Quail chicks! Help its an emergency!

[janit]

YES all of them were streched right out on their sides mouth closed eyes closed. No sign of trauma or illness. I feel bad if it was overheating but also relieved if that was the answer! I am hoping the remaining trio makes it through the night.

 

[janit]

Well Holy Hannah! I have three living chicks this morning! I was a little worried about the little yellow one before bed.... s/he seemed to have neurological problems late last night when I looked. It got onto its back and couldn't get back up, the last brown one started pecking at its feet so I righted the downed chick. It seemed it couldn't walk right and ended up on its back again, so I picked him up again and plopped him under the heat plate. It seems totally fine this morning, running around eating, drinking and pooping. So, is it possible it was just tired? No idea, I am just happy it seems to be alive! I thought for sure it would be tits up this morning.

 

[Nabiki]

Well Holy Hannah! I have three living chicks this morning! I was a little worried about the little yellow one before bed.... s/he seemed to have neurological problems late last night when I looked. It got onto its back and couldn't get back up, the last brown one started pecking at its feet so I righted the downed chick. It seemed it couldn't walk right and ended up on its back again, so I picked him up again and plopped him under the heat plate. It seems totally fine this morning, running around eating, drinking and pooping. So, is it possible it was just tired? No idea, I am just happy it seems to be alive! I thought for sure it would be tits up this morning.

I might have wandered too far from the heat and gotten cold. Like I said, they are really good at finding Dumb Ways to Die.

I will often take my large brooder and put a divider in for the first three days to make sure none wander too far from heat and die in the far corner.

 

[janit]

Ahhh maybe... though they are in an amazon box because i thought exactly that, the water tub i use for 50 chicken chicks was way too big. As it is the heat plate takes up half the box. As he is a little guy last night i took the top of an old jewelry box and put it under the plate so he could get on that to be closer to the heat and he seems fine today.

 

[CliftonQuail]

Ahhh maybe... though they are in an amazon box because i thought exactly that, the water tub i use for 50 chicken chicks was way too big. As it is the heat plate takes up half the box. As he is a little guy last night i took the top of an old jewelry box and put it under the plate so he could get on that to be closer to the heat and he seems fine today.

I agree with @Nabiki that your problem was likely too much heat. However, about the feed, is it pellet or crumbles? If crumbles, I wouldn't bother grinding it any smaller. I feed 28% protein game bird starter crumbles and have never had a problem. Even the smallest bird can find pieces that will fit in its beak.

 

[janit]

Its extruded crumbles, I am really not happy with it but it was all I could get. I am grinding it because although small its uniform in size. They are 5 days old now and about double in size, so I ground it less today. They are certainly eating and thus pooping twice a much the last few days. I think i am going to have to transfer them to the rabbit cage (with roof) next week or they are going to be big enough to hop out of the cardboard box!

 

[Nabiki]

Its extruded crumbles, I am really not happy with it but it was all I could get. I am grinding it because although small its uniform in size. They are 5 days old now and about double in size, so I ground it less today. They are certainly eating and thus pooping twice a much the last few days. I think i am going to have to transfer them to the rabbit cage (with roof) next week or they are going to be big enough to hop out of the cardboard box!

Five days old, they should already be getting wing feathers. They're going to be flying soon.

 

[janit]

Sweet murphy you are right! Not feathers quite yet, but I see the pin coatings so a day or 2 and full feathers on wings. These things grow crazy fast! Says she whose last batch of chickens are coming up 10 months old and still are not laying! If there is a girl in this trio, it will lay before those gigantic chickens! So that cute hoping and fluttering I saw today was practice and they actually fly?? Yikes, so they need the cage upgrade like tomorrow?? Last thing i need is while I am at work one of the kamikazis flys out and can't get to the heat plate and kills itself.

 

[Nabiki]

Sweet murphy you are right! Not feathers quite yet, but I see the pin coatings so a day or 2 and full feathers on wings. These things grow crazy fast! Says she whose last batch of chickens are coming up 10 months old and still are not laying! If there is a girl in this trio, it will lay before those gigantic chickens! So that cute hoping and fluttering I saw today was practice and they actually fly?? Yikes, so they need the cage upgrade like tomorrow?? Last thing i need is while I am at work one of the kamikazis flys out and can't get to the heat plate and kills itself.

Yep, flying soon. That's why all of my brooders have hardware cloth tops. They do grow crazy fast. I have a little single chick now that is not growing like it should, and I've been documenting its growth. I have a whole series of growth videos showing from day 1 to 6 weeks old.

You will need to scroll down to the bottom for the oldest videos.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8AKDZ9NpcmES576XqY9myrzx9LM4E9t_



If you're interested, it's kamikaze, not kamikazi (kami = spirit/god, kaze = wind).

 

[CliftonQuail]

Sweet murphy you are right! Not feathers quite yet, but I see the pin coatings so a day or 2 and full feathers on wings. These things grow crazy fast! Says she whose last batch of chickens are coming up 10 months old and still are not laying! If there is a girl in this trio, it will lay before those gigantic chickens! So that cute hoping and fluttering I saw today was practice and they actually fly?? Yikes, so they need the cage upgrade like tomorrow?? Last thing i need is while I am at work one of the kamikazis flys out and can't get to the heat plate and kills itself.

My brooder is a plastic tote that's at least 16" deep. Even with walls that tall, I've usually gotten away without a cover on my brooder for no more than 10 days. I've had two different hatches where one bird got out before I put the cover on, so now I do it by day 7. I didn't see a mention of what type of quail you have (coturnix, button, king, etc.). I have coturnix and they pretty much straight up and don't fly much distance, but I've seen them get at least 3 feet off the ground without really trying.