Quail chicks - they're so quiet!

[als77]

I know I'm going to regret that title 5-6 weeks from now... lol Question further down, after some rambling (or back-ground story)

My 4-5 days old Coturnix Quail chicks are just SOO quiet! Disregarding the one who had (past tense - (s)he is feeling better now) problems raising its neck and whined about it whenever (s)he woke up, as well as when I turned on the lights yesterday and one of the water bowls were empty, I haven't heard any "loud" crying from them. I only hear faint happy chirps. Is it supposed to be this way?

So far they seem to have had a blast; my brooder had a spot that was way above 40C/104F (closer to 45C/113F?), and also spots that were under 35C/95F. The chicks were all over the brooder; "sun-bathing" in the hottest of the hot spots, roaming around eating, relaxing in the coolest spot etc (I haven't seen any panting). However, I had to alter the brooder somewhat and put the metal door for my dogs cage in front of the heat-bulb. Almost everything else remained unchanged, but the metal door made the temperature in the brooder go down several degrees C! I'm now struggling to get even close to 37.5C/99.5F in the hottest of the hot spots!, but they seem to be happy with it (no more all out sun-bathing though, but no piling up either and still relaxed sleeping in all weird positions and angles). However, I do need to cover the brooder (card-board box) almost completely, i.e not much light getting in the box. I don't like that (not only because it must be boring for them in the "dark", but also because they seem to believe it is nightish and hence less active than before).

I tried uncovering the brooder a bit, which put the hottest "hot spot" temperature at 33C/91.4F. I heard no sound/complaining, but later when I checked 6-7 of the 11 were piled up (in a corner, i.e not even in the hot spot ). So that made my worried. I have added another heat source for now (an old light-bulb), but I don't want to use that during the night...). I will cover it up snugly (my wife did that last night - we weren't able to hit 37.5C/91.4F, but no piling during the night/in the morning as far as I could see). This leads me finally to my question;


Question
Will quail chicks (4-5 days old) be vocal if it is too cold, or will they rather pile up and crush eachother? (i.e can I rely on them crying/complaining about it being to cold, hence alerting me so that I can correct it before it is too late?)

 

[als77]

Speaking of which; Is this happy chirping, looking for its friends or something else?

I had made a water bowl with holes for access. This fellow probably climbed in - he was crying (not sure how, the bowl had marbles in the bottom), wet and seems to have lost feathers (pecked on or unsafe water access from the cut-out holes?). I put him in my pocket to dry. Then back in the brooder, in the hot spot on some cloth to snuggle with, but he walked of the cloth and was shaking (cold?).

Back in my pocket = making these sounds.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

Quail chicks are very quiet, and don’t really make that much noise even when they’re bigger. Older chicks will complain about the cold in my experience, and make that stressed cheeping in the video (will soon become a warbling teenage voice) when separated from their siblings. I don’t really know if younger chicks will complain about the cold but they definitely pile together.
As they get bigger (9-10 days) they will need increasingly less heat. At 5 days old I would not worry too much about the difference of a few degrees. Your strategy of temperature gradient is perfect for them.

 

[als77]

Quail chicks are very quiet, and don’t really make that much noise even when they’re bigger. Older chicks will complain about the cold in my experience, and make that stressed cheeping in the video (will soon become a warbling teenage voice) when separated from their siblings. I don’t really know if younger chicks will complain about the cold but they definitely pile together.
As they get bigger (9-10 days) they will need increasingly less heat. At 5 days old I would not worry too much about the difference of a few degrees. Your strategy of temperature gradient is perfect for them.

Thanks. I'm surprised how little noise they make (although now they're trying to eat the brooder - pecking at it all the time lol).

It dried up nice in my pocket so I put it back in the brooder and it seems to be doing ok now I was really freaking out on this one. I think it somehow managed to take a full swim in the new water bowl (removed now!) and being one of the yellow chicks (A&M?) it looked like it had lost almost all its feathers. It didn't help that it is the smallest on them (10 grams) either... Once dry it looked normal *phew*

 

[MomFoldingLaundry]

My experience is that 4-5 day old quail can handle cooler temperatures if they have deep litter (so they can burrow.) and it’s not too long. The light has gone out in my brooder overnight even with 2 day old quail, and though I live in Hawaii, the temp gets down to like 70 at night in winter. They did pile on top of one another, but none died.

as long as youre over 90 I’m the hot spot, you’re fine. Really, with deep litter they can probablt handle 8 hours of 80-85 degrees. It’s not *great* for them, probably. But as I said—they’ll live.

 

[als77]

My experience is that 4-5 day old quail can handle cooler temperatures if they have deep litter (so they can burrow.) and it’s not too long. The light has gone out in my brooder overnight even with 2 day old quail, and though I live in Hawaii, the temp gets down to like 70 at night in winter. They did pile on top of one another, but none died.

as long as youre over 90 I’m the hot spot, you’re fine. Really, with deep litter they can probablt handle 8 hours of 80-85 degrees. It’s not *great* for them, probably. But as I said—they’ll live.

Thanks They're currently on paper-towels (on top of plastic), but I'll move them to straw at some point.

We were able to "seal off" the brooder and got the hot spot above a few degrees 40C/104F for the night even without the additional light-bulb. Couldn't see any piling this morning. My brooder is only a card-board box, but it is rather "high" (45cm/1.5feet). It would have been easier to boost the temperature with a lower brooder, but the hight should mean that there is no draft for them - I guess a draft-free environment helps them to be comfortable in a "low" temperature.

 

[Nabiki]

I find the sounds that coturnix chicks make to be very soothing. I've joked about recording it for a relaxation CD named Nabiki & the Quail.

 

[als77]

I find the sounds that coturnix chicks make to be very soothing. I've joked about recording it for a relaxation CD named Nabiki & the Quail.

lol Yes, I'm quite enjoying those faint chirps from the brooder. It's cozy