What would cause a quail to gorge on sand?

[the-greenest-thumb]

I had to cull two of my coturnix quail last night, one for aggression and the other because of the damage caused by the aggressive one. The aggression was a new thing, I'd had her for 4 months but recently she'd caused 2 quail serious injury and viciously attacked any other quail I tried to introduce her to.

I'd been noticing sandy poop lately but just kept an eye as I wasn't sure what to do about it or if it was even a problem.

After I culled her I saw that her crop was stuffed with sand, it was literally golf ball sized and packed tight. Sand was packed all through to her gizzard and presumably her intestines.

I'm confused why she was eating so much sand, she hadn't done that before and my other quail don't seem to be doing it.

 

[Goosebaby]

Pica can be caused by nutritional deficiencies or some sort of internal pain.

Usually when a bird is binge eating sand and dirt it’s a good idea to scrutinize their feed, if they’re on the correct feed and getting enough nutrients, or if it’s a female bird she may be in need of finely ground oyster shell.

Causes of internal discomfort can be an infection like e.coli, salmonella, clostridium, or parasitic infections like coccidia or worms. Any of these can also cause nutritional deficiencies.