FINCHforum

hi,

one of my female button quails is really struggling ...i woke up this morning and she is really puffed up, balancing (barely) on her feet, (she's on her tip-toes), puffing, vent looks ok though. i transferred her to a hospital cage. she is eating and drinking, which is a relief.

i am thinking she may be egg bound, so i gave her a drop of liquid calcium to her beak with a dropper. what is the dosing rate for button quail? how often should i give the liquid calcium to her?

thanks, (and sorry if the pic is sideways, its a cell phone pic).

Chinese Painted Quail (Coturnix chinesis), Standard Length - 5 inches, Standard weight: 1.5-3oz (40-85g).

Since a finch weighs approximately 15 - 20g (in relation to the BQ) I would give the Button quail another drop of liquid calcium to her beak right away and see how she does from there. Also a heatlamp would not be a bad thing for her as well. Fluffing is a sign of not feeling well and it seems a heatlamp is almost always welcomed by them. Hope she recoups quickly!

Hi Liz thanks. I gave her 2 drops this morning before I left for work. When should I administer the next drop? Maybe I will see how she is doing when I get home. Should be there in an hour or two.

Great info Liz!! I hope she gets well soon! Since she has gotten 2, I don't see how another could hrt when you get home.

thanks dante and liz. she seems to be doing ok, she is still shaking a bit though. i have a heat lamp on her, so hopefully she will get through this. i just gave her another drop of calcium.

I hope she feels better soon, she is very pretty!

Good to know she's hanging in there, Amy. Does she have eggfood and/or live mealworms? Cuttlebone? Maybe shave some cuttlebone on to some eggfood. Has she been laying a lot of eggs?

I like Liz's idea of shaved cuttlebone on eggfood, it may help.


Like CIndy said she is pretty, what color is she if you know? I have heard of people boiling the eggs from their buttons and feeding it back to them. Hope she recovers is she pooping??

L in Ontario wrote: Good to know she's hanging in there, Amy. Does she have eggfood and/or live mealworms? Cuttlebone? Maybe shave some cuttlebone on to some eggfood. Has she been laying a lot of eggs?

hi liz,
i just ran in the door from work so i will get to work on these things!

DanteD716 wrote: Like CIndy said she is pretty, what color is she if you know? I have heard of people boiling the eggs from their buttons and feeding it back to them. Hope she recovers is she pooping??

dante she is a red breasted female. i have 3 females, the other two are silvers. and yes she is pooping. and i do boil their eggs and i feed all of my birds the eggs! they pretty much lay one egg a day, so its like a little egg factory around here.

cindy wrote: I hope she feels better soon, she is very pretty!

thank you cindy! i thought she was a male when i bought her, (so did the breeder!), so she has a boy's name, and its jonah! i didn't have the heart to change it.

I love her color, I do not think she is eggbound if she is pooping, may just be tired and calcium defficiant

DanteD716 wrote: I love her color, I do not think she is eggbound if she is pooping, may just be tired and calcium defficiant

dante, i hope so . this is the first time i have ever seen any of my quail like this...i hope that she will bounce back.

How old is she?? I know hens die young, 2-3 years. I hope she is okay, she should bounce back!

DanteD716 wrote: How old is she?? I know hens die young, 2-3 years. I hope she is okay, she should bounce back!

she was born last september...i bought both her and her sister. i have another little button too who is crippled, but she gets along just fine

So she still has a few years in her, she is young. I am confident she just needs a rest and will be fine!

I have never seen a crippled button! Glad you have her. Off topic, I have been mixed answers do yours personally smell? I want a pair

DanteD716 wrote: So she still has a few years in her, she is young. I am confident she just needs a rest and will be fine!

I have never seen a crippled button! Glad you have her. Off topic, I have been mixed answers do yours personally smell? I want a pair

i hope so dante about the smell... not really. i think that you have to be diligent about changing their bedding etc....but this applies to all pets! also, i find certain foods make their poop smell really bad, so i try to avoid those things. i found freeze dried blood worms made for some stinky-ness, :wtf: as well as eggs at times! overall they are really great birds and i would get a pair if i were you.

i would caution you though, that mine don't get along when housed together, so all 3 girls live in separate cages. i had the sisters living together for months and then one day one started to pick on the other one. i keep mine at the bottom of the large finch cages that i have, and they all do fine! i have never had a problem with them being aggressive towards my finches, although i do not keep them with breeding pairs as i have read that they may see tossed babies as snacks, and may also hurt fledgelings.

i gave a friend of mine one of my other females as he has a male, and the male feeds the female mealworms all of the time how romantic!