Quail chicks dying

[pocketsierra]

Four have died today, enough to suspect disease.

The symptoms are: the quail get weak, lie on their side, stay there, then die. Is this

I have a coccodiostat and bacitran that I could mix with water. Should I go ahead and give everyone the preventative dose?

Nathan

[stewaw]

As I recall from the pen "down the hall" in incubating, you just had a hatch go off right?  One of the last stages in preparing for hatching is that the yolk is absorbed into the abdomen.  When hatched, the yolk provides enough nutrients for several days without food or water (that's how day old chicks can be shipped accross the country without food or water).  Seeing as how your deaths are occuring at about the same time as the yolk sac would be running out, my first suspicion would be a food/water issue.  Make sure there is more than enough food to eat and plenty to drink.  I usually offer WAY more than they will need to eat by sprinkling enough to feed the whole bunch for a week and then changing it out daily for the first 7-10 days.  I also offer several waterers during this time spread out so that a chick that's a little weak or timid has access to food and water.  I also spread both food and water out with some directly under the heat source, some around the edge and some in the colder areas.  After about 10 days I begin restricting them by removing the extra food and water.
  There are certainly a number of other causes such as respiratory infection (often caused by chilled chicks) etc.. In my area of the country I don't begin seeing bacterial infections this early (Jun-Sep is my toughest time). But my strongest guess is still a food/water issue. Others may have differing opinions and I may be off base here.

Good luck and keep us posted,
David

[recurveman]

I totally agree with STEW.  Check 3 things for me.  

1. Make sure that they are in a draft free place and have a temp of around 90-100.

2. Make sure that the water source is obtainable.  I've put waterers in brooders where the little chicks couldn't get to the water.  It was just to big of a stretch.  

3. Make sure that the chicks can get to the food.  There are a bunch of feeders out there that WILL NOT work for quail chicks.  I've had my share die because I was using the wrong feeders.  I ALWAYS put food right on the brooder floor.  It really cuts down on the loss of chicks.  

If I had to guess I would say feed.  But a good second guess would be water.  I always put some medicine in the water for the first week or so.  I've had a bit better luck when I do that.  

Good luck,

recurveman

[pocketsierra]

Thanks.

I have put medicine in the water just to be sure. I'm pretty sure it won't do harm since they are the standard medicines that some include by routine.  

There were no further dead on Friday. That's not enough evidence to tell whether it was disease or food.  

1. Yes it is a draft free place indoors, with an infrared ceramic lamp. I believe it is 95. They seem happy with the heat.

2. Water source is obtainable. It is a non-drowning quart waterer very near the heat source.

3. Food is in a GQF game chick feeder. It is 10 more inches away. They  don't seem to have trouble finding it and they seem to feast there. The feed is ground up and was spread around the paper in a trail.

I believe the majority are doing fine accessing food and water. Certainly all the ones that are left do. It's still possible a minority didn't find it. One got lost under the paper for a while (since sealed off) and probably didn't get enough nourishment. But I had no such simple explanation for the others and worried that disease was hitting them.    

I'll be changing out the paper soon and replacing it with pine shavings, now that they seem to have their footing. Is there anything I can/should do to clean their feet?

Nathan

[blackswamp]

It's been a few days since your last post, but I have one other aspect you might have overlooked.  It could be, or have been, a sterilization issue in your brooder, feed/feeder, waterer...  It doesn't take much contamination those first couple days to knock out a batch of chicks.  Hope you have found your trouble by now.

blackswamp

[pocketsierra]

There have been no more casualties. They've gotten almost a week of medicated water. Contamination of the brooder, feed and waterers is not as likely since it is the first batch with new equipment. However, they do foul their water and I have since mounted that higher.

[penny's dad]

I ALWAYS REMOVE,CLEAN, AND SANITIZE MY WATERERS TWICE A DAY. YOU DON'T WANT THEM DRINKING SOUR WATER.   P.D.

[pocketsierra]

I forgot to mention that I do clean the waterer regularly. Still, it got too fouled and dirty before I propped it up on a block and certainly could have been an issue the first few days.

[quailacres]

All good suggestions. Also, don't forget to sanitize your incubator between hatches. A lot of people don't realize that disease can be picked up during incubation and manifest later on. Conditions within an incubator are perfect for growth of pathogenic organisms.