worried quail keeper

[molliedogspabottom]

Hi all,
I am new to keeping quail,I did have 14 females and 1 male but sadly I now have 12 females and one male.
I have a 10 by 6 shed and my husband has built an inner wall and door ( to deter escapees) the quail now occupy an 8 by 6 foot space.

They have a mixture of straw in one corner and wood shavings everywhere else, a large round plant pot saucer with sand and a sprinkle of total mite killer in which is refreshed often as they seem to really enjoy the dusting activity.

They have access to clean drinking water with added cider vinegar one teaspoon to a gallon and layers mash, dry with added maize and other wild bird seeds., they also have grit and cuttlefish.


Last week a couple of them seemed not to be to well, sort of huddled up and breathing labered,I seperated the worst and then rang the vet, he saw them all and prescribed baytrill for seven days ( by day three we were getting quite good at administering it) sadly the most ill bird died,I noticed its droppings stained the wood shavings sort of greenish turquoise.

The baytrill treatment finished on sunday but the other poorly looking bird seemed not to look as well as the rest so today I put it in the poorly box in the house, it too has died and the same coloured droppings have stained the wood shavings.

I am now wondering if I have made the wrong decision to keep a few quail but they are lovely birds! What have I done wrong or have I just been unlucky,? the remaining birds look well and have grown since I bought them we now have a heat lamp in the shed and my husband is in the middle of insulating it (these birds have cost a Blinking fortune so far, its a good job hubby loves me) they are about 12 weeks old.

Whats the difference between a draught and ventilation? and would a fan heater(temporary) be a draught when blowing cool when temp is warm enough.

Any advice would be welcome , thanks Heather.

 

[victorias poultry]

Hi
what kind of shavings/litter do you use on the floor, as if it is dusty shavings they can lead to respiratory problems for quail.

Sue

 

[Tim]

Hello Heather,

Well, you've come to the right place! There's some knowledgable people on here and I'm sure we can help you out.

A big possibility in my opinion is Worms. Gasping / trouble breathing can be a sign. Worms can cause greenish diarrhoea too. Personally, I would worm them before anything else. Your vet will advise on the most suitable product for them. Most probably a smaller dose of Flubenvet, I don't know what people use for Quail.

Ventillation is important and as Sue says, dust / the type of shavings are also important.

Firstly, ventillation - If there is a build up of Ammonia from the droppings, this goes into the birds lungs and stops the small hairs in the lungs working correctly. These move mucus and dust particles out of the lungs so they can be swallowed. Ammonia stops this and increases the chance of the birds having respiratory problems.

You can tell if there is an Ammonia problem just by going in there a few hours after they have gone to roost or in the morning and smelling. It is a distinctive sharp smell. You should ideally have a vet or two at high level and at a lower level to get circulation. Do not put vents where the wind will chill them on windy days when they roost.

Secondly, dust - check the shavings are not dusty (sawdust type) but also you mention mite powder - this should be dusted around so that mites crawl through it but should not be too dusty in the air. For dust baths (better outside) a box of dry soil is good with a little mite powder in.

The infection your birds -MAY- have (I am not a vet and there are of course many possibilities here) is a secondary respiratory infection, usually found in the upper respiratory tract. Runny eyes, nose, rattling breathing and trouble breathing all being common signs. This is often caused by Mycoplasma Gallicepticum - follow the link for an article.

If you bought them, they could have come with this, it is quite common, or, it can be transmitted by wild birds in the area or birds you have been in contact with. It can stay on boots / hands etc for several hours to get transmitted to your birds. Most backyard flocks have Myco at some point these days, it is very hard to avoid. Chickens / Turkeys can be cross infected but I believe it is a different type that will effect Quail.

Hope this helps.

 

[molliedogspabottom]

Hi, thanks for the help,I bought the wood shavings from a livestock food supplier, but on reflection the straw could have been a bit dusty, although it was fresh and dry.I was going to worm them next as they spent a few weeks on the ground and I thought it would give them a clean start as they will now live in the shed and have a run on a concrete base in the summer.
I put the mite powder around the edge of the shed and in the sand,I dont think that dust is a problem from the sand bath. If I use soil will they be exposed to worms again after I have wormed them?.
Would hay be better than straw?, they seem to like running head down and bulldozing the straw and hiding under it.
Their food also seems to be dusty,(layers meal) I am trying to source small layers pellets as they eat the big bits in the meal and leave the dust, but hen layers pellets seem too big they scatter them on the floor.
Ammonia dosent seem to be a problem, there is definately no smell ( I would recognise this I am sure).
What is the best way of cleaning them out?,sweeping would cause dust,I have access to a large vacume but would the noise stress them out?.
Sorry to fire so many questions at you I just want to keep them healthy and happy.
Many thanks Heather

 

[Tim]

Hi Heather,

Straw is usually better than hay as you can get mould spores in hay that cause Aspergilliosis but unless the air is dusty when they are in there going about their business then it doesn't sound like that's too much of a problem.

All birds have worms - it's usually earth worms that are the intermediate host as they digest droppings from the soil which contain eggs and then the birds eat the worms. Free Range birds on the same pasture for a long time are at more risk than say battery hens for example... Your dust bath sounds fine - and using soil is also fine IMO.

It is normal in poultry to worm them twice a year routinely - this is to keep the numbers down. If the worm count builds up sufficiently in the gut, it can become impacted (blocked). When worming birds with a very high parasite load like this, the bird can die as the dead worms release so many toxins into the body so the twice yearly routine is to ensure the numbers are kept down. Some natural approaches (like Verm-X) are used monthly and have the same sort of effect - to keep numbers down. Personally I go for a chemical wormer like Flubenvet if I suspect worms but use Verm-x for birds as prevention. I am talking about chickens but the same ideas apply equally to quail.

As for cleaning, I usually scrape my houses out - but then every month get the hose pipe out and wash the house down with something like poultryshield.

Hope this helps.

Tim