cold chicks!

[Heather Christensen]

First time quail hatcher/ keeper here. 6 of my 12 eggs hatched yesterday and the day before. As all hatched chicks had dried by last night and no new pips in the hatched eggs, I took the 6 out. My set up is in an indoor rabbit pen with an electric hen. Even at the lowest setting, the electric hen was way too high off the ground for quail chicks. I put some folded over hand towels under it so they could get up closer to the heat plate, and figured it was enough. THey were all huddled up under the heater last night when I checked before bed, but I know hey do that a lot when they are just new? When I had first removed them from the incubator though they were a lot more active, running around pecking everything, eating the quail mash, drinking water, etc.

But I wake up this morning to what at first I thought were dead chicks everywhere - 4 of my chicks were laid out, feet-out all over the pen, NOT in the electric hen! I stuck them back in the incubator quick, and raised the level of hand towels under the electric hen so that the remaining 2 chicks could get warmer. All the ones I put back in the incubator have perked up a lot in just 45 minutes. (Except for one who was having problems from the start, and I think just might not make it). But how long do I leave them in there? Two of them are a day and a half old at this point. Do I put some food and water in for them? Is there anything else I can do for them?

The two I kept in the rabbit pen and raised up higher to the eletric hen have perked up too and are now wander round the pen. I think I'll take the electric hen off it's legs and prop it up on blocks so its just lower to the ground. And maybe stick a divider made of cardboard in the rabbit pen so they can't wander so far until they're a bit older and more capable.

All advice, suggestions aprpeciated.
The electric hen/ chick brooder is an eco glow 20, if anyone wants to know.

 

[007Sean]

Heather, do you have a thermometer under the electric hen? Temp should be 96 -97deg
How big is the brooder your keeping them in?

 

[Heather Christensen]

Heather, do you have a thermometer under the electric hen? Temp should be 96 -97deg
How big is the brooder your keeping them in?

Thanks for your reply. I don't have a thermometer under the electric hen - just one in the brooder, I'll pop it under there and check! The brooder pen is really too big for them - maybe 1.2 meters by 0.5 meters?

I popped the leggs off one side of the electric hen, and propped it up on a block only about 1 cm off the ground - that way its sloped and there's a good ammount of space at the right height. I didnt' take the other legs of because l was afraid if the whole thing was up on blocks they might knock it off and end up squashed under it! I've divided the pen with cardboard and they now have access to about 1/3rd of it. And after an hour all chicks except the sickly one were looking perky and jumping all over each other so I put them back in the pen. The poorly one is still in the incubator.

 

[Heather Christensen]

Heather, do you have a thermometer under the electric hen? Temp should be 96 -97deg
How big is the brooder your keeping them in?

Okay, thermometer says its 94 degrees on the end closest to the ground, more like 91 degrees in the middle. I've also turned the temperature up some in the room - they're in a spare bedroom. Temperature of the room is now about 78 degrees.

 

[007Sean]

Ok, well just keep an eye on them. Try to get your temp set. I use heat lamps, never have had an electric hen....so, maybe someone else will chime in and give you some advice on using a electric hen.

 

[007Sean]

Okay, thermometer says its 94 degrees on the end closest to the ground, more like 91 degrees in the middle. I've also turned the temperature up some in the room - they're in a spare bedroom. Temperature of the room is now about 78 degrees.

Make sure there is not a draft on them/brooder. Try to get the temp up to 96-97

 

[DK newbie]

I've read about others having issues with electric hens and quail chicks before - they just don't get warm enough. Either add a heat lamp or try to increase the temp by insulating the cage more - maybe wrapping it in towels or something, leaving just one side open for ventilation.

 

[JaeG]

I too have read of people having issues using electric hens and heating pad caves with quail chicks. The quail chicks just don't seem to recognise it as the place to go to get warm. Yet heat lamps seem to work perfectly perhaps because there's a bit more of a spread of warmth to draw them to the right place? Quail chicks that get cold often cannot make it back to where they can warm up if the space is too big so I'm glad you've reduced the size of the brooder. Hopefully you can get that temperature up a bit more for them too.

 

[Heather Christensen]

I too have read of people having issues using electric hens and heating pad caves with quail chicks. The quail chicks just don't seem to recognise it as the place to go to get warm. Yet heat lamps seem to work perfectly perhaps because there's a bit more of a spread of warmth to draw them to the right place? Quail chicks that get cold often cannot make it back to where they can warm up if the space is too big so I'm glad you've reduced the size of the brooder. Hopefully you can get that temperature up a bit more for them too.

Thank you JaeG and also DK newbie. I hadn't heard that about electric hens, if I had I may have gone with a heat lamp! There's no heat adjustments on the electric hen, but taking two legs off so they can cuddle up to it seems to be helping. They are sleeping under it, and popping out a few at a time to eat/drink/peck everything, which I'm taking as a sing they are happier with it. ALso I've put the radiator heater that is in the room up near the end of the cage that has the electric hen, and turned it up to 27 degrees C (it is on a thermostat switch). Thus that whole side of the cage is now warmer.

 

[dpenning]

I’ve tried a mama heating pad twice with quail and they just don’t seem to get it. Even tucking them in at night you still wake up with little cold bodies looking like road kill. Fortunately they are tough little buggers and it was summer when I had it happen so they all survived when I put the heat lamp on them. Now I only use the MHP for chickens and a red lamp for the quail.

Thank you JaeG and also DK newbie. I hadn't heard that about electric hens, if I had I may have gone with a heat lamp! There's no heat adjustments on the electric hen, but taking two legs off so they can cuddle up to it seems to be helping. They are sleeping under it, and popping out a few at a time to eat/drink/peck everything, which I'm taking as a sing they are happier with it. ALso I've put the radiator heater that is in the room up near the end of the cage that has the electric hen, and turned it up to 27 degrees C (it is on a thermostat switch). Thus that whole side of the cage is now warmer.

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