chick in distress

[Heather Christensen]

I have 4 day old baby quail. I've just noticed one looking like it's not doing well. It's breathing fast, seeking the warmest spot under the heat lamp or electric hen, and sleeping there. I don't know what's wrong with it. Is there anything I can do for it? I lost one chick yesterday and it happened pretty fast - all seemed fine and 2-3 hrs later I found one dead under the electric hen. Don't want to loose more!

 

[Care for chicks]

Try to make that chick have plenty of warmth.

 

[N F C]

I've never raised quail before but if you haven't already, check with the members over on the Quail forum to see what they recommend:
Quail

You could also try posting on the ER forum:
Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures

I'll tag one of the most knowledgeable/helpful members I know of: @TwoCrows and hopefully she can help you out.

Best of luck to you, sorry for your loss

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I am sorry about your tiny baby! What breed are they? Did you hatch these yourself? What is the temp under the heat lamp or electric hen? What is the set up inside your brooder? Did you dip beaks in the water at hatch? Did you grind the food down to near powder? Does your brooder have solid sides, open top? What material are you using as bedding? (Sand can kill babies if they eat it)

Sorry about all the questions, but quail are very delicate at hatch and can be hard to keep alive if you don't pay attention to every detail. They chill easily and should be started at around 95 degrees. Food must be crushed or they can't eat. Show them where the water and food is, tap at the food you have sprinked on the floor of the brooder around the feeder, as if you are eating it. No open sides on the brooder, the drafts coming in will kill them. Make sure they have enough space in that there is no competition for sustenance, along with cool spots in the brooder to cool off. Also, if you hatched these yourself using a pre used incubator, the machine needs to be thoroughly fumigated before a new hatch, or diseases are incubated as well, killing the babies the first week.

Give us a bit more detail on your set up and maybe we can get down to the bottom of this!

I hope this little one will be ok!

 

[N F C]

@TwoCrows thanks for coming to assist!

@Heather Christensen sorry for referring you to the quail forum when you were already here. I was welcoming new members and thought I was still in that forum

Best wishes!

 

[TwoCrows]

@TwoCrows thanks for coming to assist!

@Heather Christensen sorry for referring you to the quail forum when you were already here. I was welcoming new members and thought I was still in that forum

Best wishes!

I moved this thread over to the quail section.

 

[N F C]

I moved this thread over to the quail section.

You mean I was confused about being confused?

Too funny TC!

 

[TwoCrows]

You mean I was confused about being confused?

Too funny TC!

This is me daily, why not join me in the confusion fun!

 

[Heather Christensen]

I moved this thread over to the quail section.

Thanks for moving this to the quail section. I wasn't sure whether to put all quail related posts in the quail section, or if it was better to put in another section if it related to it's topic. Sorry I didn't see this was moved over and all the replies til just now.

 

[Heather Christensen]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I am sorry about your tiny baby! What breed are they? Did you hatch these yourself? What is the temp under the heat lamp or electric hen? What is the set up inside your brooder? Did you dip beaks in the water at hatch? Did you grind the food down to near powder? Does your brooder have solid sides, open top? What material are you using as bedding? (Sand can kill babies if they eat it)

Sorry about all the questions, but quail are very delicate at hatch and can be hard to keep alive if you don't pay attention to every detail. They chill easily and should be started at around 95 degrees. Food must be crushed or they can't eat. Show them where the water and food is, tap at the food you have sprinked on the floor of the brooder around the feeder, as if you are eating it. No open sides on the brooder, the drafts coming in will kill them. Make sure they have enough space in that there is no competition for sustenance, along with cool spots in the brooder to cool off. Also, if you hatched these yourself using a pre used incubator, the machine needs to be thoroughly fumigated before a new hatch, or diseases are incubated as well, killing the babies the first week.

Give us a bit more detail on your set up and maybe we can get down to the bottom of this!

I hope this little one will be ok!

Thank you for your reply! The quail in question died later that night. My remaining 4 quail are doing well. They are 7 days old now, getting pin feathers coming in all over. I'm still a little nervous about making sure they are healthy though after those 2 dying so suddenly on me last week.

To answer a few questions: They are Japanese quail. I incubated the eggs myself, in a brand new Brinsea, a basic one - I hand to turn them by hand. My brooder set up I now realise isn't ideal - it is a rabbit cage, solid floor and solid sides about 6 inches up and the rest is bars. I started with just an electric hen - it wasn't keeping them warm enough and a lot of them got cold the first night in the brooder - I found them limp or stumbing around weakly in the morning, it was awful. I popped them back in the inubator for an hour and they recovered. I got a heat lamp after that, it's just a 60 watt bulb but I've been able to keep it at the recomended temp. 95 degrees the 1st week, and down to 86 degrees this week. I still have the electric hen in there as they seem to like it, and they use both it and the heat lamp The heat lamp is pointed at one corner so they can get to a cooler part of the brooder when they want. The brooder is in a spare room with a heater on a thermostat - keeping it at 77 degrees night and day.

If I had it to do over, I'd use a more purpose-build brooder with solid sides, and I'd start off witht he heat lamp. Now that they're 1 week old though they seem quite happy in there. I'm in the process of putting up some wire mesh with smaller (1cm) gaps, as the bars ont he cage are wide - now that they are jumping/ flapping about, I'm worried one's going to get enough height for that to be an issue!

Bedding was paper towels layered over a non-slip mat for the first week. I've switched to dust-free pine shavings this week- still with the non slop mat underneath. I'm using food specifically formulated for newly hatched quail chicks - its ground up pretty fine. They are all eating and drinking well. I am havng an issue keeping their water clean and would like to change my water set-up. I've got one of those self-filling water dispensers but they poop in it regularly and I worry about diseases. I also have a water bottle - the kind you hang on the side of the cage for rats and the like? I read quail will use them, but I have only seen one quail use it once so far. Maybe they're young still? Maybe I have it at the wrong height?