As The Brooder Turns ... so are the days of our lives

[gabrielle1976]

Ok I have 19 buttons 1 chicken and 4 cortunix chicks in my brooder , no squabbling that I have seen. Today when I got home and was giveing them fresh top off on thre bedding , fresh water and fresh food I noticed a few very small dried up smears of blood on there feeder. It wasnt there when I gave them there morning fill up. I checked all the cortunix and didnt see much of anything except a little poo on there toes , I checked a few buttons by picking them up but there so spastic I try not to freak em out to bad , so I sat there and watched them for awhile and no one that I could see was limping , had blood on them or seemed at all distressed. I will most likely wait till my son and cat are sleeping and look over everyone again ... Any one have any ideas . I use one of hte metal round chick feeders with little round holes in it for them to eat out of .

 

[jenjscott]

How old are they? My 2 week old came down with cocci in their brooder in the house. I must have brought it in from outside. Blood on the feeder was one of the first things I saw. They were on pine bedding, so I put paper towels down around the water and food, and there was a lot of blood! I ended up loosing 4 chicks. I immediately started them on amprollium, it looks like the rest of them are going to make it.

 

[monarc23]

check the very tips of toenails and the very tips of wings. When I cannot see an obvious wound this is more than likely where the booboos are.

And that i've noticed they are almost always self inflicted by being spazzy. Could also be a broken blood feather. If you don't see hte issue and they are young (brooder so i assume they are) then I'd say it something lil.

 

[gabrielle1976]

I watched them again last night , I tried looking at them all but they were really upset but me turning on the light and then trying to hold them , this aperntly is NOT OK in quail social structier when there sleepy. Everyone looks ok and there isnt anymore blood that I can see. When I get home tonight I need to clean the brooder so Ill look at them all when I put them in there temp brooder.
I dont know what that cocci stuff is , but they dont go out side and although I do its not out to a garden or feield or anything so could I still have brought it to them?
The paper towls are a good idea Ill put down paper towls on top of the fresh bedding tonight and see if I see more bleeding.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Well I checked every last birdie tonight and It was a tonail little button is missing all of one of his / her nails. And now another one is ... poor thing the second one was my fualt it had a dried ball of poop on it so I pulled it off and the nail came off too

I feel really bad about it. WIll they grow there nails back.?

 

[shelleyd2008]

I would think so. Next time they have a ball of poo, soak their foot in warm water first, then the poo will slide right off. Just like you would for a pasty butt.

 

[gabrielle1976]

I should have known that

You can slap me

. If there anything like my last batch of cortunix babies they love playing in water anyways. I cant wait till I can make them there new digs , I am majorly challanged in the art of makeing things but I figure I can make a 1/2 inch wire box , cut a door in one side(unless top would be better maybe) then I can get a flat plastic tub and ether afix those things that keep shelfs up and sit the cage on that or put 4 smooth stones or what ever in the bottom that are the same size and sit the cage on that , Im still trying to work it all out in my head . I know I can make the cage part , I made some for my rats when I had them,but I just left the bottom open for them and sat the whole deal in a plastic tub , it worked well but I keep hearing that they should be on wire , and with all the poop they are doing it seems like that might be a good idea , cause even freashing up there bedding every day and changeing it out completly every 2nd or 3rd day they get poop on there toes.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I woudn't have a top opening door, especially for the buttons!! Now I have had some like that for coturnix, and they didn't escape much.

I have a neat idea for a cage (should patent it

but I think it's borrowed

)

Make a thing like a bookcase, I'm planning on 4'wide by 5'-6' high by 1'deep. (This is for button cages, but you could modify it to fit the coturnix.) Anyway, divide each 'shelf' in half, so that each side is 2'wide. Each shelf would be 1'high. So you would have (with a 6'high 'shelf') 12 button cages that are 2' x 1' x 1', perfect size for a pair. Each shelf would have wood sides, top, and bottom. Then I will take a piece of coroplast or more wood, to make a 'splash guard' in the front and back of the cage, about 3" high. This would keep their bedding in the cage, where it belongs.

Depending on where in your home you plan to put it, you could either have the doors in the front or on the sides, just make sure (if on the sides) that you make it hinged so you don't have to open every cage at once.

In your case, I don't know how many coturnix you have, but you could make one or two shelves as full length, giving you a 1' x 4' cage. Good size for 4-5 coturnix.

Other modifications: You could also (for the coturnix) make the height of each cage higher, and put some 1/4" hardware cloth (raised) in the bottom, with a pan of shavings or whatever underneath. Coturnix really smell, I would use pine pellets

Of course, you could make all 3 sides wood, and just the front wire. I would use 1" wire, so you can use the pop bottle waterers for them. This would give them more floor space. You could also get some cup feeders (like those used for parakeets) instead of actual feeders, this would also take up less room.

ETA: Buttons do better on solid floors, since their feet are so tiny. I would use 1/2" wire for the floor of the coturnix cages.
You could also use the 1/2" wire for the sides of the cage, then just cut a spot out for the waterer.
The 'splash guard' would also be good for when your buttons hatch their babies

I have 3 of the mamas wanting to set on eggs, so yours could be 'broody buttons' as well!!

Especially if you keep them in pairs!

 

[gabrielle1976]

Ohh thank you shelly