 
How tame is she? My japs (coturnix) wouldn't stress if I picked them up because they are pretty tame. Would she normally let you handle her?

Also, did she get wet when it rained? If she got wet, she could have gotten sick.
I'm assuming you have a roof? what's the roof like?
 
My quail is probably not as tame as yours. Usually she’s okay when I’m very close to her (as I did to sweep the floor), and she is occasionally okay when I touch her, but normally she does not like it when I try to pick her up (although I did treat her for mild Bumblefoot before and she was okay with me holding her then). Maybe only twice she freaked out when I was there and she flew out, but I think that caused her a lot of stress because the male quail outside her enclosure would go harass her. The overhang above her enclosure is like a partial roof, so that rain coming straight down cannot get in but rain coming in from the side did. So the edges of the enclosure got wet, and one day the floor was pretty much flooded because it rained so hard. The one sandbox in the very corner is almost always dry, but that day when it rained very hard she insisted on staying in her favorite sandbox on the edge of the enclosure. The morning after the rain when I checked on her I think she must have stayed there the whole night because only a small area under her was dry; the sand around her was all wet. This was a few weeks ago. Maybe she got sick then. I think she had the sweetest and nicest personality out of all my quails, though she was a bit weak (she never fought back, only ran or hid in corners). She was probably the quail that was most okay with me picking her up (though she still didn’t like it), and she never bit me in aggression. I wish she didn’t die, I feel like she could’ve done so much better if circumstances were better, or if I set up her enclosure better.
 
Sorry for your loss. If you still have her body and kept it cool, you could takenit in to your state vet in Monday am for a necropsy. It could have been any number of problems, but aspergillosis or even a heart ailment might have been a problem. Here is a link for most state vets who you can call:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
Thank you for the suggestion. I thought about taking her somewhere for a necropsy, but my other quails act very healthy and as active as ever. I’m torn between giving her a proper burial and getting a necropsy; I will think about it.
 
My quail is probably not as tame as yours. Usually she’s okay when I’m very close to her (as I did to sweep the floor), and she is occasionally okay when I touch her, but normally she does not like it when I try to pick her up (although I did treat her for mild Bumblefoot before and she was okay with me holding her then). Maybe only twice she freaked out when I was there and she flew out, but I think that caused her a lot of stress because the male quail outside her enclosure would go harass her. The overhang above her enclosure is like a partial roof, so that rain coming straight down cannot get in but rain coming in from the side did. So the edges of the enclosure got wet, and one day the floor was pretty much flooded because it rained so hard. The one sandbox in the very corner is almost always dry, but that day when it rained very hard she insisted on staying in her favorite sandbox on the edge of the enclosure. The morning after the rain when I checked on her I think she must have stayed there the whole night because only a small area under her was dry; the sand around her was all wet. This was a few weeks ago. Maybe she got sick then. I think she had the sweetest and nicest personality out of all my quails, though she was a bit weak (she never fought back, only ran or hid in corners). She was probably the quail that was most okay with me picking her up (though she still didn’t like it), and she never bit me in aggression. I wish she didn’t die, I feel like she could’ve done so much better if circumstances were better, or if I set up her enclosure better.

Really sorry, sounds like she was a lovely quail :hugs

We tend to dwell on what we should or shouldn't have done when we loose a pet. It is important to forgive ourselves and learn to move on even though it's tough, for the sake of the ones we still have. Think about how you can do better for your other quails. All the things you wish you did for her, do for them. All owners go through this at some point, don't be too hard on yourself.
 
Really sorry, sounds like she was a lovely quail :hugs

We tend to dwell on what we should or shouldn't have done when we loose a pet. It is important to forgive ourselves and learn to move on even though it's tough, for the sake of the ones we still have. Think about how you can do better for your other quails. All the things you wish you did for her, do for them. All owners go through this at some point, don't be too hard on yourself.
Thank you so much Quailobsessed, I really needed to hear that today. <3
 

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