Help! My Quail might be sick. (GRAPHIC PHOTO WARNING⚠️)

[Oob Child]

I'm a new-ish quail owner and yesterday morning my favourite quail (George) had a prolapse and was egg bound. The egg was shelless and it was her first egg.

Ended up giving Epsom salt bath. Got egg out, prolapse receded itself within about 2 hours. Put a bit of chlorsig cream on it to try preventing infection.
This all happened between 7:30 am - 10:00 am.

Gave another warm epsom salt bath today as she showed symptoms of being egg bound. Seemed to enjoy it. Relaxed alot and did 2 very strange poos.
Didn't get a photo.
Always puffed up now, eating and drinking ok.

After the initial prolapse I went out and got bird/reptile calcium powder. Added it to shell grit, food, and gave her a few mealworms dusted with it to make sure she was getting enough. Today when I thought she was egg bound (her poop was just stuck) I gave her a water bottle cap of water with a bit of calcium powder mixed in. The poor baby is just standing there like this struggling to poop and hasn't laid an egg since the initial prolapse/egg bound catastrophe.

Info about the quail:
Breed: Japanese Jumbo/ Coturnix
Species: Quail
Colour: Silver
Gender: Female
Usual behaviour: crazy little cannonball running around, extremely friendly.
Diet: Mix of Gamebird starter and chick starter dusted with calcium + Shell grit and barley seeds dusted with calcium + dried mealworms (treat only)
Symptoms: sometimes acting normally, sometimes standing still, puffed up, eyes closed, straining. Strange poos, will go into description if requested. Can't get a proper photo. Seems to be pooping less and struggling to do so. Vomited twice yesterday while eating, looked like grounded up poo, was rather thick.

George is known for being a female that asserts dominance by humping things, but hasn't humped anything since the prolapse yesterday morning
It hurts me to see my baby like this. I saved her when she was a baby after she almost got shrink wrapped. She's a walking miracle.
I don't have any electrolyte water to give her. Please help, I want to know what's wrong with her and how I can help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-quail-struggling-to-lay-egg.1588146/page-3

 

[Oob Child]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/help-quail-struggling-to-lay-egg.1588146/page-3

The egg is already out, I just want to know what's wrong with her. Thanks for your help, but I made this thread.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Oh, sorry, I thought with a 3 page thread already ongoing, you may have mistakenly made this one.

I haven't read the other thread and not going to wade through it.
You're wanting to know what's wrong with her?

If she was egg bound with a prolapse, she may be exhausted. You got the egg out correct?
Has the tissue gone back inside her?


I'd get some extra calcium into her. She needs calcium for retention and to push out eggs. For a Quail hen, I'd give her 300mg of Calcium Citrate with D3 once a day. Crush it up and add it to a small amount of her feed or a bit of scrambled egg.

Is she pooping? What's that like?
Is her crop emptying? Do you provide chick grit?

She may have another egg on the way, so get the calcium into her.
I would not soak her again, this is stressful.
See that she's drinking well.

 

[Oob Child]

I haven't read the other thread and not going to wade through it.
You're wanting to know what's wrong with her?

If she was egg bound with a prolapse, she may be exhausted. You got the egg out correct?
Has the tissue gone back inside her?

I got the egg out of her yesterday, and the tissue went back inside of her within about an hour or two.

I'd get some extra calcium into her. She needs calcium for retention and to push out eggs. For a Quail hen, I'd give her 300mg of Calcium Citrate with D3 once a day. Crush it up and add it to a small amount of her feed or a bit of scrambled egg.

She has been getting extra calcium in her food and shell grit since it happened.

Is she pooping? What's that like?
Is her crop emptying? Do you provide chick grit?

She is pooping but less than normal. Sometimes it's just a really big slightly runny poo, but sometimes it's a small dark bit with lots of white/transparent stuff around it. I don't know how to feel for a quails crop, and I do provide shell grit.

She may have another egg on the way, so get the calcium into her.
I would not soak her again, this is stressful.
See that she's drinking well.

She seems to relax when she's put in there, but I'll stop if you say so. I have been giving her a few mealworms dusted in calcium because it's her favourite food. She is drinking the normal amount.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You won't need to soak her if she's not egg bound or prolapsed.

Shell grit is not the same as poultry grit (crushed granite). If you are feeding her anything besides commercial feed, she needs grit in order to process/digest the foods.

You mentioned she vomited while eating - so I'd check her crop. It's on the right side of the breast.
Put her in a separated area without food/water to sleep overnight. Check to see if the crop is still full or has food it in first thing in the morning. Once you check the crop, you can put her food/water back in her cage. If the crop is not emptying, this can make her feel bad.

I think she may be having problems passing another egg and chances are good that she may prolapse again if that's the case, so you will want to monitor her closely.

 

[Oob Child]

You won't need to soak her if she's not egg bound or prolapsed.

Shell grit is not the same as poultry grit (crushed granite). If you are feeding her anything besides commercial feed, she needs grit in order to process/digest the foods.

You mentioned she vomited while eating - so I'd check her crop. It's on the right side of the breast.
Put her in a separated area without food/water to sleep overnight. Check to see if the crop is still full or has food it in first thing in the morning. Once you check the crop, you can put her food/water back in her cage. If the crop is not emptying, this can make her feel bad.

I think she may be having problems passing another egg and chances are good that she may prolapse again if that's the case, so you will want to monitor her closely.

She's only in with two other quail. I think removing her would just stress her out more, she's been with them since she hatched. Is it really necessary to separate her?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Use your best judgement, if you think it will stress her, then leave her with her friends.

Is she doing any better?

 

[Oob Child]

Use your best judgement, if you think it will stress her, then leave her with her friends.

Is she doing any better?

She does seem to be when she's not struggling to poop. She hasn't laid another egg.
I'm still quite worried about her. What if the poop is building up inside of her? What if there's eggs building up inside of her?
I don't know what to do, but she hasn't vomited again yet and I'm not taking her away from her friends.
She's becoming hyper again like she used to be, but still struggling to poop.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She may have a hard time pooping is she's got an egg on the way.

You gave her calcium today? If not, then I'd get Calcium into her.

Giving her a little coconut oil daily can help with constipation. For Quail, I'd give 1/2 teaspoon daily. You can mix it in a bit of feed or just give her small hardened chunks to goggle down. Once she tastes it, she'll probably just eat it on her own.