Baby Quail Care????s

[silly]

So I picked up 20 Ga Giant Bobwhites last Friday and they are about a week and a half old. Then I have 60+ Coturnix eggs due to hatch Saturday not really expecting a great hatch due to some of my eggs being too old(2.5 weeks cause I only have 4 birds laying) and this being my first attempt at incubating and raising bird babies. My questions being:
1. What is the easiest way to grind food for these things? The 20 I have now eat faster than I can grind already. I am using a pepper mill. Gotta be an easier way. What is it? Or is there a food i can buy that is small enough not to need grinding?
2. When i turn off the auto turner on Wednesday would it be better to just lay the eggs out on their sides or take the racks out of the turner set them in the bottom of the incubator and leave the eggs in them. I do not have or know where to get quail size egg crates.
3.I had a rubbermaid box set up with a light and everything but am now using it for my bobwhites. Am I correct in assuming they will still be in need of this set up come Saturday and that I need to go purchase another lamp and box for my upcoming hatch. Do the new birds need a solid floor under the heat lamp to stay warm enough or could i go ahead and build a brooder with a wire floor.

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
YES YOU WILL NEED ADDITIONAL BROODERS

 

[silly]

Thanks. I will for sure quit grinding as I am feeding game bird crumbles. Had read in several places to grind it so thought i needed to.

What about keeping them on a wire floor from hatch. Will the air circulating under them prevent them from staying warm enough under the heat lamp?

 

[JJMR794]

Buttons Definately Need Food Ground, Coturnix And Bobs Can Usually Find Small Enough Pieces In The Regular Crumble Mix. Its Rather Surprising What They Can Wolf Down

As For Your Wire Floor Brooder... Depends Alot On The Environment, Obviously The Cooler The Surrounding Temps The More Likely They Will Be To Get Too Cold. You'll Find New World Speces (bobs Valleys Gambels, Etc) Way More Heat Seaking Than Coturnix.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Go to a discount store and buy yourself a cheap coffee grinder with adjustable grind settings. It should cost between $15 and $25. I bought a Black and Decker a couple years back, actually to use to grind my own grain for bread baking, and I've used it a LOT in those two years (will be 3 late summer), and have ground a lot of things, including very hard flint corns. It still works great.

Gamebird crumbles are very soft -- you can grind a cup and half of them (the hopper capacity) in about 10 to15 seconds. Easy way to do it.

 

[kerry 2138]

I use a regular blender to grind crumbles for the first week. You can pick one up at wally world or the dollar store cheap. just fill it up a little less than half full and it will grind it quickly.