Raising a single quail chick

[Ambar Culhane]

Hi there,
I'm here for help.
I have a single quail chick that hatched today. How do I teach it to eat and drink? In the past we had six hatch and it worked because they were together, this was in an incubator! At the moment I have it down my top for heat and comfort, I've done this before with a single chicken chick and it worked well. I tried to give it water but it looked like it was struggling with that. How long can I go without feeding it (if any time?). Not sure what to do as it is only one, I assumed eating and drinking would come naturally for it but I have lost another last week because it had no idea what to do.

please help, i would like to raise this one successfully.

many thanks
Ambar

 

[N F C]

Hi Ambar, welcome to BYC!

I've never raised quail before but maybe you can find some help in the Learning Center or the quail forum links below:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/other-backyard-poultry-ducks-quail-turkeys-geese-etc

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/48/quail

Hope you get an answer quickly, I wouldn't think a little chick (of any kind) could go long without nourishment.

Good luck to you!

 

[N F C]

I wanted to add to my response...

With chickens, sometimes you have to dip their beaks in the waterer to get them started drinking. Have you tried that?

 

[Ambar Culhane]

I tried to give it a drop of water with a dropper by placing the dropper on the side of his mouth. Will be trying your suggestion. thanks x

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Dipping beaks gently in the water usually does the trick so they know where it is and tapping your finger in the food so it makes a noise encourages them to come and check the food out. Is your food very fine for your quail? If it's a little big this will put it off from eating as it may find larger crumbles too much to manage. I find a blender works well for making them smaller.

Wishing you the very best of luck and please do drop by the quail section of the forum lots of other quail keepers who will be able to help.

Enjoy BYC

 

[nj2wv]

Welcome to BYC !!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]