Updated: bloody beaks....why??...Now...chicks just dying! 6/3

[AHappychick]

my bob whites were doing that to each other and I found it was a protein thing. I grind up sunflower seeds (meat only) and add it to their feed, it stopped right away. I did not read whole thread but its the quail that do that I have found.

 

[luvarabhorses]

The reason I added the horse manure is because someone posted that chicks raised by a broody hen never get pasty butts. they pick at their Mom's poo and that gives them all the flora they need in their guts.( Baby horses are the same way, eat a little of their Mom's poo). I can't see adding chicken poo to the concotion, their is just too much risk for disease, but a horse that has been wormed recently is a pretty safe bet. My chickens adore picking through horse manure, and since I keep them on a regular worming schedule, I let them knock themselves out. It is just chewed up grass after all. Horses are basically big fermenting machines.

 

[wilds of pa]

couple things i forgot to mention is there bedding, if they eat there bedding and not the food they will die,

we always raise our bobwhite on paper towel for the first week so they do not eat the bedding and can only get access to there feed.

I would never give any type of wormer to chicks..

Have water and feed in there brooder before the chicks are put in. always use luke warm water for the first week never ice cold water in there first week.

No need to feed anything else other than a high protein feed..

i would not recommend horse manure..thats down right nasty..

~Wilds~

 

[Friend of Feathers]

Try the mealworms maybe. I found some a local farm supply store in the wild bird food section. It's kind of expensive, but it's 36% protien. Ever since I've been giving them the mealworms they haven't been picking at eachother. I was losing some every few hours there for awhile. I got the mealworms this past Friday and haven't lost one since and not one bloody beak.

 

[NotTheMomma]

I'm pulling this past up to the front because I read a post this past week that had many chicks with bloody beaks. Come to find out it was caused by the feeder! Apparently inside those holes on the feeder are very sharp points. When they dip their beaks into eat, and then remove their beaks, it was catching on the feeder and either injuring it, or cutting the beak almost off!

Perhaps that's what happened here?

I'm sorry for your loss. I hope the remaining ones are doing well!

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
That's what I thought too, until my last hatch of bobwhites/coturnix started coming up with bloody beaks and I'm only using a plastic lid for their food.

I had 3 coturnix yesterday morning, dead, with their beaks completely chewed off. I pulled them out of the brooder, and an hour later looked in on the others and found ALL of my coturnix (goldens, browns, and A&Ms) with bloody beaks. The bobwhites were spotless. These were only a day old, too, and had plenty of food and water available. Needless to say, I separated the breeds and now everyone is fine. I don't understand how it could be a protein thing when they hadn't really even started to eat yet.

But once they drew blood, EVERYONE got in on it, and I caught several of the chicks dragging another one around by the bloody pulp left of their beaks.

I've raised hatches of bobwhites and coturnix together before without this problem... what is going on?

Sorry... graphic photo, but I'm not kidding about their beaks being gone. I'll put it as a thumbnail so you don't have it blown up in your face if you don't want to look.

 

[silentrunning]

I have said it before - it never ceases to amaze me how viscious quail are. I am just glad they don't weight 200 pounds!

Doug

 

[Friend of Feathers]

We have been having the same problem. I thought we were in the clear, but again the other day our bob whites started pecking beaks again. My MIL read somewhere that it's caused by too much heat, too cold or overcrowding. In our case I think it's too hot. I don't have a thermometer in the cage so I've been gauging it by how they act. I've tried mealworms and millet, which they love, but it hasn't kept them from pecking. We've lost so many that I'm starting to think it just insn't going to be cost effective to raise our own. When I see one pecking it makes me so angry I just want to squeeze it.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Sometimes putting a red lamp on them will help... but the only red lamps I have here are 250W or 25W and neither works for my setup right now, so I just separated them.

 

[schihuly]

I would be interested to know what the disease is that could be causing this. I also have 3-4 day old chicks that are dying off each day. I have noticed the blood at the base of the beak. They are contained in a container with plenty of space, clean food and water, a white light as well as a red light. I don't want to lose any more chicks. Of our batch of 50-60 we have about a dozen left. Tragic...