Button Quail chicks keep dying?!?

[Murphy_the_Hooligan]

I’m almost positive I’m going to lose this one. This is what he is doing. Just hanging his head to the side and not doing much. He doesn’t run as fast as the other. No one is really bothering with him. What do y’all think?

 

[DK newbie]

Your first post had me confused. The title says you have button quail and the first post says they are coturnix quail - an entirely different species. In the case of coturnix quail, the male should indeed not be left with mother and chicks. With buttons, you need to watch him as some males lack the instinct of how to deal with chicks, but from my experience most males will actually actively help raising the chicks and can easily be left with them.

I'll assume your quail are indeed buttons.

The one in the last picture really doesn't look like it's going to make it, but it baffles me - I've never had a button older than a week die on me (not counting the adult that was eaten by a cat), from probably around 20-30 natural hatches.
He looks like he is really sick - he doesn't look cold, and if he couldn't eat he wouldn't have survived this long.
I've never had a heat lamp on any of my natural hatches, the mothers (and in most cases, the fathers as well) have been perfectly able to keep the chicks warm with the surrounding temp being probably between 60 F (maybe as little as 50 F) and 72 F.

The chicks that have died on me, have done so because they didn't get to mom or dad before they got too cold. Since realizing this, obstacles in the cage have been banned from the time the chicks hatch till they are a couple of weeks old. Obstacles being things like straw - I might be too picky here, but they really are tiny when they hatch; I think straw is too rough as bedding - dust baths, hutches, food and water dishes with high edges, tunnels and so on. Since banning obstacles I've lost very few chicks.

I don't think I can help you save the chick that's sick now, but for the future I'd use a different bedding (fine wood chips, shavings, sand (not recommended for brooders the first few days as some chicks tend to think it's food, but it should be fine when mom is there to show them what to eat - I've used it with success), hemp bedding and so on), and as soon as the chicks hatch I'd remove all other 'obstacles' in the cage.
I'd also give the cage a good clean once the current chicks are out of there (they shouldn't be left with the parents for more than 6 weeks or so - if there are no roos among them you will probably be able to get away with it for several months, but I'd still sell/give away the chicks to prevent inbreeding). If whatever causes them to be sick is contagious, you don't want the next clutch to catch it as well.
I also wouldn't use a heat lamp next time, assuming mom is doing her job - I hadn't though of the heat creating drafts, but I guess it's plausible.

Good luck - don't give up!

 

[Murphy_the_Hooligan]

Hi Dk Newbie!
Thank you for your response. I’ve included a pic below of what I found on google for “types of button quail” the ones on the top, the brown female, labeled “button quail, Chinese paint quail, king quail, coturnix chinesis” is the type that I have. I thought that was just the type she was. I apologize for the mistake. The one below that is labeled “silver recessive ss” is the male I have. I thought maybe by identifying them in my forum it would help people be able to tell me what I’m doing wrong or what’s going on do they have specific names rather than just brown female gray male?

I have not lost the sick chick quite yet. He seems to be doing perfectly fine now. Although I will take your word that he is not out of the woods yet.

Thank you so much for your advice, I do have pine shaving bedding I used originally for the adults when I first got them, but they had hay in their original home and they really seemed to like the hay better when I put it in there. I will keep an eye on things and definitely keep you posted! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

[Murphy_the_Hooligan]

Here are what the mommy and daddy look like! Bonnie (the brown one) is the female and Clyde is the silver one.

 

[DK newbie]

Actually it's google that's mistaken and not you. At one point button quail were indeed called 'Coturnix chinensis'. They have however been renamed several years ago and are now referred to as 'Excalfactoria chinensis' - google just hasn't realized yet. The quail commonly referred to as 'Coturnix quail' are 'Coturnix japonica'.
Enough of the latin/biology lesson ^^

It's great if your little one is looking better! As mentioned, I've never lost one as old as him, but I've also never had one that old look even remotely sick.
If the younger ones look sick, they always die on me (though some people on here sometimes manage to get them to live, but it's a discipline I do not master).
I don't know if it goes for a chick this old, but the younger ones sometimes look totally fine for a full day after looking sick (usually after having been cold for too long) just to lie dead the day after that, so I'd still be very careful with this one. But maybe you are lucky and he just had a piece of food (or non-food) stuck in his system somewhere or something else that has fixed itself.

 

[Perry17]

Sorry about your babies. I love learning to care for new types of birds, but it's crazy how different they all are. I always have a big learning curve to get through when I try out new birds.

With my quail, I was loosing some chicks with a regular "game bird starter feed". I think it was dumor, for turkeys maybe? Not sure about protein. But I switched to a 24% (I think) "game bird showbird" feed and loved it. That's what I have started all my quail/turkey/Guinea/peafowl chicks on now, they do great on it. I haven't lost any since I started using that a few years ago. I also tried out adding ACV and sugar to their water, I thought it was crazy at first but I really can tell a difference. Every batch of chicks I have hatched the past 4 years, of every species I raise, and I have not lost one yet to illness.

Don't give up! It just takes a few tries to perfect it. I know it's sad losing babies, I have brought in and nursed plenty of chicks back to health when I mess something up. But I am sure it will be a lot easier next time when you know what to expect.

 

[Murphy_the_Hooligan]

Howdy everyone! Since I posted this forum a few days ago, I haven’t lost any more babies! I still have the two babies plus mommy and daddy. They all seem to be doing great!

From the bottom of my heart, I just can’t thank you all enough for your input and expertise. It means so much to me. God bless and I’ll continue to keep you all posted!

 

[NevilChick]

I just saw this thread. I raise button quail and have hatched an untold number of eggs. I use an incubator though because I honestly never trusted my breeders to hatch them. I am so happy to hear that your babies are doing well. In my opinion, buttons are the hardest quail to raise simply because of their size. One mistake with the water bowl and you can lose several at a time. I have actually killed a few by putting the heat lamp too close and have to watch them constantly to find the distance that is comfortable for them. Do not beat yourself up! When I sell mine, I refuse to just give them away because of how hard I have to work to get them old enough to sell. As mentioned above, they usually do fine after a few days if they don't escape! They are fast little birds with or without clipped wings. Aside from everything, buttons are my favorite quail to raise. I hope you will enjoy yours and continue to have good luck with them.

 

[TwoCrows]

Howdy everyone! Since I posted this forum a few days ago, I haven’t lost any more babies! I still have the two babies plus mommy and daddy. They all seem to be doing great!

From the bottom of my heart, I just can’t thank you all enough for your input and expertise. It means so much to me. God bless and I’ll continue to keep you all posted!

 

[Murphy_the_Hooligan]

Update:

My two little chicks are almost 3 weeks old now! They seem to be perfectly fine.

My hen has started laying eggs again! Yesterday there were 3 in the nest. This morning, there was an egg on the other side of the cage on the floor. I found it because my hen and rooster were standing over it, pecking at it. I shooed them away and picked it up with a towel, placing the egg in the nest with the others.

Is this normal? I have never seen her lay an egg outside of the nest and especially peck at it..