Last summer I purchased about 170 quail most of them 1-3 day old chicks with about 60 being 7-10 day old. I managed to get about 95 raised to adult and butchered all but 30 (15 pair) to keep. I didn't get eggs til about Dec. 20th and decided to incubate 15 eggs of which 9 hatched. All was going good until Sunday I realize that my birds have several bloody spots in the pen. I start looking and soon see that several have bad sores on their feet, it was late so I couldn't do anything until Monday. So Monday I buy some scaly leg protector and I already have some betadine (antibiotic wash) and some powder antibiotic for water (teramycin I think). I wash everyone with the betadine and then spray and rub in the scaly leg stuff also getting rid of any buildup (mud/feces) on their feet.
Is this the best way to treat or should I do something different ?
All of them had sores from small sand size to pea size busting open.
I have all 30 birds together in a 10'x15'x7'tall pen on the ground. It is under a wide open shed adjoining our barn so it has a roof over the entire pen, but when it rains or has melting snow it gets muddy from runoff. There is a 3'x10' cement slab that is against the wall that their house is on but even though I clean it once a week they still step in poop all the time. I think between that and the mud getting caked on their feet they got some kinda infection. I want to fix it where this wont happen again but not sure how. I am wanting to extend the pen making it larger but do not have the extra funds to make a raised pen. Should/can I use hay, straw, shavings, saw dust, or what? Also thought about sand or pea gravel?
I'm at a loss as to the best way to fix this problem and hopefully not lose any birds. At this time I do not sell chicks, birds, or eggs but I'm considering it. These are my first birds so any help is very appreciated. Thanks.
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