White diarrhoea in 2 year old coturnix

[atecom]

Hi, I have a 2 year old coturnix hen that has been a bit sluggish recently, and now seems to have white diarrhoea.

It's been living alone since it's sister died a few months ago, no interactions with other birds that could have given it diseases. It's fed game bird starter, with meal worms as treats (2 per day) and occasionally sesame seeds as treats.

 

[Nabiki]

At two years old, the game bird starter probably has too much protein. Once they're adults they should be changed to an all flock feed or something with about 20% protein.

If he's been on this all of his life, he may be suffering from fatty liver. I would start by changing his diet. Don't change it all at once. Mix the feed, increasing the amount of the new feed for a week or so.

In the meantime, do you have pics? What is his setup like? Is he eating well?

 

[le_bwah]

Once they're adults they should be changed to an all flock feed or something with about 20% protein.

Dang, is this true? I've been feeding mine starter their whole lives, no issues yet. Do you have a brand you like, or does pretty much any 20% protein mix do it for them? I might switch my oldest birds over in the spring.

It's been living alone since it's sister died a few months ago

Poor thing. I wonder if the isolation contributes to poor health?

TBH I've seen droppings that look like that from birds undergoing stress—new predators, bad weather, heat stress. If the cage is clean and the bird is alone, a new infection doesn't make sense. Do you have pictures of the quail itself?

 

[Nabiki]

Dang, is this true? I've been feeding mine starter their whole lives, no issues yet. Do you have a brand you like, or does pretty much any 20% protein mix do it for them? I might switch my oldest birds over in the spring.


Poor thing. I wonder if the isolation contributes to poor health?

That's what I have been told by people with a lot of experience, and my birds are doing well on layer feed. During the winter I give them some mealworms once or twice a week because I think they need the fat to help them keep warm.

They absolutely need the high protein from hatch to about 9 or 10 weeks of age, though.

 

[007Sean]

Dang, is this true? I've been feeding mine starter their whole lives, no issues yet. Do you have a brand you like, or does pretty much any 20% protein mix do it for them? I might switch my oldest birds over in the spring.


Poor thing. I wonder if the isolation contributes to poor health?

TBH I've seen droppings that look like that from birds undergoing stress—new predators, bad weather, heat stress. If the cage is clean and the bird is alone, a new infection doesn't make sense. Do you have pictures of the quail itself?

Yes, it is true....feeding a very high % protein to adult birds will lead to fatty liver disease, and cause reproductive issues due to the excess fatty deposits in the digestive and reproductive tracts.

 

[atecom]

Stools are back to normal now, and quail is more energetic. It's had moments over the past few weeks where it will be very sluggish for a few hours, but more normal for the rest of the time. I think overall it may be a combination of everything mentioned above, we are going into summer and it can get quite hot here, so it may well be partially attributable to heat exhaustion, and the high protein feed (I looked and it's 24%) along with mealworms and such may be causing issues, especially as it doesn't have a huge space to exercise, so I'll cease the worms for a while while I change to a more appropriate feed. As for the diarrhoea itself, I remembered that I accidentally spilled a big pile of sesame seeds into the cage and didn't get round to cleaning them up the night before, so the quail probably gorged on those, which possibly caused it. Cheers for the responses all.