➡ Quail Hatch Along🥚

[Nabiki]

Yep

Would a higher protein be better in colder temps though? I know it’s almost spring now, but I’ve lost two birds just during this cold snap, and a few more over the winter. I remember that I lost quite a few birds this time last year as well

Do they have small shelters? If they can keep out of the wind and are dry, they should be able to handle the cold easily. During the coldest times I will feed mine some mealworms to keep their fat layer up, but not a huge amount.

 

[HipMystic]

Do they have small shelters? If they can keep out of the wind and are dry, they should be able to handle the cold easily. During the coldest times I will feed mine some mealworms to keep their fat layer up, but not a huge amount.

They’re in a stacked cage system, but it’s in my barn, so it’s dry but not heated. I’m thinking it might be the range of temps outside right now? It was almost 60°F last week, and right now it’s 18°F but real feel is 5°F. It was even colder yesterday.

 

[Nabiki]

They’re in a stacked cage system, but it’s in my barn, so it’s dry but not heated. I’m thinking it might be the range of temps outside right now? It was almost 60°F last week, and right now it’s 18°F but real feel is 5°F. It was even colder yesterday.

Do they have a place to get their feet off of the wire? They can lose a lot of heat through their feet.

I recommend some small shelters in there. The stacked cages are okay if all you're doing is raising them for meat/eggs, but they're not the best for quail health and happiness. They can be fine for quail too if you're not stuffing them in there and provide things like sand baths and shelters.

 

[FloorCandy]

My reship of the cinnamon Coturnix eggs arrived Saturday, the box was open, creased, a big treadmark along one side and a huge tear across the top, looks like it got caught in a machine and the side roller pushed and pushed from the side, and drove it into something up top that tore it. Most of the air cells are moving around, many have small bubbles :-( southwest has reshipped me these for free and I’m so afraid none will hatch, and I don’t want to ask for more. I’m crossing my fingers that I can get at least one of each gender, they sent me a ton of extras. The one with the red bump went downhill and I culled it when it started to fall over. The other one that hatched seemed fine, and I was down cleaning a different cage, and it suddenly started flapping and had what looked like a seizure and died in my hand when I went to see what was wrong. It was doing fine, growing, feathering, there were 2 homegrowns with it, a blind double silver and a regular, and a bunch of buttons, and they’re all fine, normally buttons are more sensitive than cots, and I was making sure to give the double silver and the cinnamon handfed offerings of food and water. I can only guess it had some kind of neurological issue I hadn’t seen evidence of. It was nice and big and strong.

 

[HipMystic]

Do they have a place to get their feet off of the wire? They can lose a lot of heat through their feet.

I recommend some small shelters in there. The stacked cages are okay if all you're doing is raising them for meat/eggs, but they're not the best for quail health and happiness. They can be fine for quail too if you're not stuffing them in there and provide things like sand baths and shelters.

Each pen has one of these litter pans that they like to sleep in. I usually refill them with straw but today I used bedding instead. The only thing they don’t have at the moment is a sand bath; I’m working on a new one right now so they don’t kick as much sand everywhere

 

[HipMystic]

Each pen has one of these litter pans that they like to sleep in. I usually refill them with straw but today I used bedding instead. The only thing they don’t have at the moment is a sand bath; I’m working on a new one right now so they don’t kick as much sand everywhere View attachment 3042622

I forgot to mention that they’re only in cages in the winter to keep them out of the wind, in the summer they go out in these old rabbit hutches that I have
Half of them is wire and the other half is enclosed with a wood floor that I fill with sand

 

[Nabiki]

My replacement calico fee eggs are on day six now. They're moving!

 

[vall]

I have contractors painting the house right now. Today one asked me if I ate quail eggs "con orange juice" which no, I have never heard of that before. Turns out it is a thing! https://lifeinmexicocity.wordpress.com/tag/quail-eggs-with-orange-juice/

 

[Nabiki]

I was doing a bit of a photo shoot this morning. I had a photo bomb. The calico fee are not only gorgeous, they are very calm.

 

[vall]

This is my first pen with a ramp.. it was free and I needed something temporary so I can take apart the pens that are moving with me. I stapled hardware cloth to the ramp. I've seen them both upstairs and down so they've figured it out.