A Quail Daydream

[artbykarenehaley]

If you decide to do poop trays, you’ll thank yourself later if you design everything so you can bring the wheelbarrow to the cages, so you can dump them right in. Those trays get HEAVY if you don’t empty them every single day
I use all plastic trays under my cages. I bring the wheelbarrow right up to the cages and empty all the trays into that. When I put the trays back I fill them with a layer of Cozy n Fresh pellets - they absorb moisture and help keep the smell down

Ah! Suspicion confirmed that the wheelbarrow would need to be accommodated. Haha. My original design is a little too short. I would have to lift out the tray and dump. I will just save up and buy some lumber for taller legs.

I am thinking I will make trays with one open side so I can scrape them out using my child size hoe with the 2 1/2 foot long handle. This way I would not have to slide out the whole tray, trying to balance it without dumping Birdy terds on myself. I'd still make it slide out, so I can line it with fresh pellets or take it all the way out for a wash. Just use the hoe most of the time.

I like those pellets. It's the bedding I settled on when I was keeping button quail and they are fairly cost effective.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

A general question to anyone who might see or be following this thread, what do you feed your Coturnix? My Button Quail ate the 30% gamebirds starter. The most cost effective version of this for me I have to go to the next town to get. It's a little expensive at Wilco, and tractor supply tends to be out. I've not seen it at Cascade Farmstore but they may have stocked it since I last went there in April.
Some have said once they pass 8 weeks old, chicken 21% protein all flock works for layers, which is cheaper than gamebird feed in my area. I want to make sure my birds get the best I can give them, while remaining economical.

(Our chickens have kind of been freeloading for the past few months and I can't convince my husband it's normal because they are moulting)

 

[HipMystic]

Ah! Suspicion confirmed that the wheelbarrow would need to be accommodated. Haha. My original design is a little too short. I would have to lift out the tray and dump. I will just save up and buy some lumber for taller legs.

I am thinking I will make trays with one open side so I can scrape them out using my child size hoe with the 2 1/2 foot long handle. This way I would not have to slide out the whole tray, trying to balance it without dumping Birdy terds on myself. I'd still make it slide out, so I can line it with fresh pellets or take it all the way out for a wash. Just use the hoe most of the time.

I like those pellets. It's the bedding I settled on when I was keeping button quail and they are fairly cost effective.

Sounds like you have a pretty solid design plan! Lifting trays definitely gets old, scraping them sounds so much easier!

 

[HipMystic]

A general question to anyone who might see or be following this thread, what do you feed your Coturnix? My Button Quail ate the 30% gamebirds starter. The most cost effective version of this for me I have to go to the next town to get. It's a little expensive at Wilco, and tractor supply tends to be out. I've not seen it at Cascade Farmstore but they may have stocked it since I last went there in April.
Some have said once they pass 8 weeks old, chicken 21% protein all flock works for layers, which is cheaper than gamebird feed in my area. I want to make sure my birds get the best I can give them, while remaining economical.

(Our chickens have kind of been freeloading for the past few months and I can't convince my husband it's normal because they are moulting)

I start mine on the 30% gamebird starter from TSC. Lately my adults have just been getting a basic layer crumble - 16% I believe? It was the best feed I could find where I was shopping at. I found a different feed store that sells a 20% all flock, I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to switch or not…

 

[artbykarenehaley]

I start mine on the 30% gamebird starter from TSC. Lately my adults have just been getting a basic layer crumble - 16% I believe? It was the best feed I could find where I was shopping at. I found a different feed store that sells a 20% all flock, I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to switch or not…

Do they seem healthy on the layer feed? I currently am giving my chickens 18% chick feed because they are moulting and I want them to have the extra protein so this is what I already have on hand. I can easily pick up the 30% starter feed for babies though.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I would love to raise quail again for eggs and meat...but I remember they eat more then a chicken and right now I dont have extra money for feed for them. So back burner they go

 

[artbykarenehaley]

I would love to raise quail again for eggs and meat...but I remember they eat more then a chicken and right now I dont have extra money for feed for them. So back burner they go

Oh, I should look up the feed to eggs/meat conversion. I haven't looked that up. I hear they are slobs with their food so I wonder if a lot of it is waste. My button quail seemed to hardly eat anything but those are small birds.

 

[HipMystic]

Do they seem healthy on the layer feed? I currently am giving my chickens 18% chick feed because they are moulting and I want them to have the extra protein so this is what I already have on hand. I can easily pick up the 30% starter feed for babies though.

Mine all seem to be healthy on the layer feed, but I’ll probably have to raise the protein here pretty soon once it gets cold out. I lost a lot of birds last winter, so I’m trying a few things different to do better this year.

I would love to raise quail again for eggs and meat...but I remember they eat more then a chicken and right now I dont have extra money for feed for them. So back burner they go

I’m not sure what the feed conversion is for quail compared to chickens
I know I actually go through less (layer) quail feed than chicken right now, but the numbers are definitely not equal. I might have to sit down and do the math on that one

Oh, I should look up the feed to eggs/meat conversion. I haven't looked that up. I hear they are slobs with their food so I wonder if a lot of it is waste. My button quail seemed to hardly eat anything but those are small birds.

Quail do waste A LOT of feed. I’m still trying to figure out a low waste feeder, the best I’ve found so far is to put cardboard under the feeder so the feed falls onto that and not through the wire

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Mine all seem to be healthy on the layer feed, but I’ll probably have to raise the protein here pretty soon once it gets cold out. I lost a lot of birds last winter, so I’m trying a few things different to do better this year.

I’m not sure what the feed conversion is for quail compared to chickens
I know I actually go through less (layer) quail feed than chicken right now, but the numbers are definitely not equal. I might have to sit down and do the math on that one

Quail do waste A LOT of feed. I’m still trying to figure out a low waste feeder, the best I’ve found so far is to put cardboard under the feeder so the feed falls onto that and not through the wire

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1249102099/6-pack-quail-chicken-feeder-ports?ref=share_v4_lx
I'm putting this link here because I'm going to try this for feed waste prevention. It's a set of 6 ports for $9 usd which I feel is fair. Saw them on a YouTube channel called Kayle's Quails. You cut appropriate sized holes in a six quart plastic box and glue them in. The link is for a seller on Etsy that the channel recommended.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

That’s one good thing about eggs, they give you a few weeks to get adult housing ready

If it makes you feel any better, my first quail eggs were an impulse buy, I got 4 dozen for 50¢ each at an auction. - I had no housing, no brooder, and I didn’t even own an incubator at the time

That's a steal of a deal how could you not