Quail dying?

[rockypointer]

I hatched out 24 bob whites>
everything seem to be gonig good i have them in a plastic tub with a 65 watt buld i painted green. They are in a room that i cut the ac off in. I came home from work and had 5 in there dead and one in bad shape. Not sure what i am doing wrong. I got what i was told was gamebird starter but the bag said nothing no tag just a bag of purinia gamebird chow. At first i thought they just did a poor job grinding it there where a few large pellts mixed in with the feed. Could i have the wrong feed? I also had one die from being pecked so i trimed there top beak not much but a lil blood did come out off a few and i added a lil salt to one of the 2 waterers i had in there. PLEASE HELP! i dont want to lose anymore what am i doing wrong?

 

[TwoCrows]

Bobwhites need a ton of room, not only as adults, but as babies. So you need to expand your brooder, or move some into another brooder. I would suggest an infra red bulb for heat, or just a plain red one will do. Red is calming and infra red allows for normal sleeping patterns, where as other light spectrums do not. Sounds like they are killing each other and trimming beaks is not the answer.

Ace the salt to the water.

Starting at the first week of life, the temp needs to be at around 97 degrees, lowered by 5 degrees each week for 6 weeks. During this time if you are noticing a lot of aggression, then the birds are hot. Lower the temp a few degrees and work from there each week by 5 degrees.

It is important to feed gamebird starter to baby bobs as they need incredible amounts of protein as babies. However the lack of protein will not kill them, at least as fast as you are losing them.

If they are dying from the cocci disease, (you will see blood in the poop), then you might want to start them on medicated feed. You can also solve the problem with raising them on wire.

 

[rockypointer]

I amost think that this was a heat related issue. how hot is to hot for these baby quail they are a week and some change.

 

[TwoCrows]

You need to put a thermometer in with the quail to know for sure. If it is hot enough in your house, then no heat is needed.

 

[rockypointer]

i have a thermometer its right below 100. I wanted to put them in my shed and brood them in ther but temps goy up to 110 today. i have some more eggs in th bator now think i might try to treat them with m22 Sulmet. Have you every tierd it?

 

[BayGoose]

I amost think that this was a heat related issue. how hot is to hot for these baby quail they are a week and some change.

You'll know if they get too hot if they start panting and trying to stay away from the heat source. When they are comfortable, they are all spread out in the brooder evenly. Also, pecking each other may be a sign that the brooder is too small. I have 8 Gambel's quail chicks (2 weeks old?) in a humongous, 300 gallon livestock water trough (stock tank). They have so much room to run and are able to roost. Never had pecking problems. I also use red bulbs.