Blind chick - any ideas ???

[Stefan]

I have hatched out a small batch of quail chicks which I bought on ebay. Unfortunately the seller must be inbreeding as I had 50% of them with some kind of problem, so I had to open a "hospital wing".

I bought them for freshening up my own bloodlines... that's onviously not going to happen.

Several were so bad that they were rolling about on their backs and despite helping them to stand on their feet they just couldn't do it, so I had to kill them after 24 hours. I suspect they had some kind of brain damage.

Some had curled toes, which were mostly fine after wearing "shoes" for 24 hours.
I still have some with badly curled feet, which are wearing shoes for another few days and I hope they will learn to walk. One with a deformed leg I had to kill, birds can't walk on one leg...

Finally I have two blind chicks. One has eyes and can make out the difference between dark and light. It has learned to stick it's beak into mashed up food and suck. Looks strange but I hope it will eventually start pecking and learn to feed itself.

The other one, however, has empty eye sockets. I never even noticed it as they all hatched during the night and I was so tired from moving them all from the hatcher to the brooder that I only made sure they had two healthy legs and the navel was closed.

The next day I noticed one chick moving it's head left to tight all the time and only then did I noticed that the poor thing had no eyes at all. I grabbed it to kill it and my daughter looked at me and said "what's wrong with that one? It seems all healthy and it's my favourite, it has a special colour...." Oh dear. I gave it 24 hours to learn to drink... it does, but only from my finger. It doesn't peck or put the beak to the ground.

Any ideas how to teach this poor thing to feed? I would hate having to tell my daughter that the chick is in the freezer....

[teenybash]

What a dilema Stefan not to mention the poor inbred chicks......curly toes though can appear in birds that have not been inbred and with patience can learn to walk. I had a rooster for years with curled feet, who as a chick stumbled over a lot and being put upright time and time again till he got the knack....he ended up being called Stumbles and patient handling saw him able to doddle around quite happily for a lot of years.
The chick with no eyes will need to be taught to follow sound and lower his head into food.
A little container and you dabbing your finger into food hopefully will see it begin to put head down to sound and if you can mimic quail mother sounds might also help. Failing that........................?

[Stefan]

Thanks teenybash,
unfortunately quails are independant when they hatch, apart from going under the hen to keep warm. They don't follow their mum.
I had a chicken hatch out 2 quail eggs once (no idea how she managed to nick them and hatch them without any damage, but she was frustrated and stressed because the two chicks ran everywhere pecking for food and didn't listen to anything she was trying to teach them. Poor thing just gave up in the end and sat around waiting for them to come back and get warm....

I hope I find a way as he is now starting to be hungry and runs around wildly but still doesn't peck at anything...

The woman I bought the egss from replied last night and said she crosses her quails with her friends quails, so no inbreeding. God knows for how many years they have been doing that...
She blamed Royal Mail for the curly toes...

The second chick seems fine now, pecking around and looking for food. It's hit and miss, but will hopefully get used to a set environment and know where everything is. Won't be going into a colony though, but my daughter wants it as a pet...

If only they weren't so tiny.... A normal chick I could handfeed for a while, but these are so tiny...

Any ideas how I could make nutritious liquid food until he calms down a little ?

[Stefan]

Good news about the chick.
I decided to give him food instead of bedding and whilst I was out he taught himself to eat, pecking wildly at the ground whilst running backwards in a circle.
Lets hope he gets enough food to grow properly and I can teach him to drink by himself somehow.

[teenybash]

If you have a liquidizer you can pulp whatever the chicky needs. A simple moist food like sweet corn with smaller flaked barley or small grains added.....you could even chuck in the odd pulverized worm for protein......He should steady on his legs as walking backwards means he is looking for his balance point and with time he will find it.....lucky little chick now to be loved as a pet....your daughter, I am sure can help him a lot by putting her hand behind him to help him steady.

What will be the chicks pet name......you could get the orgers to choose.

[stewart4364]

I keep quail, bobwhites, Italian and Mexican spotted. I have about 12 bobwhite and 60 Chinese painted quail eggs in an incubator just now. The chicks can be prone to splayed legs if they are kept on a smooth surface -- in the bottom of the brooder I lay a piece of anti slip mat, the type used on the dash of a car to stop things falling off -- you can buy this on E-bay or Google as anti slip mat or router mat -- the router mat is a better quality as it is thicker. Fine shavings can be spread over this if you want but is not essential. I also use a cavity closer brick, which is a hollow brisk about 200mm x 140mm outside dimensions and wall thickness of about 15mm, the height/length is about 200mm, on its end and hang a ceramic bulb inside but clear of the shavings, etc. -- this heats up the brick and the other advantage there is no light from this type of bulb -- cover the top of the brick with a piece of wire mesh to prevent the chicks, once they are bigger from jumping inside as this type of bulb gets very hot -- handle with care when switched on. I have had eggs off E-bay and had reasonable success with them, unfortunately you are always going to have some problems, runts or deaths etc. I have kept birds for over 30 years and have incubated many different species. My main incubator is an AB cabinet model with automatic turning and humidity control. I also have a Brinsea Octagon 20 with automatic turning. I have just ordered an R-com usb model which has automatic turning and humidity control. Hopefully the R-com will be used for the smaller eggs although it can accommodate geese sized eggs whilst the AB model will be used for the more valuable eggs.

[Stefan]

I have had quails for many years, and yes, you are right, there is always the odd chick with a problem, just not that many in one batch.
I use anti slip mats in my hatcher, so the chicks are on it as soon as they hatch, then in the nursery, where I watch them the first hours. They move to a brooder with a slip mat and shavings on top as soon as they can stand and walk properly and have no obvious health problems.

The blind chick is doing ok. Today I have cleaned him out, he is with another blind chick (can see dark and light) and a very small chick which had an open navel and stuff hanging out of it... (before you ask: i didn't help, the hick hatched itself).

I take care to not change anything around and have tried to teach him to walk into the drinker with his beak, then lower his head for the water. I am sure he has started to notice his feet as he puts his toes on the drinker... it's still hit and miss, but getting better. I still remind him where it is every few hours. Underneath the drinker (which looks like a dish with an upside down bottle) I have added another larger dish with food. So he has a ring of food, then the water.

I hope he will work it all out soon. He gets fed up now as I have not put food all over the floor, as the other two chicks got their eyes glued shut because of the dust.

Luckily for him I couldn't come up to Caithness this weekend, so he has another week to learn before he is on his own with finding food and water all day whilst everybody is at work/school.

I must have a soft spot for him as I usually keep 200+ quails and not bother with ill chicks. To be fair, I only keep the other two for company for him... otherwise they would be in the freezer by now.

[_Ju_]

You know, what you are describing sounds an aweful lot like Mareks disease in chickens, but I have'nt been able to find out about prevalence in quails ( http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseas...mareks-disease ). I am trying to find something on it......

[_Ju_]

Looks like quails can get it: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1647066

[Stefan]

Update: The chick has been named Lionel. He is making progress in looking after himself, feeding himself ok and started to get a drink but can't always find the drinker.
He is now on his own, as the tiny chick that had some of his guts hanging out passed away. I also had to kill the other blind chick as it wasn't making any attempts to drink and was rather unsteady, falling on it's back all the time.

Being on his own seems to help him as he doesn't get knocked about and he has started to walk around and smell and touch his environment with his beak.
He is growing slightly slower than the other chicks but it's all so much harder for him, using a lot of energy on trying to work things out.

I agree with Ju that it does sound like Mareks Disease, however, the other 76 chicks are symptom free, so fingers crossed it was just a stupid woman who inbreeds.

Need to have it checked though.

[teenybash]

Glad to hear Lionel the lionhearted quail chick is getting it together....a little smartie by the sounds of it.....he'll get there I am sure...if you put your finger or something in his water dish and move it about he will hear the sound and twig where it is.............

[Stefan]

How would he know what water sounds like?
He does however know what the plastic sounds like when he pecks it compared to the walls of his enclosure and the difference in floor covering and sound when he pecks the floor.
Still hard to find when you have no understanding of shapes and direction.

He keeps trying and I help him every few hours to make sure he gets enough water.

As he seemed a bit lonely on his own we have given him a teddy which he gladly cuddles up to to sleep.

[teenybash]

It's a natural instict to know the sound of water if you dabble it....how lovely to think he is cosying up to his teddy...what a special little guy..keep on loving him and keep us updated...even pics would be nice.

[Stefan]

Ok teenybash,
just for you

I honestly didn't put him there, he starts off underneath the heart then pushes his way up behind it. Has a very strict routine. Sleep with the teddy, fall off the top, have a wash, eat, drink, warm up under the lamp, sleep....

I can tell his voice now from the other 76 and also understand when he is upset.... amazing what you can learn from a tiny quail chick if it sits right next to your desk.



I took a few videos with my mobile, might put them on youtube...

[teenybash]

Awe...he is lovely and just look at the little contented soul sitting there as happy as larry...or should I say Lionel. This is one special little chick....
Thank you for the pic...as he grows will you keep us updated with pics??

[Allsorts]

That is a great photo of him and i have been reading how he is getting on so thanks for sharing with us.

[carasmam]

I've been reading with interest too. He's a survivor that one Thanks for keeping us updated

[Aaldtimer]

Ah Stefan, you have a big heart!
It's gonna take some looking after, but it's in the right hands methinks! Good on ya kiddo!

[Stefan]

To keep you all updated: Linonel can now drink all by himself, although he spends an enormous amount of time locating his water. He gets frustrated and pecks around wildly at times but he is much livelier now and walks around more.
I am considering changing his drinker or at least adding another one, one which will be his chest height into which he can walk into without falling into it and then getting upset, jumping around, falling over and getting covered with food.... to the point where I have to bathe him and blow dry him.... only happened once... but now he tries to avoid lying down... he tries to sleep standing up with his beak on the floor as a "third leg". Hilarious!

Quick note about Marek's disease: pretty sure it's not Marek's, as the virus is not spread via eggs. All symptoms started at hatching, so there was no time for infection.
I also don't have any other birds that could carry the virus, so unlikely we have a problem with Marek's.
Inbreeding is much more likely to be the cause.

[teenybash]

I just love the thought of Lionel getting upset, having a wee tantrum and falling into his water and food..................He is just such a special little guy who seems to be going from strength to strength.........Good idea about the chest high water bowl.
I bet you never thought an egg bought from Ebay that travelled through the postal system before being incubated, would have resulted in a little bird called Lionel, who is now reaching out and touching hearts.