Button Quail Paralyzed??? What is Wrong???

[stealthrevolution]

I have a button quail that seems to be paralyzed, but I don't think it really is...

I hatched three eggs that turned out to be three males.  Two grew white beards and one did not.  I believe it is like it’s father which also had no beard (Blue Breasted) They grew up together and have never seen a female.  One day I came home and found one of the quails lying on the bottom of the cage. (It was the one without the white beard)  I raise the three babies in a breeding cage (11" x 11" x 11") on Aspen Bedding & Litter and keep an abundant supply of Mixed Bird Seed, Water and Oyster Grit.  I give them Meal Worms and Crickets a few days a week, as well as giving them lettuce and broccoli occasionally.

The strange thing is that they always get along, but one day one was injured and lying on the floor.  It is hard to say what happened exactly, but I fear one of them pecked it on the top of the head and possibly paralyzed it.  I fear this because a few days later another one of my birds had a hole in his head!!! (I'm not sure but it looked a bit deep and was bloody!)

The paralyzed bird was separated and put into a 10-gallon aquarium with a lamp suspended on two bricks standing upright.  The lamp has a 40-watt bulb and the bottom of the aquarium is covered in Aspen Bedding Litter.

The poor bird needs to be fed a mix of water with Tetracycline and baby bird mix.  It doesn't seem to be able to stand or balance and is usually lying on it's left side.  It can move it's head freely and it's legs seem to be able to move.   It also can flap it's wings a little, but doesn't usually since it's usually on it's side.  It mostly just spins around every so often in the aquarium since it lies on it side and uses it's head and legs to move around.  Yeah... it seems to only go around left turns...


So, does this seem familiar to anyone?  Any advice or suggestions are more that welcome!!!

[aKirA]

Are your buttons matured?

11"x11" for three matured buttons is not enough room. Yes they will peck each other when overcrowded. Also since the mating season is upon us...they get more aggresive. More space for them would help.

good luck.

[stealthrevolution]

My quails are matured... I think.  They are about 13 weeks old now and the incident happened last week.  So I guess that could be the case, right?

I've separated all the birds now.  Do you think that the birds fought and one got paralyzed?  I did find a lump in the back of its head. (in reference to the paralyzed one)  I'm not sure but the damage could have been overtime and it healed.  I didn't really know what to look for...

The irony is that the 'runt' is the aggressor and he attacked the other one when I removed the paralyzed one...  Now they are all in 11" x 11" x 11" breeder cages... all by themselves, of course...

So based on what I've written, do you think it was paralyzed, or is there something I can do to help it recover to full strength?  If anyone has had this happen, please let me know what happened to your bird?

Thanks again for the response!

[aKirA]

My guess would be the same as yours based on what you described. The diet you are feeding them sound healthy so I don't think it was a lack of nutrients. Lets hope for the best and that he didn't get paralyzed and just hurt. Only time will tell. Not sure if there is anything you can do in particular to help it other then what you are already doing.

You may want to try and get some females for them in the long run. good luck.