Electric hens and button quail.

[Cookiee]

Good day all,

First off this will be a bit of a long question so sorry about that. I have been having some problems with my button quail since moving to an electric hen. Previously I was brooding my button quail under a heat lamp but one day when the lamp became loose and nearly burned my house down I invested in an electric hen. I used the electric hen on a previous batch of buttons but abandoned it after a few days as the chicks were wandering off and not returning under the plate and getting chilled, but luckily I was able to catch them before they died and I never lost any.

My latest clutch of buttons has been a nightmare besides the high hatch rate, to cut a long story short I decided I would try the electric hen again but this time keep the room light on 24/7 so they would not get lost etc, and this seemed to work except now my buttons are suffering with pasty butt and getting on their backs and not being able to get back on their feet without help.

I also noticed they are not growing very fast and judging by past clutches at 8 days old should be double the size they are now. I have had to clean the pasty butts on two occassions now and only 1/3 of the chicks have got pasty butts and the rest not.

I have done nothing different this time than all my previous tries and I know the hen is working fine as I have used it for ducks and coturnix without issues, and the only thing that changed was the hen I was collecting the eggs from. Now I know chicks grow slower under a hen as they are not in the light all the time so are not eating as much but could the hen be causing the pasty butts and the other problems? or could this be genetics.

Thanks for reading and thanks for any answers in advance.

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

Hi, I actually just joined BYC a few minutes ago and will lead with...I know basically nothing and am hear searching for info on my first ever buttons. But, I can chime in on my heat plate experience a little since that was what I had chose over a heat lamp. I hatched 10 buttons from 9 to 12 days ago and they have been under a titan electric brooder plate since entering brooder. The first night, being stupid and knowing nothing about chicks and dark, I turned the light off in my room when I went to bed. I woke up and found 2 had wandered out from under plate and were looking like they had died. I panicked, scooped them up and held them next to my skin and slowly they started to move. They survived but since them I leave a small low wattage lamp on at night next to the tank I have them in. No issues since. I can't comment on the rate they are growing under plate because I don't have a comparison. But I can say I am amazed at how fast they are growing. Under 2 weeks still but I would say most are are at least 3 to 5 times their birth size. None with pasty bums. They seem to come out and eat or drink every 5 minutes I had no idea something so small could eat so much! Good luck with your babies!

 

[Cookiee]

Hi, I actually just joined BYC a few minutes ago and will lead with...I know basically nothing and am hear searching for info on my first ever buttons. But, I can chime in on my heat plate experience a little since that was what I had chose over a heat lamp. I hatched 10 buttons from 9 to 12 days ago and they have been under a titan electric brooder plate since entering brooder. The first night, being stupid and knowing nothing about chicks and dark, I turned the light off in my room when I went to bed. I woke up and found 2 had wandered out from under plate and were looking like they had died. I panicked, scooped them up and held them next to my skin and slowly they started to move. They survived but since them I leave a small low wattage lamp on at night next to the tank I have them in. No issues since. I can't comment on the rate they are growing under plate because I don't have a comparison. But I can say I am amazed at how fast they are growing. Under 2 weeks still but I would say most are are at least 3 to 5 times their birth size. None with pasty bums. They seem to come out and eat or drink every 5 minutes I had no idea something so small could eat so much! Good luck with your babies!

Thanks for the reply what you wrote was my experience with them as well if I turned the light off the would stray and get chilled.

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

Thanks for the reply what you wrote was my experience with them as well if I turned the light off the would stray and get chilled.

I was so afraid of fire with a heat lamp that I ordered the heat plate. Then while my eggs were in the incubator I started to read about people who lost all their buttons under a heat plate because it was too hot or too cold. I read that buttons were just too small and they wouldn't be warm enough because the plates didn't go that low. I spent hours obsessing and testing the temperature under the plate before they even hatched. Luckily that first night I was so paranoid about it I kept waking up ro check on then, which turned out to be a good thing because I woke in time to revive the 2 that wandered out in the dark!

 

[Cookiee]

I was so afraid of fire with a heat lamp that I ordered the heat plate. Then while my eggs were in the incubator I started to read about people who lost all their buttons under a heat plate because it was too hot or too cold. I read that buttons were just too small and they wouldn't be warm enough because the plates didn't go that low. I spent hours obsessing and testing the temperature under the plate before they even hatched. Luckily that first night I was so paranoid about it I kept waking up ro check on then, which turned out to be a good thing because I woke in time to revive the 2 that wandered out in the dark!

Yes fire was the number one reason for me getting a heat plate. Also the heat lamps here was costing me about £15 a week to run just a 60watt bulb 24/7, the price of electricity in the UK is nothing short of extortion.