Sudden Death of Button Quail--Any Ideas WHY?

[ya chick ya]

do u think that they maybe had quail virus??? yea i hate when quail die so sad
i had one get killed 2 days ago and today while i was gone at a farmers market 2 went missing so now i got .......3 wah

 

[Chloe374]

I have had this happen also. I am stumped myself. One minute my were actually fine and within the hour dead or breathing hard and died. I have heard of a lethal gene combination that can cause sudden death but I am not sure if it would strike so young.

 

[DK newbie]

Lethal genes usually mean the chicks never hatch or die very soon after hatch.
Breathing hard could indicate an airborn toxin - carbon monoxide, over heated non-stick cookware and self cleaning ovens are possible culprits. In particular if several birds died at the same time. Otherwise, boinking is a very likely culprit - and it can also cause breathing issues, as the birds can damage the nerves that control breathing.

 

[Chloe374]

Thank you for the response and helpful information. What is boinking? My chicks just recently (hatched about 40) two died that were fine. They were about 3 days old. SHould I separate a large hatch like this?

 

[DK newbie]

2 dead at 3 days of age from a hatch of 40 is completely normal. There are always some that don't make it. If it was 5-10 from a hatch of 40, you were likely doing something wrong, but 2 is basically unavoidable.
Boinking is flying up and hitting their heads at the top of the cage - as they won't start flying till they are about 1½ weeks old that can't be the issue here.

 

[Chloe374]

Thank you so much for the help.

 

[Quailguy_1]

What's odd is that the older buttons seemed to survive. I'm just wondering if that game bird feed was medicated and it was too strong for the tiny buttons? I swore that he said it wasn't, but I can't call until tomorrow. The buttons at the store that were consuming it were much older than my little ones who died.

Thanks for trying. I'm not worried about the act of changing the food, more about if I changed to a food that wasn't good for them. Poor little things.

That's the same thing that happened to one of my button quails, it was only 4 days old with no shortage of food and water and I was keeping them warm, it might have been suffocation, I've seen the healthier quails sleeping on the weaker ones, suffocating them but not to death, one of the yellow ones who was slept on took a few seconds to respond. It might have been that? Male quails also tend to be more aggressive. Hope that helps

 

[Nabiki]

That's the same thing that happened to one of my button quails, it was only 4 days old with no shortage of food and water and I was keeping them warm, it might have been suffocation, I've seen the healthier quails sleeping on the weaker ones, suffocating them but not to death, one of the yellow ones who was slept on took a few seconds to respond. It might have been that? Male quails also tend to be more aggressive. Hope that helps

FYI, this thread is 15 years old and the person you're replying to hasn't logged in since July 2022.