Bright Question

[sfoelee]

this will be the first winter i will use lights on a select amount of my quail. i understand that fourteen hours of dim light will suffice. will the males cooperate for fertility? i have also read about the full spectrum of light for proper development of birds in general. does anyone know about any particulars for quail? i also read that additional calcium must be added when birds are raised under lights. i found these articles on the internet which have no author so don't really know how valid these ideas may be. the funny thing is i have calcium cubes in all my pens and they(quail) have rarely pecked at it all summer.

 

[fitzy]

Quote:
<---this guy is drinking and had to quote to make sense!

i've used lights on chickens for years....i just run 'em 24/7 and they seem fine. been running them 24/7 on my coturnix for a couple weeks and after a slight adjustment, no problems. fertility....dunno about that one. gimme a couple weeks and i'll get back at ya. full spectrum.....ge 60-100w seems to work. extra calcium.....dunno.....i give my chickens oyster shell in their food and put cuttle bones in with my quail. they (quail) tear those things into dust within a matter of minutes!

 

[Yvonne37894]

I' m a new quail owner, A & M's. I keep oyster shell in pen free choice. What is "cuttle bones " I have 4 hens & a roo and get 4 eggs every day. But have no success in hatching them so far. I turn on lights at 6AM and off at 8 or 9PM

 

[quailbrain]

Quail do need 14 hours of light for laying and fertility should fall into that as well. Although any light is ok birds see different than we do and what they see is affected by lighting. Full spectrum simulates sun light that birds were made to see in and though full spectrum to us might not seem different it completely is for birds. Fertility and laying needs the UV and red spectrums.

 

[Yvonne37894]

How do you provide UV and red spectrums lighting in a building? Is there a bulb or will the red heat lamp do this?

 

[ksukristin]

I had some lamps left over from my reptile (RIP Rico the savannah monitor, great pet for 6 years!) and those bulbs provide the full spectrum and both UVA and UVB light- however be prepared for a price tag!

 

[fitzy]

Quote:
a bone from the mighty cuttlebeast

honestly, i'm not sure...i wanna say cuttlefish, but i'm not sure. i know you can find them at pet stores and they're a good source of calcium.

 

[kingmt]

I had to Google it but it was a very interesting read. Here is a link to a picture I found.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
a bone from the mighty cuttlebeast

honestly, i'm not sure...i wanna say cuttlefish, but i'm not sure. i know you can find them at pet stores and they're a good source of calcium.

, yep from the fish, they are sold for house birds even sold at Wal-Mart

 

[farrier!]

Oh my, I really don't think the quail care...lol
I added one 75 watt bulb for light and went from 3 eggs a week to 5-6 eggs a day now.