HELP sick? baby quail

[Belovedturkey]

I use a heat lamp. While I know there are people who have good luck with the heat plates, I don't particularly like them because you can't see the chicks. You may want to make sure that the heat plate is low enough for quail chicks. Edit: I would put a thermometer under the heat plate to see just what the temp is at ground level.

What I meant by warm and cool end would be a heat lamp at one end where the temp is in the mid 90s, and the far end of the brooder would be about room temperature.

The plate has a heater setting and a brooder setting, it’s on the brooder setting right now which is 40W, but I’m not sure what that makes the tempature until I finder a thermometer. I can make it lower if I need to. The chicks broader is in a garage and it’s high 80s most of the day, if that means anything relevant. I just found out that my father put the heater in there upside down so it’s very likely they have been to cold, and I have put it in correctly

 

[Belovedturkey]

Flock starter probably doesn't have enough protein for quail chicks. They need a game bird starter with at least 26% protein. That's probably not the primary issue, but low protein will lead to future issues. If you have a thermometer, I'd check the temperature under the heat plate, it should be around 95 F for the first week then reduced by 5 degrees every week after that. I actually prefer to use a ceramic reptile heater instead of brooder plates or heat lamps since it can be raised as necessary to modify the temp. It looks like your waterer is good since you added pebbles to keep them from drowning.
I agree that they may haven't gotten chilled on the drive home, but having 25% pass that quickly is definitely concerning.

I checked the bag, it says it is for quail, but it’s only 20% protein

 

[Nabiki]

I checked the bag, it says it is for quail, but it’s only 20% protein

It sounds like another feed that says it's for quail, but made by someone who has no idea what quail need. I've seen some that is almost all seeds and only 7% protein.

It sounds like you're new to quail, so you may want to browse through some of the articles here.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/quail.32/

 

[catesquire]

Good thing you sorted out the heating plate direction! That was hopefully your problem.

As someone who uses a heating plate exclusively, if your plate is working properly, you don't need a warm and cool end of the brooder like people with heat lamps do.

Signs of happy, warm chicks: they should be almost completely quiet when under the plate--a lot of chirping can be a sign they're cold. They should be able to squeeze under and lay down with their feathers touching the plate--if they need to stand to touch it, it's too high. You can slope it for different size chicks by setting two legs a little lower and two a little higher, which also lets them pick a warmer/cooler spot if they need it. Since they grow crazy fast, you'll need to adjust it daily--I've had to adjust mine twice today! The exact temp under it doesn't matter as much as their behavior--if they're happily sleeping, they're fine (I've never used a thermometer to check mine). Heat plates work by being warm to press up against like a mama hen, not by radiating heat like a bulb. Mine doesn't even have a temperature setting on it--I just raise it based on their size, and as they feather in they naturally use it less and less until I can remove it completely, usually around 2-4 weeks (likely sooner for you, if that 80s weather keeps up).

Wishing the rest of your birds the best!