Artificial Light for Egg Production: Specific Type Bulb? Photos of pens, feeders and watering system

[RichardandTresa]

Hello All and thank you so much for everything we've learned about Quail

I've read practically every thread here (really! Didn't want to begin until I had a really good idea as to what we were getting into!), learning as much as we could.

We Currently have 27 Jumbo Brown Coturnix in a home made grow-out and breeder battery (I'll try to attach photos... still need to complete the cages for the bottom two levels) I designed and built the feeders and watering system (Professional motion picture special effects artist and prototype designer).














They're located in a covered breezeway between the shop and the house. Insulated and predator-proof. We close up the open doors in the evening.

They are exactly 7 weeks today (we got them all as 3-Day old chicks) 9 of them are female and living in the breeder cages (to the left) with one male each... PS: Extra question. How aggressive should the males be? One mounted a couple of females once (that we were able to see) and the other, we have not seen have any interest in the females... I'm thinking of switching out the males for some of the more aggressive males in the grow-out cages... Any thoughts?

OK... back to my primary question:

We go one egg from the top pen on7/24... Then one egg from the bottom pen on 7/28... Since then, no more eggs.

I'm thinking of adding lighting on a timer to add to the daylight they receive when we open up the breezeway doors. (They get lots of light during the day, but not direct sunlight (Thought it might "cook them prematurely" =D )

Should we consider using grow bulbs? fluorescent? I have some work lamps on stands that I can use a variety of wattage's...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Richard

 

[RichardandTresa]

PS: We had some pecking going on with the males in the grow-out cages last week, so we pulled out the aggressors and placed them in isolation cages (a divided 48" cage with 1 sq foot per bird and their own water and feed. They all have at least one square foot per bird.

Thanks again!

Richard

 

[Jayare's Chicks]

Nice feeders, what did you use for those Clear Plastic things you put the food in to go down to the feeders?

Jayare

 

[RichardandTresa]

Hi Jayere,

I actually made them from sheet plastic (PETG... The same stuff you get deli food in the clear containers. I used much thicker plastic.)

I designed and made the molds and formed them on one of my vacuum formers. (I'm a professional prototype developer and have two vacuum formers in the shop... I specialize in plastics from fabricating to vacuum forming to creating silicone molds for pressure casting...



Above are the raw parts, roughly trimmed before fitting and pop-riveting together.

Any clues about adding lighting to me breeders to increase egg production? I have read repeatedly at LEAST 14 hours... Is there such a thing as too much light? And in particular, what kind of light? There are many spectrums from grow bulbs to indoor fluorescent to regular incandescent light bulbs...

Just a little while ago we watch what we thought was an uninterested male mounting a couple of females... Seems he knows what and how to do it... Id rather have him mounting sporadically then going bonkers and beating up the hens all the time... Looks like we'll keep him!

Best,
Richard

 

[RichardandTresa]

PS:

We just started 8 more feeders for the additional cages/pens we're going to install here. (That's the nice thing about vacuum forming, you can repeat creating the parts...)

However, I'm thinking you could look around for some larger diameter clear tubing and use that for a hopper. Add a 2" to 4" PVC plumbing coupler and then look around for something to insert into the pipe fitting Inside or outside diameters. Then pop-rivet or glue them together...

Think: "Packaging/mailing/document tubes. You can usually find a rubber cap to go with it. The reason I went with clear was so that at a glance, I could see where their feed levels are. Also go up and down the isles of your grocery store (or?) and see what might be useable... These feeders are made of 2" PVC pipe... You can up to it 3" or 4" easily and then you have the options of inside or outside diameter for the pipe, a coupling, a 3" reducer or a 4" reducer... That's a LOT of sizes to be able to find something that matches!

Hope this helps!

Richard

 

[Jayare's Chicks]

Well Richard I'm not the person to ask about all this yet since I have only had quail for 4 days now. I'm still learning also. I have heard of the minimum 14 hours of light though. I just got my 12 Quail on Saturday. I got 3 males and 9 Females. I'm guessing mine are about 4 weeks old or so.
Mine are all still together in one cage right now and all getting along with no fighting. Once they look like they are not getting along or I start getting eggs I will separate them into the 3 cages with 1 male and 3 hens.

Jayare

 

[Jayare's Chicks]

I like your feeders, At some point I am going to go down to Lowes or Home Depot and get some PVC pieces to make some feeders also. Will have to keep my eyes out for things I may be able to use for the Hoppers though.

Jayare

 

[RichardandTresa]

If anyone's interested,

The watering system is made from PVC pipe with a trough cut out along the length and capped at both ends. I found a cheap ($4.95) float valve for a swamp cooler and set the float to vertical. The nice thing about these, is that they're rated for full faucet pressure so they can be truly automatic! ... Or, you can set up a gravity feed bucket with hoses to each one.

You will have to play with bending the brass wire from the float to the valve so you get the right water level in your trough without over flowing or filling too low. I mounted mine between the breeder and grow out cages so I only had to build one per two cages...

Since we brought the Quail in, I had to make a thin plastic visual block to keep the males in the grow out from crowing... It worked! Well, kind of... they still crow, but nearly as much. The plastic is mounted from above and hangs down covering as much as possible with care given to not block the float from rising. The plastic is flexible enough so that when they stick their heads in, they can move it out of their way if needed... Working for a week now without any problems (the blinder) and the Quail have been in here for about3~4 weeks and all is well with the exception of the fighting and since separating the offenders, that activity has dropped to nearly zero...

OK... back to work here... Client prototype due for shipping tomorrow!

Richard

 

[HowieNZ]

I use a soft white 10 watt halogen bulb to make up the extra daylight hours on a timer.

 

[RichardandTresa]

Thanks for the wattage information...

WOW!!!!! ONLY 10 watts? (I have NO idea so I'm totally void of any info in this department...)

I was imagining a bank of florescent or 60 to 100 watts!

Do you think it would hurt if I went up to 40 watts? (I have some halogen bulbs in that wattage), If not I'll go hunt for some 10 watt... Hmm, I do have some under cabinet halogen bulbs and fixtures (real small 1/2" X 1" bulbs) they would fit perfectly under the top pen for the bottom pen! =D (I think the bulbs I have for those are in the 20 watt to 25 watt range.)

What do you think?

And THANK YOU! =D

Best,
Richard