What's wrong with my quail?

[KGQuail24]

Hi guys, I hope someone might have ideas for me.
My backyard coturnix flock is currently 5 hens. They are wonderful girls, about 6 months old, who lay almost every day.

2 days ago, one hen started acting lethargic and not interested in food. That evening, she produced a soft -shelled, mostly empty "egg"-thing. Since then, I have added HydraHen probiotics to a special dish of water for her, which she is drinking from. Because she took that, I also added a small sprinkle of powdered erythromycin (as produced for fish) to the water, and she consumed a small amount of that as well. Plain water is also available. I offered a dish of chopped hard-boiled egg and dried mealworms beside to her usual Mazuri exotic game bird feed and crushed shell, but she was not interested in anything. Her poo has been "off" in a variety of ways from semi-solid to frothy to just white and watery, but she is pooing. On examination, no bad smell from her mouth or obvious crop distention, abdomen and vent seem normal and soft. She's clean, no mucus or discharge, but just definitely not quite right - sleepy and not hungry with the watery stools is the gist of it.
I've nursed birds through all kinds of injuries, but illnesses are so much harder! She's in a warm sheltered coop, off the ground, and besides vigilance and the probiotics and antibiotics I've offered, what else can I do? An avian vet is not a reasonable option for me. The breeder I got her from suggested she needs vitamin D(?). I think it might be more than that. What would y'all say is the culprit?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

she produced a soft -shelled, mostly empty "egg"-thing.

Did you get a photo of the egg thing?
Was it a membrane with a yolk and whites in it or?

I'd be inclined to get some Calcium into her. Give her 1/2 tablet of Calcium Carbonate once daily for a few days.
To me, it sounds like she's having some reproductive issues since she's been off after the egg thing.

@007Sean

2 days ago, one hen started acting lethargic and not interested in food. That evening, she produced a soft -shelled, mostly empty "egg"-thing.

 

[KGQuail24]

I did not get a picture of it, unfortunately. It was a full-size membrane with a very thin layer of shell on it. No yolk inside, just a little white. Rather like a deflated balloon with a coating of paint on it - very strange.

Yesterday I got a "poultry recover 911" water additive at Tractor supply which, in addition to probiotics, has vitamins including D and calcium, plus oregano. She's been drinking that and hanging in there. I keep a dish of their dried& crushed shells in there, but I haven't observed her partaking of them like the others do. Didn't lay anything else yet, but pooing and I did see her at the feeder, though I can't be sure if she ate. I can continue to up the calcium if she hangs in there but isn't laying. How do you suggest giving her the calcium tablets, if she won't eat them willingly?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Quail are small, so for the calcium, I would crush it up and add it to a treat like a few pieces of scrambled egg or a very small amount of wet feed.

The Poultry 911 is fine, but I'd also make fresh plain water available as well just in case she doesn't like the additive to her water, you don't want her to become dehydrated.

Hopefully she'll come around right and this was a glitch, but she may already be having reproductive problems. Time will tell.

Keep us posted on how she's getting along.

 

[KGQuail24]

Update: the bird in question is behaving more normally in many ways, getting out and walking around more, and having poos that look more normal. However, she still has half-closed looking eyes a lot of the time and still less energetic. I have seen her eating her kibble and drinking water (yay!), and she forages around, but has no interest in treats (everybody else scrambles and fights over mealworms, but she's no longer interested). Still no eggs, and it's been 8 days now since symptoms began. The rest of the flock still looks healthy. I did 5 days of the Flockleader Recover 911 I mentioned above, which gave probiotics, vitamins including D, and oregano. It certainly seems to have helped, but I just switched back to some apple cider vinegar water for the time being (tbsp/gallon). Might switch back (?). I can get calcium tabs started today, as was suggested earlier, but before I did that,I wanted to give one intervention at a time for a few days and see what happened.

Today it has become obvious to me that the front of her throat looks swollen. A crop issue, I would think. I picked her up, attempted to stroke it gently, did not smell sour breath, but noticed clear mucus in her mouth as I was doing that. It's like her whole crop/neck is full of mucus. No discoloration, no other fluids, eyes look good, just a bit tired.

I have no idea what to make of that. Can anyone help?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Aww! She's a lovely girl

Do you provide grit (chick grit) for your Quail?

It does look like her crop is puffy. If it doesn't feel empty first thing in the morning before she's had anything to eat/drink, then I'd begin addressing the crop symptoms.

This article is a good guideline to follow. Treatment amounts I would cut in 1/2 due her size. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...w-to-know-which-one-youre-dealing-with.73607/

 

[KGQuail24]

Update: all 5 hens look pretty much normal - eating, drinking, foraging, everyone interested in snacks and doing normal quail things. Since the last update, I finished a full week of the Recover 911 water additive, then several days of plain water or apple cider vinegar water, and now back on a week of the Recover 911. They seem to like it, add I'm glad they are getting electrolytes, vitamins, probiotics, and oregano. In addition to the free -choice eggshells and tablespoon or two of mealworms they always have, I started sprinkling oyster grit in their run 5 days ago.
Only thing I still see abnormal is some yucky-looking poos from a couple of them. Some more watery or more white than others, but they trend looking better or worse throughout the day. The other habit which is new is that a couple of them have been observed eating other hens' poo.
I have had 2 (sometimes 3) hens laying throughout this process. Tonight I got another one of the weird soft egg-things, so I've attached photos. They were pecking at it when I found it. I'm not sure who made it. It looks like membrane and a thin coating of shell.
Other than that, I feel like I'm doing everything right. They have 16 hours of light, top shelf gamebird breeder feed, no changes to their shelter..... Another thought - they never molted in the fall (in their whole life). Even though I don't see much feather loss, could they be forcing a break on themselves? I have no other ideas. Anyone?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hopefully with you adding oyster shell to their pen, it will help with the egg problem.
The shell membrane makes me think they need calcium, but since you've added that now, see if it makes a difference over the course of a few days.

It's not that uncommon for birds to peck at poop, unfortunately.

 

[KGQuail24]

Hopefully with you adding oyster shell to their pen, it will help with the egg problem.
The shell membrane makes me think they need calcium, but since you've added that now, see if it makes a difference over the course of a few days.

It's not that uncommon for birds to peck at poop, unfortunately.

Thanks for weighing in - I appreciate it!

 

[KGQuail24]

Update: the bird I had my eye on, whom I was convinced was recovering, who looked good and ate mealworms out of my hand yesterday, died in her sleep last night. (!) I'm rather shocked, honestly. I got 2 good eggs (plus the soft one) from the other 4 birds yesterday. All the rest look really good honestly, eating, drinking, walking all around. The occasional wet poo is my only clue that something is amiss. At this point, I have done my best. I feel like I'm working way too hard. I gave the coop a very thorough clean after removing the bird who died. Everybody's on the Recover 911 water this week. I just have to hope for the best.