Why has my young japanese quail stopped growing?

[Shu]

I have a 5-6 week old japanses quail that has stopped growing... It got sick one day at around 3 weeks old and was fine a few days later. Then I put the quail outside with it siblings and the next day it look dead. I brought it back from the dead and it hasn't been outside since... Mainly because it stopped growing when it nearly died. It has been two week since then and the quail is the same size as it was at 4 weeks old.

Why has he stopped growing? He is nice and chubby and healthy even though he was nearly dead 2 weeks back... I am worried that if the quail doesn't get bigger my adult quails will hurt it when I'm not around.

What do I do?

 

[sourland]

Sometimes birds exhibit failure to thrive. Chicks like this that have been stunted by illness sometimes rebound and start growing. Other times they remain static for a bit and then decline and die. Good luck.

 

[Nabiki]

Something like that illness may well have caused the chick to stop growing. As @sourland said, it might start growing again (though it will probably never be large), it might decline.

I've had some youngsters that got dropped during lockdown and while their eggs were cracked, they still hatched. They were always about half the size of their siblings, though, and always ended up being culled.

 

[Eonflux]

I’ve got 3 albino looking quail with pinkish eyes, they were a hatch from some ssc eggs I ordered. They stopped growing around 3 weeks and stayed the same size since. The whole hatch are now at 8 weeks. I think genetic defects definitely played a hand in birds stunted growth.

 

[Nabiki]

I’ve got 3 albino looking quail with pinkish eyes, they were a hatch from some ssc eggs I ordered. They stopped growing around 3 weeks and stayed the same size since. The whole hatch are now at 8 weeks. I think genetic defects definitely played a hand in birds stunted growth.

Albinos rarely thrive. I've hatched a few and most of them were either blind or went blind quickly.

 

[Eonflux]

Albinos rarely thrive. I've hatched a few and most of them were either blind or went blind quickly.

Pretty sure these are partially blind, they would peck at the food tray but often missed and eat little. One of them I have a huge bulging eye, I’m surprise it make it’s this far.

 

[Nabiki]

Pretty sure these are partially blind, they would peck at the food tray but often missed and eat little. One of them I have a huge bulging eye, I’m surprise it make it’s this far.

It might be kinder to cull. They don't often make it to adulthood and often require special care if they do.