quail dropping like flies!

[Loretta212]

so i hatched out some quail a couple weeks ago. i ended up with 35 out of 40 eggs! pretty good hatch rate ! however some were born with deformities in their legs and since they have died off. i didnt think anything of it seeing as how they were the weak ones but now almost every day i havefind one dead. I have a heat lamp on them but they do have a cool spot. they get fresh water a few times a day and non medicated game starter. is their somthing i am missing here? any ideas? I have hatched chickens, ducks and quail and i have never had a problem like this before

 

[samcountrygirl]

so i hatched out some quail a couple weeks ago. i ended up with 35 out of 40 eggs! pretty good hatch rate ! however some were born with deformities in their legs and since they have died off. i didnt think anything of it seeing as how they were the weak ones but now almost every day i havefind one dead. I have a heat lamp on them but they do have a cool spot. they get fresh water a few times a day and non medicated game starter. is their somthing i am missing here? any ideas? I have hatched chickens, ducks and quail and i have never had a problem like this before

I know how you feel we went out this morning and found 14, 2 month old quail dead i have no clue what happened, we had 3 die yesterday it is frustrating not knowing all the conditions are right for them. I'm glad to hear it is not just us. It seems like the more we hatch the more we lose at 1-2 months old. I am hitting the web to figure this out someone somewhere can help

 

[SliderShooter]

It's hard to say what is happening with your quail. It would easier to start fresh than to try and figure out what is going wrong. Without knowing all the details, I would start over with a new batch of eggs from a trusted breeder. Clean everything throughly and disinfect, including your incubator. If you are running a small incubator with a fan run it at 99.5 degrees. The eggs should hatch at 17-18 days. If they hatch late, it's too cold, if they hatch early it's too hot. Deformities are cused by too much heat or bad breeding. Are you using the same incubator for chickens, ducks and quail?

Make sure they all can find the feed and water in a day or two out of the incubator. Other than that, I don't know what would cause you to lose week or month old chicks other than some kind of disease.

Good Luck!

Here's some more good advice from another thread:
Quail chicks die because of several reasons. Either the temp is too cold, too hot, there are drafts, they cannot get to or find the food and or water, chicks are killing each other, animals are killing them or they have some disease.

Take a good look at your brooder. 90 degrees might be too cold for week old quail. Make sure you are brooding them in a brooder with solid sides so there is no drafts. Don't crowd them in so they have to compete for food/water. Sprinkle food all on the brooder floor so they know where it is. Crowding them in can cause cannibalism, so give them as much room as possible. Keep a lid on the brooder at all times.

If they have a disease handed down to them, there is little you can do. Keep the water and food areas DRY to keep the cocci disease from getting them. If you have a cocci outbreak, raise the quail on wire so they have less contact with the poop.

You can put liquid vitamins in the water if you think they are stressed and need a boost.

 

[Loretta212]

the thermometer read 99.5 for incubation they hatched at day 18 on the dot. I do use the same incubator for everyone but i have never had this problem. they are in the basement so maybe draft?? hmmmm i hope i dont lose them all

 

[Loretta212]

thank you everyone

 

[jwatts]

The same thug is goin on here. Wife and I hatched 30 coturnix quail 3 weeks ago. Now we're down to 8 of them. My setup seems exact to yours. I think next time I will raise them on hardware cloth.

 

[speedy2020]

The same thug is goin on here. Wife and I hatched 30 coturnix quail 3 weeks ago. Now we're down to 8 of them. My setup seems exact to yours. I think next time I will raise them on hardware cloth.

Have you consider give them Corid for coccidiosis treatment? I have 28 hatched and none of them die yet. They are outside at 3 weeks and still has no problem.

 

[Tony K T]

I had this same problem a few years back when I was raising quail.I gave them sulmet and it seemed to do the trick.I did call the guy I bought the eggs from and asked if he had any problems,and he told me to give them the sulmet.It should be available at your grain store,but if not www.culterssupply.com has it.
In N.H.,Tony.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I know this is a bit late, but I've experienced this recently with other fowl, namely turkeys.

I made the mistake of feeding my turkey poults unmedicated feed. (Advice from breeder). Only when I switched to medicated feed (ran out of the other type) did I slow down and stop the deaths. Yep, it was coccidia. I also had a number of birds get some sort of respiratory thing. When I start losing birds, I start dosing with antibiotics too.

Basically, add antibiotic in their waterer. You'll lose quite a few, but not all, if it's bacterial if you treat it aggressively.

Good luck!