Pheasant chicks dropping like flies!! Help!!

[loulou4243]

Sorry for all the losses. This is kinda making me nervous as I have 36 pheasant eggs due to hatch in a few days.

when you get them. be sure there are no shavings, they will eat it and imediately die! their tepature needs to be perfect. they cannot be around any other chickens, because of the other chickens poo and pee!
GOOD LUCK!

 

[ranit]

I use pine shavings for both quail & pheasants and have never had a problem either. I actually have better luck using a plastic tote with shavings the first week before moving them into a wire floor brooder. I assume because there is no draft possible in the tote.

 

[Tony K T]

It could be 1 of 3 things that I can think of.
1.Their getting a draft.
2,Temp in brooder is wrong.
3.Heat source is too close to their water and their water is way too hot.
I realize this is an old post and I hope you have things figured out,but if not please tell us how old are these birds,the brooder temp,what are you feeding them,where is their water supply,how far from heat source,is there air flow in their brooder,and are they in a drafty place?I don't believe that the shavings are the reason.

 

[pheasantfrenzie]

Hello,
I just read your post about your chicks so sorry to hear that. There may be a couple of things. How far away are your chicks to the heat lamp. Do they pile on top of each other? Is there food to big for them to swallow?You also said it was hot there right. You should have a thermoter in the pen to know what your heat is at all times then you would know if they are getting over heated or not hot enough. If you don't have it so they can't escape from the heat they will overheat even if you have water out. There electrolytes get to low if it's hot You can also go to your feed store and get Electrolyte it is a powder this will help them from getting dehydrated you can help them by putting some in a syringe and place a couple of drops in their mouths.
Also if there is any draft that will also affect them.
Hope that helps you

 

[sholmz]

I have the same problem with my Butler Quail. I bought 77 day old babies Monday and on Wednesday 21 died and today 3 more died. They will be fine and healthy looking and five minutes later just drop dead. The are on paper towels in a plastic brooder.

 

[Tony K T]

I have the same problem with my Butler Quail. I bought 77 day old babies Monday and on Wednesday 21 died and today 3 more died. They will be fine and healthy looking and five minutes later just drop dead. The are on paper towels in a plastic brooder.

Try giving them sulmet in their water supply.Also once a week they should be getting vitamins and electrolytes.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[mallard14]

Using shavings is a NO NO NO i did it and the same thing was happening because they don't know what to eat so they eat some of the shavings and they get stuck in their digestive system then they die because their feed can go straight to their stomach!!! And they grow slower if they have that in their mouth so I recommend using HAY!!

 

[hunter109]

Same here I just got my pheasent and got older hey off the barn floor will that hurt them

 

[mallard14]

I dont think it will hurt them!!

 

[kartking22]

Wish that I had seen your thread sooner to help you with your loss. Your problem is with your pine shavings. I made the mistake myself in the past. Your chicks will peck at mostly anything that looks like food. They don't have a hen to show them what is food and what is not. Anything that you put with your chicks is food to them. Anything that is NOT digestable if they eat it, will plug up thier guts. And die. Bare coop doesn't work because they eat thier poop and die. My best method for this is to put your waterer and feeder on a screen so thier poop falls through. Your chicks mostly poop either when drinking or eating. This takes away thier ability to eat thier poo. The pine chip bedding has always been the reason for people that come back to me asking Why are my chicks dying? My solution was to use long wheat or oat straw. This still allows your chicks to poo even not at the feeders or waterers and fall through to not be able to eat it. Also too big to eat.