Bobwhite quail piling up

[Cadeau]

I got roped into raising bobwhite quail for a friend of my husband's...
250 teeny tiny cuties! But I don't know much about them and I feel badly about it.

BUT - how do I keep them from piling up?
I have them in a brooder at 95 degrees.
They have warm water with electrolytes and game crumble spread over the floor (shavings.)

Do I need to separate them into many buckets of smaller numbers?
Even a handful will pile up, given a chance...

But - they continue to heap up and the guys on the bottom are getting crushed/smothered.
HELP! The poor, tiny things...

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Use cardboard or plastic bowed in the corners so they don't create tight spots. the bent pieces let them gather but not encourage them to pile up as much.

 

[_Randall_]

Yep, like FL said, get rid of those tight corners by foming a radius as big as possible from a plastic container, or short-cutting the corners with cardboard or anything that can be taped to the sides such as in the 4th picture down here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=43975-my-quail-brooder
How old are the chicks, and how big is the brooder?

 

[Cadeau]

I tried an 8'x10' stall with a brooder lamp (20"x20" square box on the floor with canvas curtains and a heating element on a thermostat.)

I thought maybe they would go out from under the lamp and get too cold = piling, so I put them in a big rubbermaid tub @3'x18"

But.... they're still piling up. Not in the corners - I banked all the corners with shavings, so that's not the problem anymore.

It looks like a mosh pit, but 3 layers deep!
They literally dive on top and their feet stick up in the air!
The kids on the bottom are getting crushed, if they're not strong enough to push up.

They're approximately 48-36hrs old - overnighted Tues night.

 

[quailmale]

Quote:
You say they are not piling in the corners, sounds like they may still be cold if they are piling in the middle,
1) is the pile under the heat element ?
2) what is the temp down at chick level ?

 

[Chinchilla2]

If the "mosh pit" is under the light, they aren't warm enough. If the mosh pit breaks into smaller wads and piles up in the corners, then the light is too hot. Those little suckers are a pain to get just right. As soon as you do get it just right, that's about the same time you need to start reducing the temp. I usually use two different lights, one about 5 deg hotter than the other. This way the ones that decide they are cold can go to the warmer spot and the picky ones who need it a bit cooler can hang around the other spot. Since they are considerably shorter than chickens at this age, what may be 95 and comfy for a chicken may be 90 and cold to a bob.

How loud are they getting? If they are really loud and under the light, that is also a good clue as to being too cold.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
THEY ARE TOO COLD DO NOT TRUST THERMOMETERS, THE BEST DEVICE FOR MEASURING CHICK COMFORT IN A BROODER IS THE CHICK...

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
1ST 10 DAYS OF LIFE EACH CHICK SHOULD HAVE 1/4 INCH OF FEEDER AND WATER FONT LINEAR SPACE AND 1/4 SQ FT OF OPEN FLOOR BROODER SPACE.

 

[Cadeau]

Thanks!!

They're completely quiet...
They were L-O-U-D when they arrived, I thought I was going to go crazy!!

The temp is one of my incubator thermometers, so it's calibrated - I had it at 95 degrees.
I dropped the light down tonight - I'm just scared to fry the little buggers!!

Will they holler if they're too hot?
I've been checking about every 15 min...

I can put them back out in the big 8'x10' space - I just wanted to have a little more control of their temperature.
I was worried they were getting cold and then too weak to get back under the heat.

Right now, I just have their feed spread on the shavings.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Get a lid to coffee can (or something similar) to spread the feed crumbles in. Makes it easier for you and them. Less is more as far as space goes for those tiny little buggers. Watch them, if they spread out and are quiet and content temp and food/water are good. Remember just as chickens they can drown easily in water. However the quail take less water.