Hello,
I hatched 15 chicks over the weekend. On Sunday, one began sleeping on its head--like a cartoon ostrich with its head in the sand. By Monday afternoon, its head was curled under so that it was leaning against the base of the skull. By this evening, it had its head curled under sharply enough that it was turning somersaults every so often. At that point, I noticed a second chick sleeping on its head. It is now 10 p.m. and the first chick is turning somersaults rapidly (with rest breaks), while the second chick is turning somersaults sporadically. Holding the chicks makes no difference. When startled, they run backwards like a crayfish. They hold their eyes tightly closed but are able to open them if they want to. Their stools are normal and they appear to be in perfect health otherwise, but they will no doubt die of dehydration/starvation at this rate. Their behavior was ordinary for the first 24 hours after hatching. My husband is calling it Rollover Syndrome.
I don't know a lot about birds in general, and am totally inexperienced with avian disease. Has anyone seen anything like this before? I'm very worried that this may be contagious since two of them are behaving this way now. While these are Button Quail, I'm hoping for advice from chicken owners, because there just aren't enough quail breeders to offer help with something this...odd.
I started raising Button Quail early this summer, and this is a second generation incubator hatch, the approximately 5th total hatch. I have 10 healthy adults and 6 Texas A&M White quail. We had 5 chickens this Spring which were killed by predators, but otherwise, no domestic birds have been kept on this property for at least 60 years. If this is a communicable disease, this is the first time I have seen it in our flock. The gamebird feed is a new bag purchased 3 weeks ago, from which I raised a separate group of chicks without problems.
Here are the photos...
I hatched 15 chicks over the weekend. On Sunday, one began sleeping on its head--like a cartoon ostrich with its head in the sand. By Monday afternoon, its head was curled under so that it was leaning against the base of the skull. By this evening, it had its head curled under sharply enough that it was turning somersaults every so often. At that point, I noticed a second chick sleeping on its head. It is now 10 p.m. and the first chick is turning somersaults rapidly (with rest breaks), while the second chick is turning somersaults sporadically. Holding the chicks makes no difference. When startled, they run backwards like a crayfish. They hold their eyes tightly closed but are able to open them if they want to. Their stools are normal and they appear to be in perfect health otherwise, but they will no doubt die of dehydration/starvation at this rate. Their behavior was ordinary for the first 24 hours after hatching. My husband is calling it Rollover Syndrome.
I don't know a lot about birds in general, and am totally inexperienced with avian disease. Has anyone seen anything like this before? I'm very worried that this may be contagious since two of them are behaving this way now. While these are Button Quail, I'm hoping for advice from chicken owners, because there just aren't enough quail breeders to offer help with something this...odd.
I started raising Button Quail early this summer, and this is a second generation incubator hatch, the approximately 5th total hatch. I have 10 healthy adults and 6 Texas A&M White quail. We had 5 chickens this Spring which were killed by predators, but otherwise, no domestic birds have been kept on this property for at least 60 years. If this is a communicable disease, this is the first time I have seen it in our flock. The gamebird feed is a new bag purchased 3 weeks ago, from which I raised a separate group of chicks without problems.
Here are the photos...
