➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[muddy75]

If they are heritage poults, they won't really start putting on weight until after they are 6 months old.

#1 - Do not give them any mealworms!

Personally I am not impressed with Nutrena feeds.

If available put them on turkey grower. If not available, put them on Purina Flock Raiser or another quality All Flock feed. Meat bird feed is not appropriate for young turkeys. It does not have the proper levels of lysine, methionine or niacin.

Some people have good luck using fermented feeds. I do know that poultry will gobble up a wet feed and clean it up much better than a dry feed. I am not convinced that all the fantastic claims about using FF are true.

You can supplement their feed with vitamin B complex mixed at the rate of 1/2 capsule or tablet dissolved in one gallon of water. It should be the only source of water available and should be made fresh daily. It is good for all of your poultry.

thanks for the help! i’m still trying to see if i can find some flock raiser here....my only option at RK lately has been the nutrena meatbird. i’ve talked to the mgr about ordering me in some better gamebird feed but he said could take 2-4 weeks to get it in. these are BBs intended for Thanksgiving. (even though will be lucky to get them to 14lb butcher weight based on start date and them not eating) i will try wetting the food for them tomorrow and see if that helps. also going to check tsc again as i’m due to buy feed again in next few days.

 

[muddy75]

This is sooooo craZy.....tsc on this side of the river only has flock raiser in 5lb bags!!!! Having 50lb bags shipped to store costs an extra bag of feed and shipped from Amazon costs $50 per bag!!!! Looks like I may have to drive 20+ miles soon and stock up enough for a month or so!

 

[ShrekDawg]

yes most of the alcohol cooks down like in most recipes but of course we drink up the leftovers while cooking

that’s good to know, thanks and well, can’t waste it right!?

Don't assume anything. Young turkeys have been known to starve themselves to death. Normally they are much younger than the ones that muddy has but it can happen.

Whoops, sorry.

Didn’t think that was possible. Guess now I know.

 

[R2elk]

This is sooooo craZy.....tsc on this side of the river only has flock raiser in 5lb bags!!!! Having 50lb bags shipped to store costs an extra bag of feed and shipped from Amazon costs $50 per bag!!!! Looks like I may have to drive 20+ miles soon and stock up enough for a month or so!

When I need turkey starter, it is a 20 mile round trip to the lumber yard on the other side of town that is the only place here that will carry it.

 

[Maiahr]

Ok, I did the read the Hatching failures but it wasn't clear for me... I had too many pips with no zip or partial zip and then the baby quail died. No shrink wrap. Any ideas why this could be? I know most often it is weak chicks, but why are they weak?

I have decided for the next hatch in 10 days will monitor each egg individually and as soon as I see a pip will start assisting.
Also, as of today I have changed the food for the adults with Quail Layers mix which just came out on the market this month. I will see then if the babies are stronger.

 

[ShrekDawg]

When I need turkey starter, it is a 20 mile round trip to the lumber yard on the other side of town that is the only place here that will carry it.

That’s far for you guys!?

 

[el dorado quail]

That’s far for you guys!?

I thought the same. Tsc for me is 31ish miles round trip. I can't even find a feed store that carries my feed...have to order it directly from the company

 

[ShrekDawg]

I thought the same. Tsc for me is 31ish miles round trip. I can't even find a feed store that carries my feed...have to order it directly from the company

Yeah, we have a few feed stores around here but they’re all like 10-15 minutes away. Which is like 8 to 12 miles ish. So 20 round trip is not far to me haha I have to do almost that or more every time

Also most stores are like at least 10 minutes too. Although we do have a lot just right down the street but not like big stores. Some useful stuff though ha

 

[Matieus27]

Ok, I did the read the Hatching failures but it wasn't clear for me... I had too many pips with no zip or partial zip and then the baby quail died. No shrink wrap. Any ideas why this could be? I know most often it is weak chicks, but why are they weak?

I have decided for the next hatch in 10 days will monitor each egg individually and as soon as I see a pip will start assisting.
Also, as of today I have changed the food for the adults with Quail Layers mix which just came out on the market this month. I will see then if the babies are stronger.

you don’t want to assist as soon as you see pip they need time to absorb yolks are these your personal eggs or are you buying them from somewhere

 

[muddy75]

Ok, I did the read the Hatching failures but it wasn't clear for me... I had too many pips with no zip or partial zip and then the baby quail died. No shrink wrap. Any ideas why this could be? I know most often it is weak chicks, but why are they weak?

I have decided for the next hatch in 10 days will monitor each egg individually and as soon as I see a pip will start assisting.
Also, as of today I have changed the food for the adults with Quail Layers mix which just came out on the market this month. I will see then if the babies are stronger.

my guess would be that it is related to breeder age, genetics and health (ie nutrition)...egg storage and age can be a factor, but incubation temp and humidity can also be a factor. (incubators can malfunction at any time without warning). my “homegrown” eggs have a high fertility rate but tend to produce much smaller chicks with higher rate of issue in direct comparison to myshire eggs, but at same time, I have incubated hundreds of myshire eggs compared to 60+/-homegrown.
I would recommend double checking incubator calibration and possibly running some test batches from each breeding group to start ruling out possible issues. I don’t recommend routine assisted hatching as those that can’t hatch normally tend to have other issues/deformities.