Swollen leg on quail

[ibellaholliday]

Today I was cleaning out my baby quails, they’re just over three weeks old. I noticed one limping and saw it’s foot which was incredibly swollen. When I picked it up and examined it there appeared to be a human hair coming from the cut - it looks like there’s a hair wrapped around the leg and has caused cuts all around the leg. We tried to remove the hair as much as we could, but as the leg is so swollen it must be wrapped around so tightly. What is the best plan of action here? I’m relatively new to keeping quail, this is the third batch I’ve hatched and haven’t had an injury before. The quail now is standing on one leg. We cleaned it with a little salt water and as I said, tried to remove as much of the hair as we could see.. any help is much appreciated. Thanks (photo attached)

 

[maadroj]

Poor thing! I also had a chick with a hair
tourniquet. It's terrible. She ended up losing the tips of her toes, but fortunately she is otherwise unaffected. If there's still any hair wrapped, find a way to remove it because the swelling will not improve while it is cutting off the circulation. I used small nail/manicure scissors. Hopefully you've caught it early enough to avoid long-term damage. Give her cold Epsom salt bath soaks to reduce the swelling after the hair is gone. She may also need antibiotic ointment if the hair (or scissors) cut into the skin. Good luck.

 

[Molly Mojo]

Today I was cleaning out my baby quails, they’re just over three weeks old. I noticed one limping and saw it’s foot which was incredibly swollen. When I picked it up and examined it there appeared to be a human hair coming from the cut - it looks like there’s a hair wrapped around the leg and has caused cuts all around the leg. We tried to remove the hair as much as we could, but as the leg is so swollen it must be wrapped around so tightly. What is the best plan of action here? I’m relatively new to keeping quail, this is the third batch I’ve hatched and haven’t had an injury before. The quail now is standing on one leg. We cleaned it with a little salt water and as I said, tried to remove as much of the hair as we could see.. any help is much appreciated. Thanks (photo attached)View attachment 2221557View attachment 2221558

Poor baby.

I have extremely long hair that does this on towels and laundry.

Hopefully you will get some good advice soon.

 

[ibellaholliday]

Poor thing! I also had a chick with a hair
tourniquet. It's terrible. She ended up losing the tips of her toes, but fortunately she is otherwise unaffected. If there's still any hair wrapped, find a way to remove it because the swelling will not improve while it is cutting off the circulation. I used small nail/manicure scissors. Hopefully you've caught it early enough to avoid long-term damage. Give her cold Epsom salt bath soaks to reduce the swelling after the hair is gone. She may also need antibiotic ointment if the hair (or scissors) cut into the skin. Good luck.

thank you - it has cut into the skin all around and we are having difficulty seeing the hair that caused it. We cut off as much as we could see but fear that there is still more tied around the leg. We used some antibacterial cream and have put it in a small box on top of a warm hot water bottle separated from the others. Hoping it will recover from the shock but not really sure what we can do if there’s more hair. Thank you for the help

 

[Molly Mojo]

thank you - it has cut into the skin all around and we are having difficulty seeing the hair that caused it. We cut off as much as we could see but fear that there is still more tied around the leg. We used some antibacterial cream and have put it in a small box on top of a warm hot water bottle separated from the others. Hoping it will recover from the shock but not really sure what we can do if there’s more hair. Thank you for the help

Might just need to call the vet.

Depends on if she is a beloved pet or not.

I’ve been brainstorming any ideas and I can only think of ways that might hurt her more.

 

[ibellaholliday]

Might just need to call the vet.

Depends on if she is a beloved pet or not.

I’ve been brainstorming any ideas and I can only think of ways that might hurt her more.

thank you - I think we will keep it in the box under observation.Not interferingmore for now as we don’t know how to do it without hurting her more, as you said. Thank you very much for your help and quick response.

 

[muddy75]

These things happen and if you hatch, keep enough quail, there’s going to be some sort of injury/disease. It sounds like you are treating it correctly by removing the source of injury and cleaning. I’ve seen several recover from leg injuries even though they favored that leg for a while. You can separate it from the group to allow it to heal without risk of being “picked on” It truly depends on your overall goal with your quail as to how I would treat it.

 

[ibellaholliday]

Hi, thank you.. I have separated it, it’s in a cardboard box in a warm place with food and water, it has been for a day now. I’ve been picking it up to massage the leg to make sure there’s blood flow and it seems to walk better on it now, there’s just scabbing around it’s leg. However i am sitting with it now and it is constantly pecking and only stops if I approach it. It’s been doing this for at least an hour now. Does this mean it is stressed? I know it has been eating and drinking.

 

[ibellaholliday]

Thank you for all of your help, weeks later she is very lively and healthy. She has a growth on her leg but I think that is just scar tissue and she can still run and fly. Thank you so much for your swift responses!

 

[Nabiki]

Thank you for all of your help, weeks later she is very lively and healthy. She has a growth on her leg but I think that is just scar tissue and she can still run and fly. Thank you so much for your swift responses!

I'm glad your quail made a good recovery.