Bobwhites Dying. Help!

[DK newbie]

My guess would be they are boinking (jumping/flying into the roof with enough power to kill themselves) due to not having anywhere to hide. The feed is low in protein, but that shouldn't cause them to drop dead from one day to the next.
When scared, their first choice is to hide - when that's not possible, they fly. If the roof is high enough for them to gain some momentum but not so high that they loose it again, that can cause them to hit their heads/break their necks. This could also be the cause of the blod on the head in the last picture.
They could also be attacking each other (possibly causing each other to boink) due to low protein in the feed, too little space (I don't remember the recommendation for bobwhites, perhaps 4 sqft/bird?) or too little to do with their time.
The bird in the lower left corner in the first pic seems to have blood on its right foot as well, that could be caused by the other birds or perhaps by the wire, so as Nabiki suggested, I'd give them places to get of the wire as well.

 

[007Sean]

The % protein is a little low but has nothing to do with their deaths. And as I have stated in some other threads, the methionine is too low, it is important for overall health and a good immune system but this too isn't the cause of death.
I think they are flushing and breaking their necks. Startled birds will flush if they can't run and hide. The pic of blood on the hens beak is from pecking...there are too many birds in the enclosure, this could also be the cause of them flushing....trying to get away from an aggressive bird.
I hope the bowl in the pic was a 'dustbath' bowl...if it was a feed bowl...it's way too contaminated with feces and other materials...hope their waterers are not in the same condition.
On another note: that enclosure is way too small for the juvenile pheasants you have in the adjoining half of the enclosure.

 

[LavyOrps]

The % protein is a little low but has nothing to do with their deaths. And as I have stated in some other threads, the methionine is too low, it is important for overall health and a good immune system but this too isn't the cause of death.
I think they are flushing and breaking their necks. Startled birds will flush if they can't run and hide. The pic of blood on the hens beak is from pecking...there are too many birds in the enclosure, this could also be the cause of them flushing....trying to get away from an aggressive bird.
I hope the bowl in the pic was a 'dustbath' bowl...if it was a feed bowl...it's way too contaminated with feces and other materials...hope their waterers are not in the same condition.
On another note: that enclosure is way too small for the juvenile pheasants you have in the adjoining half of the enclosure.

It is a dust bath. They get new clean water every day, and their food is checked every day.

we put in a few more places for them to get off the wire and added tree limbs and sticks and twigs for them to hide in. They certainly seem much less anxious now that they can hide in it.

 

[LavyOrps]

They are

My guess would be they are boinking (jumping/flying into the roof with enough power to kill themselves) due to not having anywhere to hide. The feed is low in protein, but that shouldn't cause them to drop dead from one day to the next.
When scared, their first choice is to hide - when that's not possible, they fly. If the roof is high enough for them to gain some momentum but not so high that they loose it again, that can cause them to hit their heads/break their necks. This could also be the cause of the blod on the head in the last picture.
They could also be attacking each other (possibly causing each other to boink) due to low protein in the feed, too little space (I don't remember the recommendation for bobwhites, perhaps 4 sqft/bird?) or too little to do with their time.
The bird in the lower left corner in the first pic seems to have blood on its right foot as well, that could be caused by the other birds or perhaps by the wire, so as Nabiki suggested, I'd give them places to get of the wire as well.

We are working on getting them separated, so there are less in the pin together. Looking at 6-8 per pin. And we put them back in the starter just in case the protein amount is too low.
Thank you for your comment! Hopefully everything calms down now. For such a little bird, they are certainly a bit of a handful.

 

[007Sean]

They are

We are working on getting them separated, so there are less in the pin together. Looking at 6-8 per pin. And we put them back in the starter just in case the protein amount is too low.
Thank you for your comment! Hopefully everything calms down now. For such a little bird, they are certainly a bit of a handful.

Yep, Bob's are a bit different compared to Coturnix. They have different spacial requirements and in general, not as tame as Cot's.
In small enclosures they do best as pairs. With larger enclosures you can get by with more birds but you will still have to have the correct ratio of males to females. Do a little research and find out what works best for your situation.

 

[LavyOrps]

Yep, Bob's are a bit different compared to Coturnix. They have different spacial requirements and in general, not as tame as Cot's.
In small enclosures they do best as pairs. With larger enclosures you can get by with more birds but you will still have to have the correct ratio of males to females. Do a little research and find out what works best for your situation.

We have Tennessee Reds, and they are so easy! Maybe it’s just that they are used to us now, but we never had health issues with them, they were always very calm and tame. People say they are super aggressive, but never had that issue either. I can pick them up and cuddle them and they are just fine with it.


We are working on a much larger enclosure for the Bobs. It’ll be 16ft long by 4ft wide, and about 5ft tall, and try to keep some of the pairs together.

Definitely finding out that each bird has it’s on likes and dislikes, even just different breeds of the same type. Certainly a learning curve.

Thank you for your help. I will have to dig around on yours and some other threads ro see what I can find!

 

[Dlepage]

I have Bobwhites that are about 1 - 1-1/2 months old. We have them in outdoor pins since they are fully feathered.

Every couple of days it seems one of them dies. They seem perfectly healthy, then the next morning a new one is gone. They have clean water daily and always have food.

Does anyone have any ideas what might be happening??? Or have had this issue before?

Are they warm enough what is the temperature at night.