Bob White Hatchee Questions

[sweetshoplady]

I had a really good hatch on my bobs. Too many to count. Only thing is, there are some who's legs don't seem to be working ok. They're on paper towels, like I normally put my newly hatched. Some seem to skate rather than walk/run like the others. (the movement is like a skaters)

Will these legs improve with time/use? Or, will I have to cull some of these little guys?

Second question, I just checked on them and they appeared cold and were wet. Don't ask me how they got the water all over (I'm using one of those quail waterers that has a very small opening) I moved them under a stronger-hotter light and removed the water and put a towel in there. THey are still "piling up" I've never had this many at once. Should I be separating them into smaller groups so they don't squish the ones on the bottom? THe most I've ever had hatch were 20-25, this is closer to 50 or 60.

Thanks quail experts!

 

[william9792]

i am no expert on quail, but i hatched out 120 of them last month, and they were bob whites, and they piled like that no matter what i did , i was told by a man that hatches them for a living that is what they do. and i placed small marbles in the red part of the quail waterer so they could not get wet, for the first 2 weeks. hope this helps william

 

[sweetshoplady]

William, thanks you've eased my mind on that and I'll add some marbles to the waterer.

 

[william9792]

glad i could help. william

 

[jhm47]

Be sure to make the crumbles small enough so the babies can eat it. I lost a lot of bobwhite babies till I began running their food through our blender and made it into powder. Their beaks just are not big enough to handle most crumbles, and they starve to death.

 

[CheerfulChaos]

You might want to try the rubbery type of shelf liner instead of the paper towels. Tiny chicks seem to be able to get better traction on them than paper towels. Have to change it out about as much as you would with paper towels, but you can wash and re-use the shelf liner very easily. I found rolls of it at the local dollar store (Dollar Tree).

 

[sweetshoplady]

CheerfulChaos, that's a great tip. Thanks. I have a roll of that stuff. I'll put that in tomorrow.

jhm47, thanks - very valuable tip to be aware of.