Query post with date time range from custom field

<?php 
 
$sdtime = DateTime::createFromFormat("d F, Y", '1 February, 2018');
$edtime = DateTime::createFromFormat("d F, Y", '30 February, 2018');
 
$startday = $sdtime->getTimestamp();
$endday = $edtime->getTimestamp();
  
$q = new WP_Query(
    array(
        'posts_per_page' => $count, 
        'post_type' => 'fixture-item',
        'meta_key'       => 'date',
        'orderby'        => 'meta_value',
        'order'          => 'DESC',
        'meta_query' => array(
            array(
                'key'       => 'date',
                'value'     => array( $startday, $endday ),
                'compare' => 'BETWEEN',
            ),
        ),
    )
); 
 
?>