Urgent Advice Please: Struggling Quail Hatchling

[FarmFullOfFowl]

I am hoping someone has some insight on what may be going on with this hatchling. It was struggling for over a day to get out of the zip it had made, so last night, I pulled the top of the shell off for it. It pushed the rest of the way out. It was flailing around a whole lot, but this was my first quail hatch and I had never seen them right after they come out of the eggs, and it was dark. Didn't think much of it.

But this morning, I checked on on the hatch and it was STILL struggling as before. Feet curled, paddling its legs, body on its side, only able to work itself in circles. I also noticed that it appears to be deformed in that it is a very large quail chick- about 30% larger than the others, and its legs are very large. They are both long and wide compared to the other hatchlings.

Below are videos of it struggling. It is difficult to watch and this has been going on all night. I picked it up to see if it could right itself, but it just did circles in my hand.

I think I need to put the poor soul out of its misery, but I wanted to check here first in case someone knows something that can be done.

 

[orloffer]

Aww, so sorry about your quail chick. Unfortunately it doesn't look to me like it will survive.
I assisted a similar quail chick last week that had curled feet, head twisted to one side, couldn't walk properly, etc. Unfortunately that chick did not survive past its second day in the brooder. You could try putting your chick upright in a small cup with paper towel and/or shelf liner on the bottom so it can sit up in the correct position and strengthen its legs. This method did not succeed with my assisted quail chick, but it might still be worth a try.

 

[Nabiki]

Unfortunately, most of the chicks who need assistance need it because there's something wrong with them. Sometimes it's survivable, but most of the time it's not. It sounds like this one should be culled. I'm sorry.

 

[FloorCandy]

If you want to try to save it, you have kind of a list of problems, curled toes, weak chick, needs nutrients and water. There’s a good chance the chick won’t make it. You should first offer it some nutridrench or sav a chick. You can offer sugar water if nothing else is available.

You need to get it upright and straighten the toes. You can tape the toes flat with masking tape or painters tape. There are some great videos, you can search curled toes on BYC and find a lot of info. Once it has its toes taped into corrective shoes, I put the chick in a little canoe I make from a toilet paper tube. many people use little cups, I like a piece of cardboard tube cut into a canoe shape, with shelf liner used as lining for traction. You can use whatever, you basically just need to find a way to keep the chick upright, with its feet and hocks oriented properly under it.

Since it’s already weak from Its various struggles, you would probably do well to offer it nutridrench/water every hour or so, and have it positioned in a way that it can still get food, I put some powdered feed right in front of it in my little canoe.

 

[FarmFullOfFowl]

Thank you @orloffer @Nabiki @FloorCandy for your concern and support. I followed the advice of propping the chick up in a cup. This chick was constantly wiggling and had so much spirit to live that the short cup kept getting tipped over and it would wiggle out. So I got it a larger cup and tucked a lot of paper towels around it. The chick spent the night in the brooder that way. When I checked it the next day, it could stand! Feet still curled though. But a situation arrived where I had to leave home for two days and my teenagers were left to take care of the animals. So I just thought that I would give it a chance out with all the other chicks and if it's strong spirit would pull it through, excellent.

It was hard for me to even figure out which quail chick it was that had been injured when I got back, since there are 26 others in the brooder.

So thank you all very much! I was very surprised!

 

[orloffer]

Thank you @orloffer @Nabiki @FloorCandy for your concern and support. I followed the advice of propping the chick up in a cup. This chick was constantly wiggling and had so much spirit to live that the short cup kept getting tipped over and it would wiggle out. So I got it a larger cup and tucked a lot of paper towels around it. The chick spent the night in the brooder that way. When I checked it the next day, it could stand! Feet still curled though. But a situation arrived where I had to leave home for two days and my teenagers were left to take care of the animals. So I just thought that I would give it a chance out with all the other chicks and if it's strong spirit would pull it through, excellent.

It was hard for me to even figure out which quail chick it was that had been injured when I got back, since there are 26 others in the brooder.

So thank you all very much! I was very surprised!

That's wonderful! I'm glad to hear the chick is doing so much better. Are the feet less curled than before?

 

[FarmFullOfFowl]

@orloffer No curled feet anymore! I am pretty shocked. It spent an entire night and first part of a day spinning in circles and flailing around. Such an awesome improvement.

 

[orloffer]

@orloffer No curled feet anymore! I am pretty shocked. It spent an entire night and first part of a day spinning in circles and flailing around. Such an awesome improvement.

How wonderful!