Two sick quail

[Mgonza28]

Hi all!

Was hoping for some insight as I cannot find a vet that will diagnose quail in my area.

I have two hens that I noticed are unwell this morning. Other than the below issues they both are eating/drinking and seems to be laying just fine.

The first has a clear bubbly 'foam' that has accumulated on her eyes. This is not the first time that this has happened and I had used Tylosin while she was quarantined. However it has come back and seems to be worse. I was initially directed towards Mycoplasma as the issue, but I'm curious if it could be something else?

My second hen, I just noticed was making a rasping sound while breathing. Something between gravel being stepped on and a frogs croak. She hasn't shown any other issues previous to this and other than being the smallest of my hens she has been healthy since I have had her (about a year).

All 7 of my hens are kept in an 8ftx8ft ground aviary with half the aviary as sand and half as pine shavings. They are fed Kalmbach flock maker crumbles and get daily dried mealworms and oyster shells flour as a calcium supplement.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

[Susan Skylark]

Respiratory disease (exacerbated by heat?) is probably your issue, mycoplasma can be recurrent and hard to cure (goes away and then comes back) so it is a possibility in your eye bird (yes, upper respiratory issues can affect the eyes, sinuses, etc.). Your other bird almost sounds like a classic case of diphtheria in cattle (a goose honk caugh you can hear a mile away!), but no idea on etiology in birds (calves it is the same bug that causes foot rot). Tylosin or tetracycline would probably be an option for both along with good nursing care, keep them cool, don’t stress them, and good ventilation. As far as finding the agent(s) responsible, that can be very expensive, time consuming and difficult. Most respiratory disease is stress related or starts out viral and you get a secondary bacterial component from the native flora, treatment is broad spectrum antibiotics, immune stimulation via vaccination (if applicable, not in quail!) and good nursing care.