Advice please regarding Calcium needs

[007Sean]

My vet said to crush calcium citrate, add “a pinch” which is technically 1/16 tsp to a bottle cap of food and not giving any more food until it’s completely gone… but that was for one button quail. It dissolves in water. I don’t see why you can mix a small amount in a syringe, use a credit card to open the mouth, and just squirt it in.

Do you leave the eggs in there with them, or collect them daily? My vet advised leaving them, and after she laid 6 or so, she quit laying eggs and it’s helping build up her calcium. I’ve been replacing the old ones with other layer’s eggs since they look the same. I thought she was bound but it was an egg with no shell and she was severely deficient of calcium. So hoping this break will build up the bones. I also offer powdered oyster shells from Amazon and she gobbles it up like nothing else!!!

You must be careful administering anything orally to a bird, if it goes down the trachea instead of the esophagus, you can choke, or drown a bird very easily. So squirting anything in their mouth can be deadly and a bad idea, unless you know what your doing!
That's why the recommended way of administering either liquid medication or just plain water, is to drop-wise placing the liquid of the side of beak and let them injest it that way.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi, I don't have quail but I'm curious ... can you not give quail crushed oyster shell like we give chickens? I mean obviously not exactly like we give to chickens, but couldn't you just smash it with a hammer to make it fine enough for quail?

 

[007Sean]

Hi, I don't have quail but I'm curious ... can you not give quail crushed oyster shell like we give chickens? I mean obviously not exactly like we give to chickens, but couldn't you just smash it with a hammer to make it fine enough for quail?

Yes, you can but you can also get 'chick grit' which is small enough for button quail to swallow.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, you can but you can also get 'chick grit' which is small enough for button quail to swallow.

Yes that's grit, but is there chick size oyster shell? For calcium?

 

[007Sean]

Yes that's grit, but is there chick size oyster shell? For calcium?

I have seen it before but it's harder to find!

 

[007Sean]

Another option is to get saltwater aquarium sand. It's fine and is pure calcium carbonate or commonly known as Aragonite....also known as 'live sand' but if it's dry, it's not live....which means it doesn't have live bacterium.
you can get it various sizes and pounds.