new to raising coturnix quails

[Miss Quail]

hello! i'm new to backyardchickens.com and new to raising quails.

i bought 3 coturnix quails from a local breeder, i think they were about a week old then -- i'd say they are a month old now. 2 are jumbo browns and i think the other is an english white (but i suspect it could also be an a&m). the 2 browns are smaller than the white.

i feed them mannapro gamebird/showbird crumbles from a small dish, which i ground up at first but now they are big enough to eat the small crumbles. they get food and fresh water twice a day (basic screw-on plastic bird waterer).

i originally was keeping them in a large, clear recycling bin-type container with a screen over the top and a heat lamp (with a 65 watt floodlight for a bulb). for their bedding, i would collect grass and clover from my yard and give it a day to dry out a bit. how fast they grew! i wanted them to have a bigger, better house so I made a quail house out of a very large dog crate. I put it upside down so the vents were on the bottom and they could look out - I also cut a big hole on the top with a screen for their heat lamp / to allow more sunlight in. since it is much bigger, i bought a bag of dried grass today as i had begun to tire of picking it every day.
i know a lot of people have wire bottoms for their quail houses, but it is okay to have a soild bottom - right? i do change their bedding every day or every other day. i keep them inside mostly, but I move their cage out onto my porch on warm days.


here are some photos of my quails:




their house:




i will be keeping them as pets, and of course eggs would be a nice bonus! the brown ones are named eng & chang, and the white is named soda.
i guess mainly i'd like to hear from any quail "experts" if it sounds like i'm doing the right things! also, i'd like to start giving them sand so they can take a "bath" - is pretty much any kind of sand acceptable?

thanks for reading!

 

[annelions]

Those are pretty birds! I don't have any myself, but from what I understand, the wire mesh flooring is to make it easier to clean out their pens. There's nothing wrong with a solid floor at all, as long as it's clean. It may even be slightly better for their feet.

 

[dc3085]

Those birds should still be in a draft free brooder under a heat lamp. You should be keeping them around 80-85*F constantly. They don't come off the heat lamp until they have all their adult feathers at 4 weeks old. Those birds are between 2-3 week.s You start brand new chicks at 95* and yhou lower the temp by 5 degrees a week. They could easily get hypothermia right now since they do not yet generate their own body heat and don't have enough feathers to hold in what heat they have.

 

[dc3085]

Sorry that last post sounds a bit harsh, wasn't my intention.

Here is a pic of a 4 week old coturnix, you want them to look like this before you take them off the heat lamp.

 

[Miss Quail]

All of those pictures, except for one, were taken a week ago or earlier when chicks were still in draft free space under a heat lamp. I'd say my quails look like the size you have in your picture now, so I feel pretty confident it is not an issue

Don't worry about being harsh, I asked for advice!
They seem to be well and their feathers have grown in. I gave them a sandbox today and they were very happy.
Their current home has more ventilation for sure, I still always keep the heat lamp on placed at the top of the cage to keep them warm and they seem to dislike it whenever I temporarily turn it off to move them into another space and clean the cage.

I read the forums on here about it. The only issue I see happening is with one quail, the smallest brown one named Eng. Only 2-3 days ago I noticed him always tilting his head to the left, and walking with his head tilted that way

He can stretch the head to the right, when he is cleaning himself...when sleeping he lies his head down to the left though. I didn't notice his neck being crooked until recently. He eats and drinks fine and lies with the other birds. I suppose he could have injured himself? Not sure...any advice? From what I've read, it seems like it might be a good idea to separate him from the others for awhile and put a vitamin formula in his water. Any input would be appreciated!