Baby Quail Just Keep Dying

[cwb]

I hatched out about 50 California Valley and Blue Scale quail chicks 4 days ago. I now only have about 15 left and still dying. I have them in my brooder box inside my house with just a regular light bulb. They have plenty of space to get away from the heat. All have been eating and I dipped all their beaks in the water as I unloaded them from the incubator. The feed is gamebird starter from TSC. I have hatched several batches of quail, used the same setup and never had this issue before besides a couple losses here and there. These were hatched from shipped eggs, not sure if that would have anything to do with it. Just have no clue what is going on.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

@007Sean

I'm sorry about your Quail, I've tagged in someone that is hopefully more familiar with the variety of Quail you are raising than I am. I've only had Coturnix.

Can you get some photos of the brooder setup and tell us the temperature of the warm and cool side?

Are the chicks showing any symptoms before dying or are they just keeling over? (Lethargy, difficulty breathing, odd poop, etc.)

What's the poop like?

Photos of chicks and poop?

Feed is fresh, no mold?

I ask a lot of questions - it's not against you, just trying to brainstorm especially since you've had this same setup and have been successful several times. Nothing has changed. Same type of bedding, same exact brand of feed, water...

 

[cwb]

@007Sean

I'm sorry about your Quail, I've tagged in someone that is hopefully more familiar with the variety of Quail you are raising than I am. I've only had Coturnix.

Can you get some photos of the brooder setup and tell us the temperature of the warm and cool side?

Are the chicks showing any symptoms before dying or are they just keeling over? (Lethargy, difficulty breathing, odd poop, etc.)

What's the poop like?

Photos of chicks and poop?

Feed is fresh, no mold?

I ask a lot of questions - it's not against you, just trying to brainstorm especially since you've had this same setup and have been successful several times. Nothing has changed. Same type of bedding, same exact brand of feed, water...

I don't have a way to get photos right now, I don't have a thermometer on hand to get the exact temperature right now either. They seem to be comfortable though. They aren't huddling up under the heat and they aren't avoiding it either. Feed is fresh and no mold. Poop seems normal as well. I noticed a couple may have been a bit lethargic before they died but most seemed fine and I would go check on them every couple hours , there would be 4-5 dead. Most show no signs of being sick.

 

[Finchbreeder]

I also believe in asking questions - many times when someone does you answer them and solve your own problem/s.

 

[cwb]

Got up this morning and checked them, I am now down to 10. I'm going to wind up losing all of them. I give like $200 for all the eggs and now pretty much threw that away.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I don't have a way to get photos right now, I don't have a thermometer on hand to get the exact temperature right now either. They seem to be comfortable though. They aren't huddling up under the heat and they aren't avoiding it either. Feed is fresh and no mold. Poop seems normal as well. I noticed a couple may have been a bit lethargic before they died but most seemed fine and I would go check on them every couple hours , there would be 4-5 dead. Most show no signs of being sick.

Got up this morning and checked them, I am now down to 10. I'm going to wind up losing all of them. I give like $200 for all the eggs and now pretty much threw that away.

I'm sorry to hear this, how terrible.

I'm not sure what may be going on with them.

They are only about 5-6days old now?

Something that quick, I'd suspect sometime of infection, but what I do not know. @Nabiki might have some suggestions.

Do you have an antibiotic on hand? In the Tetracycline family would probably be something I'd try at this point.

Coccidiosis does come to mind, but usually it doesn't affect birds quite this young and generally you have a window of symptoms to i.d. it.

Any way you think you might be able to send in a body or two to your state lab for analysis? This would hopefully give you the best information as to the cause so at least you'll know what has happened.

 

[Nabiki]

Did you get your bedding from a different source? I would double check the feed as well, especially at the bottom of the bag in case it got wet at some point. It wouldn't hurt to buy a new bag of feed just in case.

It isn't rare for one or two to fail to thrive, but there is certainly something wrong with this many dying.