today is the day

[rita]

well my bobwhites are due to hatch today. very anxious that none will hatch. i know its not a good time to try and hatch eggs in the winter and they travelled from Ireland and Essex in the post. i had 36 and i am now left with 9 in the lock down. i know 3 are alive when i locked down not sure about the other 6 ? i have the temp at 37.5 and humidity now at 65. it's now the waiting game, i keep going up and whistling to them to see if i get a response but nothing so far. fingers crossed.

 

[rita]

not sure if anyone is interested but quails has still not hatched. i am getting a bit worried now. i will be gutted if some don't hatch.

 

[Marigold]

Any luck overnight?

 

[rita]

two hatched this morning with another cutting his way out as we speak. did a quick check and two more are alive in the shell so hope they will follow on later tonight. 17
been a bit mad today as my hubby broke his leg while out on his mountain bike. bless him.

 

[Marigold]

Very sorry to hear about your husband's accident, Rita - but great news about the quails, well done!

 

[rita]

i have 7 quails at the moment and one is still in the egg, he is still alive but does not seem to be in a hurry about coming out.
i will try and get some photo's of them for you to see. they are just adorable.

 

[ColinB]

Sorry to hear about hubby! There's been a spate of broken bones around here lately (tho' none in the B household), including a badly broken arm for our chicken, duck, goose and shetland pony keeping neighbour. So I'm round there quite often helping out with the menagerie. Those geese are frightening!

Glad to hear the quail are hatching - keep those piccies coming.

 

[rita]

just an update on the bobwhites they are now 1 week old and just started to sprout some feathers on their wings. they are still very small, also they are really wild, not friendly like the coturnix quails which i had before. not sure how many males are there, i will have to wait until they get bigger.

 

[Marigold]

Glad to hear they're all doing well, Rita. It's interesting that their behaviour is different from Coturnix. Are they bigger than Coturnix would be at a week old?
The feather sprouting stage is so interesting - can you see yet what colours are going to come through?

 

[rita]

they are a lot slower growing, and they are not friendly at all, really wild. i have lost one not sure what happened to it but found it dead, no marks on it. all the others are looking good and very active. i was warned that they are not a friendly quail compared to the cortinix. hubby has now had his operation and they have pinned the leg and ankle, home tomorrow thank goodness.

 

[Marigold]

I hope he's soon on the mend. The problem with legs and ankles is that, whatever you do out of bed, they have to take all your weight. Is he still in plaster? Very uncomfortable I expect.
Quails will have to make up for being unfriendly by being very beautiful! Actually, I never found my home-bred Coturnix to be very friendly, I just thought it was part of their genetic makeup to fear close contact.

 

[rita]

hello Margaret, he's still in plaster even though they have have put in a plate and pinned it, i thought they would of put a boot on him. anyway he has to stay in bed and not to weight bear for another 10 days when he goes back to remove the plaster.
The bobwhites are very active, i have now put them in the bigger box as they move around a lot so they have more space. my coturnex would sit on my hand nice and quietly, but the bobs you have no chance. not sure what ratio i have at the moment, to early until they mask up.

 

[rita]

i have lost 3 bobwhites, i am not sure why they have died. maybe hatching in the winter is not a good idea.
the 5 i have left are very active and eating and drinking well. i have lowered the heater as the weather has got cold again. i hope i can keep these alive.

 

[Marigold]

That's sad news, Rita, after such a good start. I wonder if the temperature drops overnight? I found I needed to lower the lamp in the evening, when the central heating went off, and raise it during the day. I kept a max/min thermometer under the lamp so I could see what was happening. Still, it's odd, now yours are beginning to feather up and you have enough of them to keep each other warm, I would think. No signs of coccidiosis, blood in poo etc?

 

[rita]

no signs of anything. the poo is normal, i lost other one today they seem to go down hill really quickly. its so sad that they are dying. they have started to feather up nicely too. i hope the others will survive.

 

[Marigold]

I wonder what on earth it could be. I suppose you don't know which ones came from each of your two batches?What are you feeding them on, is it chick crumb? if so, make sure it's well in date. I've heard of cases where outdated crumb caused problems.

 

[rita]

i have read on some american website that they need really high protein food, so i have been adding egg to their food. i have chick crumb without medication, its the same i used when hatching my coturnix and i didn't lose any. it's going to be really cold tonight so i have turned the heater up so it will be a lot warmer for them, they are sitting around the edges so i know they are not cold. we will see what happens over the next few days. bless them.

 

[Marigold]

How are they this morning? All cheeping, I hope.
What sort of lamp are you using? Is it a ceramic dull emitter (heat but no light)

 

[rita]

i have an infrared heat lamp, its the same one i have used for my ducks, chickens and quails i have never lost babies before. it's so frustrating as i don't know what is killing them. they have high protein diet fresh water temperature is correct. i have another one who looks like it will not make the night.
i have looked on lots of website but can't find anything that could be killing them. they are a very highly strung bird and i have to move them out of their house to clean it and put in a new slip mat in and they hate it when i put my hand in their house. so i am wondering if it could be stressed related.
because it seems to be every time i clean them one dies. my other quails were never as stressed as these, i could pick them up easily and they would sit on your hand nice and quiet. i think they are all going to die if this one die's tonight i will be left with 2.

 

[Marigold]

That's so sad. It must be really frustrating not knowing what is happening to them. At least if it had any obvious symptoms or causes, you could do something to help, although as anxperienced keeper who has hatched and reared before, you know that whatever is wrong isn't your fault. Maybe some kind of virus in or on one of the batches of eggs?