Chicks Dying Daily, Advice Please

A few weeks ago I ordered Cochin hatching eggs from 2 different sources. When the eggs arrived, one egg in one of the delivery boxes was broken and had leaked on the other eggs. I carefully wiped them the best I could with a paper towel and set all the eggs to hatch at the same time along with some quail eggs from my own birds.

After a week, I candled all the Cochin eggs and there was development in most of the eggs that came from the box with no broken eggs. The eggs that came out of the broken box didn't seem to be developing, but I wasn't really sure because I've only hatched Coturnix eggs and wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for.

4 days before hatch time, I candled again and it was obvious only 1 egg was fully developing out of all the Cochin eggs. The eggs from the "good" delivery appeared to have stopped developing around the time of the first candling. I threw out all the eggs that didn't develop which left one chicken egg and my quail eggs. The next day, the quail eggs began hatching and I got 5 out of 6 quail and they seemed perfectly healthy.

The next day, one of the quail died and I've lost one a day since then and I'm not sure why. Whatever it is seems to be killing them quickly, as they are eating and drinking and active until they just suddenly start gasping for air and stumbling around and then die within an hour or so.

Is it possible that the broken egg contaminated my incubator and got my quail chicks sick after they hatched? I'm at a loss for any other explanation. I've raised lots of baby quail and never had a problem like this. The last chicken egg that was developed never hatched so I'm thinking that I probably cross contaminated all the eggs during candling and the quail got sick after hatching and killed the chick in the last Cochin egg. Does this sound right?

I've been feeding the same feed I always feed to all my birds and chicks, nothing is changed. My older birds are eating that food and their fine. My incubator & brooder were sterilized before the hatch, like I always do. This is just making me very sad. It's hard losing them like this but I can deal if I know how to prevent it in the future. I'm down to 2 baby quail now and I'm expecting them to drop at any minute because I don't know what to do, if there is anything I can do. I removed them from the brooder after the last quail chick fell suddenly sick and sterilized everything before putting the 2 "healthy" ones back in. They seem ok for now, but so did this last one before he died this morning. I was hoping these last 3 had escaped whatever it was the killed the others, but I guess not. They are now 4-5 days old.

Any ideas or advice?

I wish I could help you out in a real way, but you answered all the questions I would have asked but one. What kind of bedding are you using?

The only bedding is paper towels, and that's changed daily...sometimes twice if they've been especially messy. Another chick seems to be falling ill. He's kind of slumped over, drowsily sleepy with labored breathing, but it's not a normal sleepy chick thing if you know what I mean. I wish there was something I could do for them.

I wish I had an answer for you. It almost has to be food, water or environment related, I just can't think how one broken egg could have that affect, unless the egg was rotten?

Shipped eggs are always risky, but not at that rate.

I know someone who can ship standard Cochin eggs to you- they are mixes, but I had a very successful hatch with them. PM me if you want more info.

I am so sorry about this, and wish I had answers.

Thanks for the reply, I do appreciate it. I wouldn't think one egg could do it either, but its the only thing I could come up with since nothing else is different about this hatch that I can think of. But it could be lots of other things I guess.

It just seemed odd to the that all the quail hatched except that one egg. That wouldn't be strange other than the fact that on a whim while I was candling, I thought I would try to check one of the quail eggs (of course I couldn't see anything through the spots), and I'm pretty sure the one I touched is the one that didn't hatch and it was the only quail egg I touched after touching all the others.

Maybe the eggs that came with one broken had some sort of illness that got transferred when I touched them all? I don't know. I'm hoping that's the problem because it would be an easy 'fix' since they're all gone now. Ugh. Dying babies sucks so much.

Gasping for air and strolling around are the symptoms of MAREK, i advice u this to do:-
The sooner you vaccinate your chicks, the more effective the vaccine will be. This is because the Mareks virus is virtually everywhere, travels on the wind, and can be anywhere in your environment. It’s true that you can take precautions to reduce the risk of exposure to your chicks until you have a chance to vaccinate, but basically, the longer you wait, the higher the risk. It takes about 10 days for full immunity to develop after vaccination, so plan your program accordingly. Also order your vaccine plenty of time in advance of your hatch. When you receive your vaccine, you’ll get both a tiny vial that contains a freeze-dried vaccine and a large bottle of diluent to dilute and re-hydrate the vaccine. Refrigerate the small vial. You can keep the diluent at room temperature but out of direct heat or sunlight.
Let’s begin with a list of needed supplies. You’ll need the freeze-dried Mareks vaccine (and accompanying diluent for re-hydration), an unopened 1cc syringe with a very small needle (5/8 or 16mm), an unopened 3cc syringe with standard needle, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, an ‘ice bath’ (bowl containing chipped ice) if you plan on taking more than half an hour to administer after mixing, and of course, a cheering section.
After popping the tops off of both the diluent and the vial of freeze-dried vaccine (leaving the rubber stoppers in tact in both cases), apply alcohol to the rubber stoppers of each. Take the 3cc syringe and draw a full 3cc of diluent.
Insert the needle into the freeze-dried vial of vaccine and inject all 3cc of diluent. Shake the vial very gently to re-hydrate the vaccine. While using the same 3cc syringe, draw back on the plunger to draw in 3cc of air.
Insert the 3cc syringe into the vial to release the air and break the vacuum so that you can draw the vaccine out of the vial. With the needle just inside the rubber stopper and the vial upside down, draw all of the hydrated vaccine out of the vial.
Insert the needle into the bottle of diluent and inject the entire 3cc of vaccine. Gently rock the bottle of diluent back and forth to mix the solution. You now have active vaccine ready to administer to the chicks. Using your 1cc syringe (for the first time), draw out as much vaccine as you are comfortable with handling at one time. Each chick will receive 0.2cc of vaccine. (This dosage applies to all sizes of chicks.) That means that if you fill the 1cc syringe to the 1.0 mark, then you have enough to vaccinate 5 chicks before you need to redraw vaccine from the diluent bottle. Place the diluent bottle full of active vaccine into the ‘ice bath’ until you need to draw again, IF you think you will take more than half an hour to administer all of the vaccines. (The virus dies and renders the vaccine ineffective after about one hour.)
Next (and assuming that you are right-handed), take the first victim – I mean chick – in your left hand, face down and with the head facing away from you. Use your left forefinger and thumb to separate the ‘fuzz’ on the back of the neck of the chick. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work, the next step will help it along.

draw 3cc of re-hydrated vaccine

hold chick face down

insert needle just under skin

injected vaccine creates bubble
Use an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to clean the injection site. You will notice that the alcohol makes most of the fuzz seem to disappear, and you will see the skin clearly. You should also be able to see some tiny veins through the skin. This is good, since it will help you to avoid them when injecting the vaccine (of course this offers no help whatsoever when trying to avoid vaccinating yourself).
Using the 1cc syringe with vaccine in it, insert the needle at an angle toward yourself, and just under the skin. You won’t need to insert the needle very far in order to grab just enough skin with the tip of the needle to insure that you are truly just under the skin, as opposed to into the muscle. A slight lift up on the inserted needle tip will verify further where you are.
When you inject the accurate dose of 0.2cc of vaccine just under the skin, you will notice a ‘bubble’ forming where the vaccine is accumulating. This means that you are properly administering a subcutaneous (or SQ) injection of the vaccine.
Be sure to swipe your needle over an alcohol-soaked cotton ball in between injections to keep your needle sterile for your next chick.
After vaccination, the chicks may seem, well, like they might die. They may be in a little bit of shock from the chill of the alcohol to the back of their neck. After all, they’re preferably only a day old and still accustomed to being very warm. Keep them closely monitored for 24 hours to insure that they don’t get out from under the brooder during that time or get flipped over. You should right them when you notice that happening and place them squarely under the brooder. No, it is not necessary for you to stay up all night with them, but I know many of you will be tempted. (I know who you are.)

These are 4-5 day old quail chicks, in Alaska. I don't think a Marek's vaccine will be of any help.

Hmmm...it may be too late for this batch, but I'll do more research on Marek and try and be prepared for the next batch. I say I've hatched lots of baby quail, but that's relative I guess. It's a hobby and I never hatch more than a dozen at a time and I'm still new to the poultry world (been hatching for a year or so) so I appreciate all information. The last thing I want is to be a negligent bird killer. The drowsy bird is still kind of active and eating, he just does a lot of hard swallowing and rocking back on his knees/hocks(?) with sleepy eyes, if that helps with anymore info. Oh, and the poop seems to look normal. The last bird still looks ok for now.

Are you checking your PM's?

No, I don't think it's Mareks... I'm no expert, and I lose my fair share of quail babies, so I know what you're experiencing. I do not know what causes it either. I usually come out in the morning and find one or two dead, for no reason at all. It's frustrating, I know.
First, I don't think it has anything to do with the cochin eggs or contamination. I've had shipped quail eggs that exploded in my incubator ( ) and still had good hatches and good survival rates. You're obviously not over crowding with only 5 chicks. On papertowels, fresh food, fresh water (luke-warm/air temp water is best)... the only other thing I can think of is that they are too cold. If the temps are borderline, they may not show the usual signs of being cold by huddling. You may just lose them one at a time like that. I usually experience a few losses like that when I move them from their snug brooder to a wire cage. The temperature changes seem to shock their little systems too much.

I'm sorry for your losses, and I feel your pain... I wish I knew definitively what was happening to our babies, but that's all I can suggest.