Gambel chicks

[Jynx]

Hello all,

Long story short, a couple weeks ago I rescued some abandoned gambel quail eggs. (I did contact a couple of quail rehabilitators to make sure they were actually abandoned first.)
2 of the eggs hatched and I did also initially give them to a rehabber, who ended up saying they're so imprinted I could keep them if I wanted to and gave them back to me.

I have them on the higher protein game bird food with some dried mealworms. They do seem to be getting some poop stuck to their butts though on occasion, and I was wondering if adding small amounts of fresh produce would help? While keeping protein high of course.

I would also like to provide them with more enrichment. Any tips on that would be appreciated. I am going to get some branches from outside and bake or steam clean them, but I don't know what else they may appreciate.

Any way to determine gender now? I know the difference between male and female once they are adult but I wanted to name them and that's harder to do without knowing.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Nabiki]

Since they are so young, I would feed them ONLY the game bird starter for now. Two weeks old is also too young to be telling their gender.

 

[007Sean]

Pasty butt is usually caused by too high of a temperature in the broader. Two weeks is way too young to be able to tell sex, roughly 8 to 10 weeks before you'll be able to tell sex.

 

[Jynx]

Pasty butt is usually caused by too high of a temperature in the broader. Two weeks is way too young to be able to tell sex, roughly 8 to 10 weeks before you'll be able to tell sex.

Thank you. I think the rehabilitator had them a little too warm. (I had turned them over to one, but ended up taking them back home.)
We saw the pasty butt the day after we brought them home, but it hasn't been an issue since.