wasting quail

[yallapilko]

HI,I've had 3 quail die over the last 6 weeks, they suddenly grow thin (breast bone showing), and appear feather pecked. Then suddenly die. They are only 6 months old and |'ve no idea what the problem is. I've recently acquired red mite, and wonder if they may have weakened the birds but seem to have got almost on top of it, finding the occasional small group of around 10 mites. I'm using spray and powder regularly to get on top of this. Only one or two birds seem affected at a time, not the whole flock.
Can anyone help?

 

[yallapilko]

Anyone?

 

[bonnie in indiana]

I also have this as an ongoing problem and have gotten little help here. Have been told to worm with Ivermectin and to give medication for enteritis on and ongoing basis. Neither seem to be work.


I bought some new breeders and the seller said "I give no medication or wormers and my birds do not die". I will wait and see if this holds true.

I wish that some one else would comment on this thread, I cannot believe that we are the only 2 that have this problem.

 

[GrandmaBird]

I only have button quail so I do not know if I can offer much help. My first questions would be what type of feed are your offering and what is the protein content? Next what are the male to female ratio? Not enough females and the males will over mate the females and they will have feather loss and just be generally not happy. What are the sexes of the dead quail? Are they under a lot of stress? Or are they in a normal molting stage? Give us a bit more information and I am sure someone can help. best of luck

 

[yallapilko]

Thanks both of you for your replies Bonnie and Grandma bird. They are female quail (no males), not molting, too much feather loss for a simple molt. Generally very happy, hand tame and calm. I'm feeding them organic quail food and all the nutrients are spot on. I also feed them meal worms. Can you over do this?

 

[USAmma]

I have pet parrots (in addition to my quail). What you are describing sounds a lot like a disease common in parrots and other pet birds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proventricular_Dilatation_Disease

I don't know if quail can get it. If you keep having them die, maybe take one to a local vet for dissection and see what you can find out.

 

[yallapilko]

Thanks USAmma, I'll do an autopsy when the next one goes. There are some aspects of this that don't match, like undigested food, but if I cut it open, I could check out the rest of the symptoms (enlarged crop ) etc. But I'm coming to the conclusion that maybe the redmite had done more damage than I thought...... I cleaned them out yesterday and there were about 6 small colonies of around 1/2" diameter. But not having had it before I don't know how much damage these could potentially do to the quail. Maybe some redmite experts could comment....