My Chicks Keep Dying Please Help!!!

[theostofski]

I have a very strange and interesting problem that may be hard for y'all country folk to understand. I live in Manhattan new york in a small apartment and I decided to raise quails as pets!?!? I have provided them with a reasonable 6ft by 2ft Brooder. their water supply is always accessible though they don't seem to drink it, To solve this I drop fed them water every hour. Their food supplies are made up of A few live Crickets, Dried mealworms, and Wagner's wild bird feed (The mealworms and seed are ground together) they seemed to be happy until one by one they all died over a 2 week period. their water supplies had a few vitamins to keep them in shape and they never showed signs of being too cold or too hot I can't seem to find a reason for there death...

(Forgive misspells and grammar issue I'm Scottish English is my second language)

(I will respond to as many responses as possible)
(I speak Scottish Gaelic and recently learned English I know English is spoken in Scotland)


(This Is My second time posting this I really need help)

 

[getaclue]

How old are the quails, and how many are you putting into the brooder at once.

 

[RevlisRemmah]

What type of waterer do you have?

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

I'm not a quail raiser but how old are they? Why aren't you feeding them a starter mix for game birds? I don't believe bird seed is good for them at their age and do you have grit available since that's what your feeding them. Do you have a heat source for them?

 

[theostofski]

1. I had Five and they were all in there

2. I have a chick waterer the type suggested

3. ok the seed is bad is this the reason or may there be more to it?? (and yes I have a good temp w/ a heat lamp I'm also feeding them a parakeet mix suggested by a worker at Petco rasing button quails (there two weeks old and dead)

 

[getaclue]

First, I'd get them on a better feed, that is nutritionally balanced for their needs. Source it from a feed store, not a pet store. What bedding are you using? Beware of cedar shavings, or chips.

When you say "good" temps, do you have a thermometer almost at floor level to measure the temp? Do you know you must decrease the temp weekly? Is your heat source more towards one end, so they can self-regulate?

When you got them home, did you dip their beaks once in the waterer?

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

1. I had Five and they were all in there

2. I have a chick waterer the type suggested

3. ok the seed is bad is this the reason or may there be more to it?? (and yes I have a good temp w/ a heat lamp I'm also feeding them a parakeet mix suggested by a worker at Petco rasing button quails (there two weeks old and dead)

Baby quail need a high protein diet and seed is not a balanced diet for baby quail; so I would say yes that the seed can be the cause. I would certainly switch to a balanced starter feed with at least 30% protein.

Here is a thread that had some feeding tips for baby quail.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/finch-seed-for-baby-quail.599668/

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

Certainly dehydration is critical for baby quail so have you seen them drink from the water source at all or have they become dependent on you dropping it into their beaks?

 

[theostofski]

Ok So I understand for Getaluce

They can regulate we made sure of it the heat is in the middle though we have a small shady cave and a cooler side of the incubator the temp is 95 degrees and I'm using aspen chips I'm aware of putting the heat lamp higher to decrease the temp and yes I dipped their beaks in the water.

MrFluffy Thank you for helping solve my problem I will try to pick up some better feed I'm ay post again on this thread in a few months if all goes well if you find anything you want to ask about in the original post just ask!!

 

[theostofski]

They Occasionally drink from the waterer but are most dependent on the drops when I tried to make them drop free they never drank from the waterer and look very dehydrated