When the incubation period has gone that long, there is may be some problems getting any to hatch. With my experience after day 20 mortality and dead in shell rates go up.
Late reply here... cardboard soaks up moisture, may not allow for ambient humidity to reach desired levels. But I assume hardboard, guessing that's plywood would work.
How did the quail fair in the bottom pen with the hardware cloth vs poultry wire?
After one bad night I threw the roll of chicken wire out and went all hardware wire. But...
I made a rat trap with hardware cloth, caught a rat, it died, Opossums or coons tore the wire off to eat the dead rat...
Yep, I must agree with the two posts above. Dry litter will make the difference. This is usually a compounded issue during dry periods as it seems the pens and coops become a super attractant to flies. During more precipitous times, the flies will dissipate to other areas.
Price for starter her is 19.99 for a 50lb bag. The lower protein level bags slip down a few bucks each level. Depending on how many quail you run, it may be wise to go with the starter all the way out. This is what I use, but I run no more than 100-200 quail at a time. Consistently recycling the...
DC3085 I think the discourse that is taking place on the forum is important as you add some much needed experiential advice to animal husbandry. Say things in the best way you can... fact is fact and if you have good results, state them proudly.
We can't, however, negate an empirical study...
"they drink like they've never seen water;:get enough to stay alive from them but not as much as they want." ???
The effectiveness of any on demand watering system can only be determined by a) hydration of animal, and b) availability of water.
If the quail drink a lot, this means they are...
Those temps seem to be way too cold. Unless you can maintain at least 85 degrees at a minimum for week old, I would keep them inside. I am sure there is a solution though that will cut down on the stench and allow you to keep them where you wish. Not all of us live on a farm and can afford to...
Look up Joel Salatin and Polyface farms. I don't think he does quail but he uses all kind of animals on a grazing paddock shift system. This can be reproduced on a small scale or multiplied for multi-acre set-ups.
The free ranging of animals is not the best use of their abilities to produce...
Rabbit waterers work fine for poultry. The only problem is that the pecking is not as conducive to water collection as a poultry cup. Nipples are fine, but they use the same wasteful intermittent method of peck-release of water-peck-release of water. The majority of water in these cases ends up...
Yes they stink, no it doesn't get better, and flies suck. These are the issues that most people do not warn, or elaborate on. I would argue that the deep litter method is futile with these buggers. The rate at which they defecate quickly produced a layer of waste of the top later of chips. They...