Monday, April 25, 2011

Day Old Chicks

Because we didn't have enough birds survive from the hatching eggs and there wasn't much time left until Memorial day, I called all over to find someone who could ship us 100 day old coturnix quail on short notice for a good price. I was referred from one hatchery to another.

I called because their website had the soonest hatch date as Apr 26 and we needed them to hatch on the 12th. The person I called said to just put Apr 12th in the comment section, so I did. Well that week came and went with no chicks. I called the following week and inquired. They said they'd go out that week.

Well, we expected them on Friday and they arrived on Wednesday at the post office. I picked up 2 boxes of adorable coturnix pips. They're so cute. They were all healthy looking and alive. I was delighted.

Friday, I picked up feed (quite the fiasco). I read they should not get medicated feed. We couldn't get non-medicated feed with the batch from the eggs and wondered if that was part of why we lost so many chicks. I went to 2 feed stores to find non-medicated feed. The second store gave me some though. When I got home and read the tag, I found it said it was for quail 8 weeks and up. So I called and they had another product for $1 more. I requested they swap me bag for bag despite the difference because it meant another 20 miles round trip to get it. They agreed.

When I took the feed into the brooder room, I discovered of the 100 chicks, over half were dead. We don't know why. They had everything they needed. All we can think was perhaps (because they'd been given some of the medicated feed, since we didn't have anything else) it was the medication. It was so sad. I cried on the phone with my husband at work as I picked up each of the dead chicks. My so came to the brooder room to help with the 16 weakest ones we thought would probably die. We moved them to a crate in his room where we could watch them more closely and keep them from being picked on and trampled by the others. Of those, 3 have survived. Not great odds, but if we hadn't have moved them they probably all would have died anyway.

In hind sight, we probably should have just purchased the frozen adult quail I found on line for $2 each. We may still need to get some that way.

Now, we have brooding stock, so we can produce our own quail and not have to have any more shipped.

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