Baby Quail Questions

[rodriguezpoultry]

I'm hoping on some eggs hatching from a purchase, but I just realized I'm not certain as to how to go about feeding the babies?


In chickens, I never give boiled egg, ever, so the fewer supplements given, the better. Can I feed them chick starter? Will the crumbles be too large for them to eat? Should I crunch them down to size?

these will be coturnix chicks, so help is appreciated!

 

[eggsrcool]

Quote:
Chick starter is fine, it works for mine, but may need grinding down, so they can eat is more easily. Good luck!

 

[Buckguy20]

They really need higher protein. I feed mine gamebird 28%. I do give my adults chick starter if I am out.
As for the size of the crumbies, it does need to be very small.
You need quail waterers also because they can drown in a chick waterer.

 

[peewee]

I also use chick starter for my babies that I hatched. It was all that I had and it has worked great for me. Every once in awhile I have also ground down some game bird crumbles and have given that mixed with the chick starter. I'm gradually getting them on to game bird.

 

[eggsrcool]

I also grind up cat biscuits once in a while for them

for more protein

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Do you mean the chick waterers that have the more narrow basin?

What do you use for grinding down the starter? I tend to get a bit over excited and make it into a powder by the time I'm done.

 

[CountryMom]

We use the Purina Game Bird Starter for our baby quail. Then for about the first week I grind it in a coffee bean grinder. Have also ground up some calf manna when it was really cold. They just seemed to need some extra.

As for waterers, I use the small chick waterers and put rocks in the tray to prevent drownings. As they grown we use the larger waterers without rocks and then they go into pens with auto waterers.

Good Luck!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
The chick starter I get from my feed store is only 16% protein, which is really too low for quail. I get all my baby birds a 20% flock raiser, and this works well. I never supplement mine.

I always break down the feed until they go outside, first reason is to make it easier for them to eat, second reason is because they waste less the way I do it. We have some of those ice cream buckets, so I keep one in the fridge with 'baby food' in it when I have young quail in the house. Just fill the bucket about halfway with feed and add enough water that you can just barely see it. Stir it with a fork and store in the fridge. Everytime you take some out, mix it with a fork, then it will be in very small pieces and they won't scratch it around so much.

You don't have to break down coturnix's food, but they do waste less if you do.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Oh, the feed from the feed mill is 20% starter and if I want to go up, it's 22% grower. It is fine to feed medicated chick starter isn't it?

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
There's a big debate about that, but I've fed my adults medicated starter and it didn't bother them at all.