Quail chicks dying????

[shahchicks4299]

Hi, we have had 28 chicks hatching and all healthy for 2 days. On the third day 15 died and many more. The symptoms are that they stop moving, act lethargic, it also looks like their neck is broken and goes all floppy. After that they close their eyes and curl up. They stop eating, drinking and even had to force feeding natural yoghurt with chick powder. They won't swallow and basically give upon life. They then start gasping and shaking and die in my hands...it's so upsetting for them to die even though we have tried everything. We gave theo extra heat, electrolytes in their water even giving them molasses. Is it a disease? Could it be genetic? The mother quails also live with their brother and have seen him mating but we know separated him to a different coop. Could it be bacteria? Could someone please tell me?!?! We only have 11 healthy, active ones left.

 

[shahchicks4299]

Please can anyone tell me?!?!

 

[Ravynscroft]

I don't know much about quail except that they are much more fragile than chicks... is the brooder warm enough? What's the temp? What are you feeding them? Is it small enough for them to actually eat?

So sorry for your losses, hope this gets resolved soon...

 

[mustang56]

Are they getting enough oxygen....?
Does their brooder area have a heated and cooler area, where they can
go if they get to hot....?
We crush the feed for the babies.....don't know if that has anything to do with it..
but find that the feed though its small.... seems to us we need to make it finer, like almost dust.
Do you know for sure that they are eating and drinking....?

 

[DK newbie]

I'm curious about the feed as well, assuming the temp is okay and they have clean water they can't get wet in. Quail chicks need about 25 % protein.

 

[pkhunter]

Give us more info on your brooder set up. How are you heating it, can they get away from the heat if need to? Should have plenty of water, feed should be ground up for the first week. I feed mine 28% game bird. Sorry for your loss I always expect to have a few die but that is way to many. Any way give us more info on your set up and maybe one of us on here can help you.

 

[shahchicks4299]

The crumbs are definitely ground up, the heater is a brinsea brooder and it says it is 18 watts? The food is from our poultry store who told us this would be the best type for chicks. Not sure about protein but they also eat Dried mealworms every so often

 

[shahchicks4299]

We always ground up the food until near powder, give them some yoghurt and also feed them dried mealworms every so often. They are in cardboard boxes and it is also automatically heated. It is the brinsea brooder and is heated to 18 watts, according to the box.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Check what is in the feed and percentages... even though they say it's best, it might not be... our feed store always recommends regular chick starter for ducklings as best and it is very much not... j/s...

 

[DK newbie]

Yeah, not knowing what you feed them is definitely a problem. But so is not knowing the temp of your brooder. And I assume the brooder has the same temp all over? So if it's too hot or too cold, the chicks can't escape to a different area? That makes not knowing the temp an even bigger problem.