My flock took a hard hit- can't figure out why. Bobwhite quails

This year my flock has taken a hit, Five birds down to one now. I'm not sure if it's the feed I give them, Lay crumble. Or just the cages themselves possibly?
Most of the legs had looked fine. About two birds somehow received cuts on their legs so I treated them with a livestock spray, it's purple in color.
My last standing bird is a hen who has layed about 2 eggs for me ever. I'm not sure what it could be-
Any tips so I can become a better parent for the flock?
All my birds are in wire bottom large cages most of the time and sometimes I kept pairs in wire rabbit cages.
In the winter, they have a heatlamp that turns on and turns off via thermostat.

Is it possible that something is chewing on their feet/legs through the bottoms of their cages?

sourland said:

Is it possible that something is chewing on their feet/legs through the bottoms of their cages?

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Tetris style.

Maybe try putting a piece of plywood down over the wire and covering that in pine shavings.

Build a coop and run for them. " Quail shouldnt be locked up in a cage"

Narihde said:

This year my flock has taken a hit, Five birds down to one now. I'm not sure if it's the feed I give them, Lay crumble. Or just the cages themselves possibly?
Most of the legs had looked fine. About two birds somehow received cuts on their legs so I treated them with a livestock spray, it's purple in color.
My last standing bird is a hen who has layed about 2 eggs for me ever. I'm not sure what it could be-
Any tips so I can become a better parent for the flock?
All my birds are in wire bottom large cages most of the time and sometimes I kept pairs in wire rabbit cages.
In the winter, they have a heatlamp that turns on and turns off via thermostat.

Click to expand...

Try to give a little more info on the dead birds themselves. if you can answer all of these questions it will give us more to go on.

Were they sick ahead of time? did you see wings hanging or puffed up feathers? How did their feces look? were their toes intact? How old were they? Do you have chickens?

Quail breeding stock should be fed 24% gamebird food as adults (19% for flight conditioned birds) Layer crumble usually only has 15-16%.

Regarding the egg laying of that hen; How did you acquire these birds? Can you be sure that they are not the victim of excessive inbreeding?

If you want to learn more about raising bobwhites you can read through these links.

http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/pdf/extension/raising_quail.pdf

http://www.gqfmfg.com/pdf/raise game birds pdf.pdf

You can also read the UC Davis guide to raising game birds in my signature.

sourland said:

Is it possible that something is chewing on their feet/legs through the bottoms of their cages?

Click to expand...

The first time this happened to me I was beyond confused. Until I started putting rat traps underneath the wire at the suggestion of another breeder. Rats and raccoons love them some quail toes...

Papas Chickens said:

Build a coop and run for them. " Quail shouldnt be locked up in a cage"

Click to expand...

Everyone has a right to their opinion obviously but there are various reasons for keeping birds over wire and it is recommended to keep gamebirds over wire in any area with wet or poorly draining soil, anywhere chickens have been raised in a commercial setting in the past, or in places where certain diseases are more prevalent. The number one way to keep disease acquisition/transmission to a minimum is to keep your birds over wire floor. Disease and parasites are transmitted much more easily through feces consumption than any other way.

Also I've seen 1000 sq ft wire bottom pens so to say that his birds are "locked in a cage" isn't really fair considering you haven't seen the cage.

I keep birds over both sand and wire and over their lives there is little difference in them.

Papas Chickens said:

Build a coop and run for them. " Quail shouldnt be locked up in a cage"

Click to expand...

Mine sure should be...

Thank you all! I did notice a few puffed up feathers at one point on a male. I have seen mice and have been trapping them. I'm tempted to rewire the outside of the flight to try to slow them from coming into the smaller pens.