Stupid Frustration Venting

[Omniskies]

I bought a batch of Moby Quail eggs on ebay and they were supposed to hatch this weekend. I had them in the hatcher in a wire tray on the floor for them. Friday I heard pipping, peeked through the plastic with a flashlight and saw them. Saturday I was at a show all day and didn't look at all. Today I held off from going by the hatcher at all since I wanted to resist the urge to open it early.

I went ahead and opened it a little while ago and half the quail chicks managed to find the ONE bowed up spot under the wire tray, wriggled under it, and were crushed.

But they're not dead. I don't know if that's better or a whole lot worse. I have a lot of chicks with spraddle leg that look pretty flat. We're talking a lot.

Now I don't know what to do. I have them all in the brooder. I'm just really frustrated.

 

[Robo]

Try to make them a little splint. How big are they?

 

[Omniskies]

1-2 days old. I don't want to put them down, but whenever I've dealt with one or two spraddle cases in the past it's taken up a lot of time. I have no idea how to handle dozens.

 

[Robo]

Put a toothpick on their legs and then strap it to them. After a few days old it is too late.

 

[Rainwolf]

grab a pack of band-aids and some scissors...
cut strips of band-aids long ways
make little hobbles for each splayed chick
I do this twice with the really bad ones.. first hobble is kinda half way between splayed and normal. Then once they get a little better I re-hobble for normal stance.

 

[Robo]

I had a guinea with a spayed leg and the others helped it around the brooder.

 

[cluckcluck42]

We just hatched button quail for the first time. I thought it was safe but they somehow managed to get under the tray. Thankfully we caught them in time and got them all out. When I was trying to get them out from under there, the other ones were running over like little lemmings, jumping down.

We had one spraddle leg that we tried to fix with tape and toothpicks but he died despite our efforts.

I have no idea how to euthanize button quail. My fiance and I were talking about it. They're so small.

 

[Robo]

I put a pellet gun to their heads. That's how I cull all chicks. With a pellet coming ath their heads going 1000+ feet per second I doubt they feel a thing. A pair of bolt cutters might work too if thats all you have. I hate to cull, but sometimes it's best.

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
That's going over the edge................Bolt Cutters? Come on..............the dynamics of a pellet rifle is not what the OP wants to hear. A pellet rifle taking out a 2 day old chick????

 

[diggypaws]

I had some with splayed legs accidentally get out on the carpet, and they started running around almost normally, so I put in a white towel (so I could bleach it) and within a few days, I couldn't even tell which ones they were.

It might be worth a shot to try something like that, especially if you have several.