Starting up Coturnix Quail questions

[9d84runner]

The 1st 2 weeks quail will die for no reasons sometimes. But after they get to about 2 weeks old they start to get very hardy. Your Protein level of your chick starter may be to low. You need some kind of starter that is around 24% to 26%. If you cant find anything that high get some meal worms and grind them up and mix in with their food. Dont worry about taking the temp of their brooder just look at the chicks and see what they are doing. If they are all huddled together then they are cold. If they are all running around checking things out the temp is right. If they are all spread out laying down with their wings spread out then the temp is to hot. Once they get their feathers (2 to 3 weeks old) you can start cutting off the heat lamp and getting them use to room temp. In the summer time they can move out of the brooder into outdoor cages at 4 weeks old. in winter depending on the temp you will need to wait until 6 to 8 weeks old. Dont over think the Coturnix Quail they are very hardy birds and very easy to take care of. Just make sure they have food (protein level 24% or higher), water (they can dehydrate very easy make sure they always have water, add apple cider vingar to their water once a month) and shelter (something simple to keep them dry and draft free in the winter min of 1 square foot per bird).

Thanks! I was starting to worry. They are eating 24% chick starter that we grind up into a powder. When do I switch their feed to game bird? I'm also having a hard time finding game bird feed.

 

[jvls1942]

I raised quail for awhile.
just for kicks and giggles, I figured out if you kept them all and let them rebreed and multiply for a year.
just one pair would end up being over a million in a year..
I agree, don't bother with building nests for them,. they just won't use them,,
Make a few openings in the top of the cages to make egg collecting easier.
do plan on hatching your replacement birds. buying eggs or baby quail is expensive..
If you are planning on really raising a lot of quail for sale. look into a battery box set up. it is just a bunch of cages stacked one on top of another until it is about 6 or 8 cages high.
kind of expensive initially, but will last a life time and make taking care of them much easier.
don't get syked out that it would be caged birds. that is the only way you can manage large numbers of birds. they are in the cages for only about 8 weeks ..
the cages take up only about a 3 foot square space on the floor compared to a large building if spread out horizontally ..

If you hard boil the eggs, soak them in vinegar water for over night and the shells will pop right off.
it takes 40 eggs to make a quart of pickled eggs.

........jiminwisc......

 

[9d84runner]

I need help. I started with 42 quail. I understand I would loose a few but I've lost 22 of them now.

My heat was at 95 degrees. I lowered it yesterday to 90 degrees because the chat said to go down 5 degrees every week.

I feed them 24% chick starter crushed up into a powder.

Water is filtered and has marbles inside so nobody drowns.

Changed the bedding every other day.

Limited handling to basically none.

I texted the guy I purchased them from and asked him what am i doing wrong and he said I can't keep them on pine shavings I need to put them on newpaper. Well I've lost 2 more so that's not working. Is this true? He is the one who told me to put them on pine and to sprinkle the feed into the bedding only. I put it in a dish.

Can someone please tell me what in the world I am doing wrong? Please? He also said they were a week old but I think I got a mixture because some are still really tiny with no feathers and others are starting to get feathers.

First time here and it's a bummer.

 

[9d84runner]

I need help. I started with 42 quail. I understand I would loose a few but I've lost 22 of them now.

My heat was at 95 degrees. I lowered it yesterday to 90 degrees because the chat said to go down 5 degrees every week.

I feed them 24% chick starter crushed up into a powder.

Water is filtered and has marbles inside so nobody drowns.

Changed the bedding every other day.

Limited handling to basically none.

I texted the guy I purchased them from and asked him what am i doing wrong and he said I can't keep them on pine shavings I need to put them on newpaper. Well I've lost 2 more so that's not working. Is this true? He is the one who told me to put them on pine and to sprinkle the feed into the bedding only. I put it in a dish.

Can someone please tell me what in the world I am doing wrong? Please? He also said they were a week old but I think I got a mixture because some are still really tiny with no feathers and others are starting to get feathers.

First time here and it's a bummer.

 

[AllGodsCreatures]

Hey there question
Do you boil first, the soak in vinegar overnight
OR
Soak in vinegar overnight, then boil?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/jvls1942.17184/

 

[Frijole]

Hi! We are three months in. 7 ladies, one male. They are in about 27 sq.ft on raised wire. We have laid down straw, as I hate to have an animal always on wire. In addition, we added a big flat Tupper ware with soil, as they love a good dirt bath. Prior to the recent heat wave, we were getting 5-6eggsome a day. They lay willy-nilly, and from our best guess, in the same place. One lays pretty consistentlyby the water, in the open, on the wire. Occasionally one lays in the dirt box. We have found them in a variety of places. However, the most consistent place is on the hutch, enclosed part, about 3x2 ft. There are no individual nesting boxes in there, just enclosed with a layer of sawdust inside. There are usually a little clutch of eggs in a pile in the corner. Occasionally there will be a hen sitting on them. Sometimes we find them hidden in the sawdust

When life slows down a bit, we intend to incubate.



QUOTE="4x4Runner, post: 18590968, member: 437606"]We have decided to try raising coturnix quail for meat and eggs I suppose if they start laying them but I have some question I haven't been able to find answers too.

We are building their hutch and we want to get 30 birds. I understand it needs to be no larger than 12" tall but what's recommend length and width? I keep finding 2 answers for square footed per bird.

How many nest areas do we need? What do they prefer? I've seen boxes with straw or pine shavings, boxes with sand and pots on their sides with straw.

Last question is about how many females vs. Males ratio. We will not be breeding them so does it matter? Will I need to add sections?[/QUOTE]

 

[jvls1942]

boil the eggs first, then soak them in vinegar over night.
the shells soften and you can squeeze the egg out like a grape..
it has been a long time since I did this. in the back of my mind I am thinking it was not pure vinegar.. just a strong mixture with water.

If you are not breeding the quail, you do not need any roosters..
.......jiminwisc....

ETA:
I set my brooder at 80F at all time. it works for all types of birds. No adjusting needed once it is set.
.

 

[AllGodsCreatures]

boil the eggs first, then soak them in vinegar over night.
the shells soften and you can squeeze the egg out like a grape..
it has been a long time since I did this. in the back of my mind I am thinking it was not pure vinegar.. just a strong mixture with water.

If you are not breeding the quail, you do not need any roosters..
.......jiminwisc.....

Thanks for the reply. I'm gonna try that technique. I am breeding the quail, I already have 24 birds and I have 24 eggs in the incubator as we speak, they are due to hatch today.

 

[jvls1942]

quail can run like the dickens soon after they hatch. not lethargic like chickens .. and they can hike under a postage stamp.
I used to take an incubator to a grade school with quail eggs. the waiting period for them to hatch is so much less than chicken eggs.
easier on the teachers' nerves..LOL

......jiminwisc....

Thanks for the reply. I'm gonna try that technique. I am breeding the quail, I already have 24 birds and I have 24 eggs in the incubator as we speak, they are due to hatch today.

 

[Binki]

I need help. I started with 42 quail. I understand I would loose a few but I've lost 22 of them now.

My heat was at 95 degrees. I lowered it yesterday to 90 degrees because the chat said to go down 5 degrees every week.

I feed them 24% chick starter crushed up into a powder.

Water is filtered and has marbles inside so nobody drowns.

Changed the bedding every other day.

Limited handling to basically none.

I texted the guy I purchased them from and asked him what am i doing wrong and he said I can't keep them on pine shavings I need to put them on newpaper. Well I've lost 2 more so that's not working. Is this true? He is the one who told me to put them on pine and to sprinkle the feed into the bedding only. I put it in a dish.

Can someone please tell me what in the world I am doing wrong? Please? He also said they were a week old but I think I got a mixture because some are still really tiny with no feathers and others are starting to get feathers.

First time here and it's a bummer.

Are there any drafts? Is the feed medicated?

It might be possible you're experiencing a loss due to them ingesting the shavings along with their food causing crop trouble (they have no grit to break it down) and perhaps even diluting their feed to an unhealthy protein percentage.

It's good to have chicks on paper towels for the first week or so with their feed crushed smaller for them in a dish and sprinkled around that dish. This prevents them from associating similar looking wood bits for feed.

How did the dead ones look? Sick or anything? How did they act before they died? Was it sudden death or lethargic, not eating/drinking etc?

You may want to switch them to a different bedding like paper towels/hay/cut dry grass to see if they shake their possible shaving consumption.

It would make sense - chicks are very competitive right and they watch each other to run over and steal food (a good bug in the wild, not free feed that's all the same) so maybe seeing each other "eating the shavings" (getting the feed between them) has set them off to a bad start?

Another possibility is mold/fungus present, especially with any moisture or perhaps chemicals like material used for the brooder or air freshener, burning Teflon, some hairdryers, etc.

*edit* you'll be able to tell if they're too cold, they'll huddle together and not move around much