Quail Feeder Issues

Does anyone else have an issue with their birds spilling a significant amount of feed on the ground? I have been raising quail for a few years and I have always had this issue. I tried putting a large pan (The top part of a cattle lick tub) underneath the feeder, but it doesn't seem to help much. It seems to me that at least 30% of their feed winds up getting knocked on the ground, by them. Does anyone have a remedy to this issue? I have attached a picture of my feeder in my large pin to help show

what I am referring to.

We have noticed the same problem.

After years of seeing all the wasted feed ($$$$) I have tried just about every feeder out there- what has worked the best for me is this:

Young birds- I use those clear candy containers with the screw tops (about 1 gallon size) and take a 1 1/2" PVC street elbow that I then cut parallel to the male slip end- I then take the waste pc and cut a 1/4" ring off of the female slip end. I locate and cut a corresponding hole about so that the opening will be about 1/2" off of the floor. Usually you can install with out glue- we sand the inside edges so there are no sharps- I use these for all my chicks and even for my breeders.

For my pens, I use 3" sewer drain pipe about 3' long with a long 90 degree elbow attaching another pc about 8" long- I cut an end cap so it has only about 3/4" of a lip to glue to the pipe- I use hole saw to cut 1 1/2" holes to either side of a centerline drawn down the center of the horizontal pipe-

I have utilized both of these designs exclusively for all my birds now- there is a thread on here about the PVC gravity feeders

Elevate the feeder or put a trough feeder outside the cage and make them reach out for it. Do some searching in the archives there are about 100 thread that all have solutions to this problem listed.

Here's what I have done, and my birds waste very very little feed. I took a 3" PVC pipe, and cut it into 15" lengths. I used a 2" hole saw to drill 5 holes for the birds to stick their heads in to feed. I capped the ends with 'test caps' from Lowes (under $1 each). I then attached a small block of wood to one of the end caps to keep the whole thing from rolling. They're inside the cage.

that's very helpful! thanks for taking the time to post and add pics!

This seems to be one of the most recent quail feeder forums. I've been around since June with a growing number of Coturnix Quail. I'm enjoying raising them. They're entertaining to watch and since TV is a bust most nights it's plenty relaxing to sit and hold and pet a dog and watch them.

Way back when I was a late teen and raising chickens, I discovered quickly that hanging feeders and waterers were the ONLY way to keep them clean. Then, a few years back I raised three Buckeye pullets till laying and discovered waterer nipples. The push in kind. I also tried the screw in kind in June 2015, but IMO, don't waste your money. Regardless of what I did, they leaked; dripped all the time. The push in kind are more expensive but IME, one gets what one pays for.

I like the round-base feeders and I'm attaching a couple of photos of a couple of re-works on them to have enough feed last 24 hours or more and to keep the feed from flowing too freely into the base. I've seen designs of using PVC to constrict the flow of feed, but all my different-sized plastic jars are free and recycled. Can't get any cheaper than that. I wasn't sure about using the super glue, but just screws don't work very well to keep the constricting bottle tops in place, so glue it is.

I'm using small animal cages that I purchased on Craigslist. Hey, quail from Craigslist, supplies from Craigslist. I like this newest fangled one with the round top for room to clean the cage and hang the waterers and feeder. It's a Living World Deluxe, XL. I love it. My cages hang in my recently built cellar under the garden shed with a fan for air circulation. They seem to be thriving with my setup. For bedding, I use a little sand from Home Depot, sweet PDZ powder and mostly the "Fine" wood chips from Tractor Supply.

Anyway, the photos. Nice comments welcomed. Questions answered if I can.



The feeder containers are Mayo jars, as I said above, glued, but also taped for good measure. I like the older 32 oz. longer-necked ones much better than the new ones which are only 30 oz. with shorter necks (? to save plastic) but almost all are that version of a jar now. The new ones work, but the longer-necked longer-threaded versions just work easier. This restrictor (small drink bottle neck) insert was a wee bit longer than most I've used so I cut a single V into the bottom to allow a little more feed to flow from that spot.

The waterer jar with the 3 nipples in the bottom is a Chi-Chi's salsa jar (if I recall, 48 oz) with an eye-hook screwed into the center of the lid to hang it. I use recycled thin-wired clothes hangers to re-purpose hangers for all the things hanging.

I'm currently in the process of separating roos and pullets. This batch will be 6 weeks old in the morning and I got my first 4 eggs from them yesterday, but only 1 today.