Button Quail hasn’t laid today after a couple of months of regular laying…? I’m worried!

[Nabiki]

Oh my god, she’s lost part of one outermost toe, and the other one on the other foot is so necrotic it looks like it’s going to fall off. For some reason, when I put these two birds together on pee mats, her mate kept pecking at her toe sticking out (maybe thinking it was a worm?). She was limping and standing on one foot back then. I kept applying antibiotic ointment, changed the bedding to hide her toes better, and he eventually seemed to stop. She seemed to be walking normally. When I turned her over today, I noticed one toe was small and more like a stump with no nail. The other is black. This had to be going on for a while now. Not sure what to do. Apply ointment to the exposed toe and bandage it?

Antibiotic ointment WITHOUT pain killer would be a good start. I wouldn't bandage it, though.

 

[Carterborchers]

@007Sean can probably give you a better idea of dose, but I'd give her 1/4 to 1/2 a tablet (1-200 mg).

You don't want to keep that level of dosage up for long, but it may help her pass the egg. Once it's passed, I would recommend keeping her in a warm, dim place for a week or two. Don't let her have more than 10 hours of light a day so she gets a break from laying so she can heal.

Do I crush it up and hope she eats it? Put it in her water?? These suckers are huge!

 

[Nabiki]

Do I crush it up and hope she eats it? Put it in her water?? These suckers are huge!

I would crush it up and sprinkle it on a bit of melon or other wet treat that she will gobble down.

 

[Carterborchers]

I would crush it up and sprinkle it on a bit of melon or other wet treat that she will gobble down.

What wet treat might she like? I’m not sure what OK and what might hurt her. We don’t have melon on hand. I could make some applesauce.

So far, tummy feels soft and I just feel ribs or something higher up. I’m new to this and definitely palpated an egg down low yesterday..but she lays monstrous poos, and I’m not seeing much of those, and she’s been hiding all day. Could her late egg yesterday might mean she’s taking a break? Is it normal for them to take occasional breaks from laying? Losing toes is surely stressful!

 

[Nabiki]

A ground up or finely chopped bit of apple would probably work. No sugar, of course, but she is likely to eat that.

It's possible she's taking a break from laying, but her lethargic behaviour is a sign of something wrong. How old is she?

A quiet, dim, warm environment will help her relax and heal as well.

 

[Carterborchers]

A ground up or finely chopped bit of apple would probably work. No sugar, of course, but she is likely to eat that.

It's possible she's taking a break from laying, but her lethargic behaviour is a sign of something wrong. How old is she?

A quiet, dim, warm environment will help her relax and heal as well.

About 13 weeks. I think I am feel an egg now. The one from yesterday wasn’t any bigger than the others. I hope she pulls through whatever this is.

I hatched 10 of her eggs. Of the 10, one came out looking identical to her as a chick, and her feathers are changing to look just like her.

Speckles as a chick and her daughter “Sparkles.”

 

[007Sean]

@007Sean can probably give you a better idea of dose, but I'd give her 1/4 to 1/2 a tablet (1-200 mg).

You don't want to keep that level of dosage up for long, but it may help her pass the egg. Once it's passed, I would recommend keeping her in a warm, dim place for a week or two. Don't let her have more than 10 hours of light a day so she gets a break from laying so she can heal.

I agree, I'd give a quarter to half tablet.

 

[Carterborchers]

Still nothing. She isn’t moving and seems like she stopped trying.

 

[Nabiki]

Still nothing. She isn’t moving and seems like she stopped trying.

If she's egg bound she'll die unless she gets it out. How long are her epsom salt baths? I'd leave her in there for at least 20 minutes. Make sure that the water stays warm so she doesn't get chilled.
Did you get any of the calium citrate into her?

 

[Carterborchers]

I took her to an avian vet Wednesday, and she laid on the way there about two and a half days after she last laid.

But she didn’t lay again the next day, or on Friday at her normal time, so we took her back. X-rays showed that there was an unshelled egg. She lays daily, and I give her egg shells and oyster powder, but her body was just depleted of calcium so much that her bones looked very weak. So I’ve been pumping calcium into her since Friday—crushed shells on scrambled eggs, mealworms in the calcium powder, powder dumped on top of her food and in bowls around her enclosure. Now it’s Sunday night, and still nothing since Wednesday. She’s fluffing up, not eating very much at all comparatively, occasionally drinking. She’s been pacing a bit and tapping on the plexiglass, but mostly laying in the corner under a heat plate today. Yesterday, she was making little circular nests in the bedding and seemed to be trying to lay all day, but not today. I feel like this is it. The vet said she’d see her next Friday. Did she really think she’d live that long without passing an egg?

She’s my favorite little button, and the only one who doesn’t mind being held and getting pets. I’d been giving salt baths, calcium, olive oil on her vent to try to help lubricate. The vet told me to stop the baths, and stop feeling for an egg in the meantime (I was afraid I’d rupture the one there). When I pick her up to give meds for her bad toe, I’m not feeling anything swollen like before when she laid on the way there. Pooping, but not much…but then again, she hasn’t been eating much. I’ve been bringing food and water to her and she’s not interested.

Is it time to assume the worst? I guess I have been since Friday. If she’s still alive tomorrow, I’ll probably call and ask if I should bring her back for treatment or euthanasia. I can’t cull my Speckles.