I recently sold 5 button quails to a pet shop, three, 4 day old babies and two, 3 wk old males. The owner didn't have any food for the quail so I went by a feed store and gave him some that was called "Game Bird Chow Startena" that came in a 50 lb. bag. I sent him an e-mail today asking how the babies were, and he e-mailed back and said all the babies had died! I am just sick! I am trying to figure out why they died - has anybody else tryed this brand of game bird food? Feedback please! Thanks Guys
Most likely died from no heat source baby quail have to have constant heat source till they feather out. And use Gamebird chick starter crumbles....
Quote:I know that ... This feed was already in crumbles, but since the button babies are so small you have to grind it up into corn meal size and I "Thought" I made this clear to the pet shop people!
It's probably pretty unlikely that it was the fault of the feed per se ... Startena is a Purina product and should be really high quality. Of course, there is always the possibility that something was wrong like it, such as moldy. Or, as pointed out above, maybe the owner of the pet shop didn't grind it and it was too big, although I find that hard to believe as well, since in most crumble feed there is always some "dust" in the feed that is very fine, at least there is in the brand I buy which is Armada (the only game in town in gamebird starter around here, I do buy Purina Layena for my hens). But, the more likely thing is that this person just didn't know how to take care of the birds properly -- heat, food, water, temperature, etc. Now, you would THINK the owner of a pet shop would know this, but .... And hey, who knows what really happened? Could be anything. Maybe he let little kids and other customers handle them because they are "just so cute" and they died from being roughed up. Or he put them in a draft or under the air conditioning vent. Or they picked up a bird virus they weren't immune to from the other caged birds in the pet store. Um, I mean no disrespect by this, so don't be offended, but if you sell any more, I would suggest that you keep them until they're about six weeks old, as they will be a little less fragile by that age. And, be sure you have some sort of a contract or at least bill of sale that says "as is" so you don't have to eat the loss for their mistakes.
Quote:He thought babies would sell better, but I also sold him two 3 wk old buttons .. I think they're okay. I made a "Care Sheet" that had everything he needed to know how to care for them on there ... and I also talked to him about it! There is no telling!
This may sound like a crazy person. I always look at the labels with purina brands because the bags all look the same and some labels say medicated whereas others don't...but anywho...you don't know what really happened with the chicks as Deninimmi said, but I do suspect a heat problem. When it gets cold, their bodies go into a funk and they can die within 20 minutes...especially if there was air condition.
I agree with everyone, probably not the feed. Purina is AMAZING, and I've never had a problem with any one of their products, from Rabbits to Quail. (And I've gone through some serious feed! )
Purina Gamebird Startrena Is All I Feed, And I Feed It To Hundreds Of Birds Daily, To The Tune Of About 450 Pounds A Week... As Most Other Have Pointed Out I Suspect Insufficient Heat. As Far As "you'd Think..... Pet Store...." As Much As I Hate To Say It The Absolute Worst Places I Have Found For These Types Of Animals To Get Advice From Is #1 Feed Stores, #2 Pet Shops, #3 Delusional Or Less Than Reputable Breeders Who Will Say Anything To Sell Animals, Or Actually Believe The Delusions They Are Spouting.
