my quail are dying suddenly

[flick]

anyone know how a quail would have a heart attack? what would it take? i dont understand why all my quail are suddenly dying. this is the 5th batch of quail.

 

[Stellar]

Something may be startling the quail at night. They are 3 months old so old enough to be outdoors. I would put some tarps up. You can send bodies to get a necropsy by a vet if you are worried by disease.

 

[flick]

thank you soo much..do you know what would startle them, like, other than another animal, would humans do anything to make them have a heart attack? like loud noise, kids, or humans consistanly walking by cages, them being held?

 

[flick]

this is my 4th or 5th batch of birds..all died...tried everything. what would make them lung or heart bleed..nothing wrong with their bellies

 

[Tony K T]

You sure their necks aren't broken?They can and will smash their heads into the top of the cage if startled,and will break their necks.I don't see how you can say a heart attack unless you opened them up and know what the heart is supposed to look like inside.What are you feeding them?What is the temperature in their cage?Is there water to close to the heat and their drinking hot water?Your not telling us much of anything,your just trying to guess what is wrong.Give us specifics!
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[flick]

ok, thanks for trying to help.i will try to start from the beginning, bought a batch of quail and they seemed to be doing well. they starting dying after about 3wks, thought it was the heat. they got fresh cool water constantly. their one leg was up and then they died. the next batch lasted about a week, no signs of injury or wounds. this time we bought a batch of japaneze quail, after 5 days, we found a cat under the cage and one or two birds injured. those 2 birds died, then a few more that didnt have wounds. so we made our cages full proof, nothing could get in. this was friday, yesterday 3 more died. even while we were out there with them. fine one minute then not the next.this morning 3 more dead. it rained last night, temps here are in the 80's during the day, 60's during the night, they have plenty of shade during the day.

we have already, at the beginning, thought it was the food. threw all out and bought new with new container for storing. also used the medicine for water. then when the second batch started to die, we thought it was the water and bought bottled water. they still died too.
today, we have one japaneze quail left from the one cage, and 3 left in another. cleaned all the bedding out and put new, not too much. using straw and salt hay. gave them some boiled egg and sand in the cages.
we did open one of the dead birds up. my neighbor is very good with this. there was some clotted blood internally, intestines and stomach looked fine, but the blood looked like it was from the lungs or heat. he couldnt understand either. he didnt think there was enough clotted blood to say it would have killed this bird but obviously it did. his heart??
please help with any knowledge or ideas...we are very sad and frustrated.

 

[Tony K T]

Yeah,you've already told us that.You've ignored most of the ?'s asked,so how do you expect us to help?
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[Stellar]

I am thinking the birds are getting attacked somehow, breaking their necks...maybe your next batch should be indoors. That may solve the problem. If everything is fine internally and they just died, something environmentally caused this and you must change something if you want to make this work out for you.

 

[flick]

thank you for responding so nicely.. i agree, did everything else possible today, changed cage's bedding today and kept a good eye on them. tarped them just before coming inside..we did see a cat lurking in the neighbor's yard. shame i cant keep my dog loose all night. they have all the signs of stress and hopefully it will be a good night. wish us luck! ill let you know and thanks again for being so understanding.

 

[flick]

they are presently getting fed chick feed, gave them some boiled egg today. water temp is good and clean. put trays of sand in today. should i be giving them greens for protein? the 3 white texas a&m quail have eggs. maybe not enough protein in feed? going tomorrow for the Game Bird Starter.