HELP sick? baby quail

[Belovedturkey]

Two days ago my father bought twenty quail, he said two died on the ride home and two died the next day. I didn’t think anything of it because baby chicks do die, but today I went to check on them and I saw one, I thought it was dead but his wings were jerking. I’ve picked him up and it gave him some electrolyte and vitamin water. Right now he’s in a small empty flower pot under a heat lamp in my room because I didn’t want him to be trampled. Anyways I’m making this thread because I was wondering we should be worried, is five chicks dying a sign of illness, or something being wrong with their setup. The chick in question is struggling to hold his head up and can’t stand at all and everyone and then he jerks his wings or his head starts wobbling side to side pretty violently. I took pictures of him and the set up the quail are in. Sorry if there are a lot of pictures, I wasn’t sure which ones were necessary

 

[Belovedturkey]

Update: he pooped and seems slightly more active as in he’s moving more his breathing is more noticeable and he chirped a couple times

 

[Belovedturkey]

The little guy passed, I’m a little worried is this just a weak guy or should we be worried about all of them

 

[catesquire]

Basics check:

What are you feeding them, and is it ground up super fine for the first few days?

How are they acting--especially, are there signs they're too hot (avoiding heat source) or too cold (huddling under heat, cheeping loudly a lot)?

It's also possible they picked up something whenever they were hatched, but I know very little of quail diseases.

Best cast scenario is probably that they got too chilled on the car ride home and some never quite recovered.

Fingers crossed for the rest of the little peepers to grow up strong.

 

[Belovedturkey]

Basics check:

What are you feeding them, and is it ground up super fine for the first few days?

How are they acting--especially, are there signs they're too hot (avoiding heat source) or too cold (huddling under heat, cheeping loudly a lot)?

It's also possible they picked up something whenever they were hatched, but I know very little of quail diseases.

Best cast scenario is probably that they got too chilled on the car ride home and some never quite recovered.

Fingers crossed for the rest of the little peepers to grow up strong.

He’s feeding them a flock starter, it is ground fine, the rest are acting normal, they’re eating and drinking and they don’t seem to be avoiding the brooder they huddle near its edge most of the time.

 

[CliftonQuail]

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.

 

[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’ll let him know about the food, and see if we can get a thermometer. I also thought it was concerning

 

[Nabiki]

Looking at your setup, I am suspecting that they may not be warm enough. What is the temperature at quail level in the brooder?

These chicks look like they're 3-5 days old, and still need to be in the 90s for heat. The do need a warm end and a cool end of the brooder.

 

[Belovedturkey]

Looking at your setup, I am suspecting that they may not be warm enough. What is the temperature at quail level in the brooder?

These chicks look like they're 3-5 days old, and still need to be in the 90s for heat. The do need a warm end and a cool end of the brooder.

Would you make a warm and cold end by sloping it?

 

[Nabiki]

Would you make a warm and cold end by sloping it?

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.