Katie's Quail

I offered to take care of Katie's quail this weekend. She had to go to California for a few days and was worried about how he would do at home. We had had several conversations about caring for the chick, and were eager to do what we could to help.

When Katie brought him, she was concerned about him. He was not doing as well as he had been in the beginning. He was listless and his eyes were closed. She said the first day he had been active, hopping about all over his cage. She was worried that he had gotten cold in the car on the trip from her house.

We put a light bulb on him right away, and started giving him sugar water with an eyedropper every hour. He had improved significantly by noon, so we decided to see if we could get him to drink on his own. We put chick starter feed and a jar lid of water in his cage, and showed him how to drink. Shelby and I were so excited when he pecked at the feed!

We noticed he had trouble walking, and decided to cover the wood shavings with newspapers, something we do with baby chicks. It helped a lot, and by late afternoon he was active and alert, hopping all over the place and pecking at his feed.

At bedtime I became concerned because he was still so active. He was even cheeping quite a bit, something he hadn't done at all earlier. He had run into the glass of his cage a number of times, and didn't seem at all inclined to sleep. I was worried that he might hurt himself in the night. I tried rigging an infrared light over his cage. That's what we use for heat with our chicks. But the light was so strong I was afraid it would melt the outsides of the cage (a mistake we have made before). I was also afraid it would get the chick too hot and he would die (something that has also happened before). Katie had been using a 60 watt bulb to keep him warm. We were using a 100 watt bulb and it was working great, but the infrared is 250 watts. It seemed like too much heat for such a little cage. If I put the light farther from the cage, it didn't seem like it was directing the heat enough to the inside of the cage. That's when I thought of the loft.

Our loft is like an oven. I've stubbornly refused to turn on the air conditioning, and the downstairs has been a tolerable 83 degrees. But the loft is at least 10 degrees warmer. After comparing the temperature in the lighted cage to the loft, I decided it was probably warmer in the loft anyway, so I took the chick up to the loft without the light. He quieted down soon after, and seemed to be adapting well to the change.

He died in the night. I found him with his head in the jar lid of water. There was only about a tablespoon of water in it, so I don't think he drowned, but I think he may have gotten wet, and then chilled. It hadn't occurred to me to remove the food and water lids. Earlier that day he had been hopping in and out of them. It was funny because he would hop into the water, then into the food, and then he would peck at the feed that stuck to his wet toes. We normally leave the feed and water with our baby chicks, so I didn't think to remove it.

I feel so bad. I wish I had woken Shelby up to get a second opinion on removing the light bulb. I had a bad experience with baby chicks and a standard light bulb, so I was afraid to leave it on all night. The loft was still very warm when I got up at 6 am to check on him. But if he'd had the light on, he would not have gotten chilled, even if he had gotten wet. I think I would feel just as bad if I'd left the light on and had found him dead in the morning. Then I would have felt bad for leaving him is a situation I had doubts about.

I didn't think I would be so attached to this little guy making it. His chances seemed small. But after his dramatic improvement over the course of the day, we were so hopeful. He was showing so much personality, too. He was alert and active and precocious, and it seemed like things were tilting in his favor. I know I did the best I could, but its hard knowing I may have made the wrong decision.