Quail chicks dying

[0101]

Hi, I had 6 baby quail but there is only 4 left now. The first one that dies was 2 days opd he ate and drank and was running around and then just suddenly died. The second one was 3 days old and died tonight, he could walk and run but was sleeping a lot and did not eat much. Why are they dying? Any advice that I can follow to keep them alive would be appreciated, because the first chick that died looked 100% healthy.

 

[ColtHandorf]

More information is needed to make any sort of guess:

- What species quail?
- How is the brooder set up?
- Temperature?
- Food?
- Anything else that could be important...

 

[0101]

It is corurnix quail
It is a bird cage that I cleaned well and the sides are covered with box so that there is no wimd going through to chill them. I use a red heatlamp and they can move to hot or cold spaces when they want, Most of the time they are evenly spread or sleeps next to each other. The floor is covered in papeR towel material and the floor of the incubator is placed in the brooder for the quail that had more problem standing.
There is different temperatures in different places in the incubator.
For the food they eat chicken starter and spinach for protein. I also gave them hard boiled egg.

 

[0101]

Another one died tonight, they are all struggling to walk and they are about 5-7 days old, can it be the chick starter or the spinach that is not enough protein.

 

[ColtHandorf]

First of all stop feeding spinach. It has calcium blockers in it that make growing bones and laying eggs very difficult for reptiles or birds. They should be on gamebird starter, not chick starter. Gamebird starter will not be medicated. You may also need to blitz the crumble in a food processor to make it small enough to eat. Sprinkle the food on a paper towel as chicks are hardwired to pick at things that stand out. Once they are eating well, you can feed in a dish. Are they actually drinking? Often quail have to be shown water. @007Sean do you have any suggestions? Or @Kiki?

 

[Kiki]

Can you get a picture of the exact feed you are feeding them?
A picture of your brooder too?
Do you have a thermometer in your brooder?

 

[Kiki]

A picture of the bag of feed.

 

[0101]

Can I give them sunflower seeds for protein. Here is a foto of the brooder, chicks and food. I removed the spinach. They are eating and drinking but they flop around. The youngest one, about 3 days can walk and run around.

 

[0101]

I will buy the gamebird starter tomorrow.
They love to sleep under the feather duster, I did shake it off and it was clean. Should I take it out?

 

[ColtHandorf]

I can't find any nutritional analysis on that food. It's so big/coarse I thought it was corncob bedding at first. They are undoubtedly starving because they can't eat it. It looks to be all grain and they won't be able to digest it properly if they are eating it.