Quail-Weakness in one leg

[carrotcritters4h]

I have a bowhite quail who has been having some weakness in one leg for quite some time now. He does not like to walk on it and keeps it up. Also, when he has to walk on it he almost limps, he has gotten a little better since my original thought of coccidiosis and gave him some sulmet astreatment. But now he still is the same and i have noticed the same problems in a pair of my vallies. Does any one know what could be causing this. or how to treat it? I feed them 28% protein turkey starter and they have begun to molt. I woud just like some help to unravel this mystery. Thanks

[stewaw]

My experience has been three main causes;
1.  Displaced hip joint during hatching- Never fully recover or develop properly.
2.  Injured toe or ankle from pecking- Often shows bloody spot or scab on toe or ankle area.  Corrected by eliminating "toe pecking"
3.  Injury from getting a toe caught in the wire or sharp piece of wire of the cages.  Most often temporary discomfort with little or no visible sign of injury. Quickly recover on their own.

David

[carrotcritters4h]

Well, the first one doesn't seem to be what it is because they were fine  up until now. THe second one i don't think so either becuase the bobwhite is alone in a coop and the others show not signs of toe picking. The 3rd one seems most applicable but one of the hens i have seems to show the weakness and she hasn't been on wire at all during her life. The bobwhite is on wire but the vallies aren't Do if you have any other suggestioins that would be much appreciated. thanks

[stewaw]

Remember, wire and sharp metal/objects are not only on the floor.  I'm taking it for granted that you have wire on the sides or top of your pen/coop?  I've had mine injure themselves when flying into the sides of the pen as they often use their legs while flying up the sides (almost appears that they are trying to climb the wire).  Most of the time this shows up as a loss of feathers on their heads from hitting the wire, but I've seen them wedge a toenail into the "v" created by the circles in poultry netting/chicken wire and flip upside down.  Witnessing it first hand I've got to say it looks painful.  In my specific case however, limping from this injury is only a day or two.  Is it possible that something (dog,cat etc..) is flushing the birds and causing a similar injury? There are probably as many ways for birds to injure themselves in a pen as there are people who raise them. Just my thoughts.

Good luck,
David