So my husband told me to post this so I will, even though the chick is eating and drinking, and obviously growing. We noticed when we switched brooders the other night that one of the birds has a lump on their shoulder/chest region and carries his head in a slightly twisted way, kind of like a hunch back. What is this, and is it fixable? As mentioned, I've seen him scarfing food and he is one of the largest chicks (almost 2 weeks old?) in the brooder. On that note, is it normal to have a bunch of big fat fatties and a few little ones? There's plenty of food, so I don't see why they wouldn't be more evenly matched in size. I may separate them out if the runts don't start making some progress. I don't see them getting singled out particularly... BTW, the quail are coturnix, mixed all sorts of flavors.
I don't know if its the same thing, but I had a turkey that looked like what you're talking about. He just got worse and worse till he couldn't walk right anymore, and the others started trampling him, so that was when I decided to cull him.
Do you see some fluid in the shoulder? I would separate him for a little while and observe him. He might overcome it. He might just be growing really fast or he tweaked his shoulder.
