Feet!

[laurab]

Remember to regularly check your Quails feet; I just found one of mine with some coconut fibre wrapped around his toes!

I don't know where he got it from as I haven't put any in the aviary since last year!

[cooltom28]

when i ahd quail and when i had fligths i ahd the problem of them gettings balls of poo on their feet especially after the flights had just been cleaned as they were concrete floors

[kenny]

hi laura
remember telling you last year about the sisal nesting material and my cpq...

ken

[laurab]

You're right Kenny, I remember :razz:

[chris]

a good layer of sand, and/or bark chippings prevents any of te crap balls that build up on the quail's feet when kept in damp/muddy/dirty conditions. plain concrete is generally bad as the auil take a poop, nothing coats it or dries it out, the quail tread on it and away you go. bit of sand makes all the difference. the same problem occurs when they are kept on just newspaper too.

the worst i've had happen to one of mine so far involved a piece of dried pampass grass that had coiled up. somehow one of the hens got it round her neck VERY tightly, so much so that a bulge formed where the food couldnt pass. took a bit of getting off too.

if your quail have balls of crap of the feet, best course of action is to fill a bowl with warm soapy water and hold the bird so that it's feet are soaking in it. do this for 10 mins or so, then try to break some of very gently with the fingers, repeat untill all traces are removed. failure to do so results in loss of toes, and even the whole foot if it's really bad. the only time i had problems with balls on the feet was when first started keeping them and used only news paper as a lining for the cages, after adding sand it hasn't been a problem since.

Chris;)

[laurab]

I use an equivalent of Dry Bird on the floor, so luckily they don't get mucky feet.

[kenny]

hi chris
mine dont get mucky feet but last year some sisal nesting material dropped on the floor and the hen got it wrapped so tightly round her leg i just caught it in time her foot was starting to swell and i had to get some fine scissors to get it off it took about an hour

ken

ken