Day Old Coturnix not drinking

[protodon]

Okay this post may be a bit premature as most of my chicks aren't even 24 hours old yet but most of my chicks aren't drinking. I dipped all their little beaks in the water when I put them in the brooder. A few of them are very mobile running to the food then water then food then water but the other ones just seem to mill around. I have a lot eating but only a few drinking. One went a little overboard and drowned

I'm just a little worried that I am going to come home to 30 dehydrated chicks!

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Again, I'm new but seems like I read somewhere on this site that they don't require anything for 2-3 days.

I would leave it up to them to go eat and drink as needed.

Best of luck to you

 

[BaronRenfrew]

If one is drinking, the others will learn by example, that's what my coturnix did.

Drowning is a problem though, they fall in and slip and can't get out. Put some clean rocks or marbles in the bowl or waterer. You can buy quail chick waterers that screw into a mason jar. I'd highly recommend that as they can't poop in it. Order some some next time you order something from somewhere (i.e. McMurray, Stromberg's). If you use a standard waterer clean it often, or they will drink their own poop.

 

[Teach97]

They are okay...sounds perfectly normal...if they aren't drinking in a couple days then you can worry but under 24 hrs old...they are still trying to figure out where the walls went!

 

[protodon]

Thanks for the reassurance everyone. And the funny thing about the waterer is that it is a quail chick waterer. It has a very tiny "rim" or whatever you call it to drink from but one still managed to drown themselves in it. Survival of the fittest I guess. It will just make my new flock stronger!

 

[Teach97]

I am convinced that quail get into a competition with each other...hey man I bet you can't hold your breath under water for 5 mins...yeah I can...no you can't...yeah I can watch this...kinda like drunk rednecks!

I had them drown with the shallow waterer and marbles go figure!! To bad that survival of the fittest thing doesn't happen with humans

 

[BaronRenfrew]

LMAO Survival of the fittest does happen with humans... that's how you got here. Don't think your ancestors lived through a few wars and disease outbreaks? To take it further... www.darwinawards.com People that helped improve the human gene pool by removing themselve from it in a ridiculous way.

 

[Teach97]

I will give you the past experiences

but have you read the warning labels on stuff lately?

Yeah we loose a few and award them the Darwin award but for the vast mmajority of idiots we just let them run around procreating and warning them about stuff that should do them in...don't believe me...watch reality TV!!!

I would also make the argument that part of my getting here is probably not the fittest!

 

[Akane]

Try keeping track of 100 of the buggers. I've drowned 2.

Finally getting them on to water bottles. There's no way I can keep track of who is and isn't drinking so I've just been taking the most lethargic ones today (they hatched tuesday and wednesday) and dipping their beaks in sugar water then putting them back.

 

[Teach97]

I will have a couple hundred in the next week or so!

I don't even attempt it...most will make it