Help! Quail with black/dead toe

[Darthric]

I have 3 Jap Coturnix which are 3 weeks old. One of them recently had a problem with its foot/toe because it had stood in droppings which had dried and constricted its toe (my fault for not cleaning them out more often, will be sure to do it alot more often in future).

Managed to get the droppings off its toe but the toe is still black after a day and may be showing signs of rot (its going a bit white around where the nail connects to it) but there seems to be some colour under the skin and some red at the tip of its nail.

I'm unsure what to do next, take it to the vet? Amputate the toe myself? Will it fall off on its own if it is dead? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dc3085]

Honestly at this point it would be hard to say without seeing it. Most likely if the infection is advanced you will need the vet to prescribe an antibiotic.

If it were me I would separate it and keep treating with a triple antibiotic or neosporin and hope for the best. I can't bring myself to take a $2 bird to the vet, but at this point that may be it's only shot.

 

[Darthric]

I don't think the toe is infected, it was just cut off from blood for so long it has died, it almost looks like someone tied a piece of thread around the toe half way down since it is fine half way and then the toe is really thin (like if you tied a thread tightly around it) and then just black from there.

Is amputating it a possibility? I have a pair of pliers and could probably get something to cauterize it but I don't think the quail would cooperate.

At this point I'm most worried the toe will rot and go septic and I will lose the whole quail, apart from the toe she seems fine and is eating/drinking properly and acting normally.

I'm just confused on how to handle this right now (culling is not an option unless there's no others).