Button quail hatchlings

[Midget]

Hi can anyone give me advice on new button quail hatchlings. I have them still in the incubator 3 out of 16 hatched so far but I'd like to put them into a brooder but am not sure what the environment should be like. Temperature, humidity, what goodies should I put in there to make them feel comfortable etc. Also what food should they ben eating - they've been eating canary mini seed mix today to get them started but realise they need something to go with it. I lost my last lot I hatched when I transferred them from the hatcher to the brooder and don't want to make the same mistakes again.

 

[TheWeeBee]

I don't think you're supposed to feed them seed of any sort until they're at least a month old. I start mine on egg food (sold in the pet bird aisle for softbills). It's ground fine so the chicks can eat it easily, and it's full of protein and minerals. I sprinkle it all over the cage floor and tap on it to show them that it's "food". They get the hang of it quickly. Once they get older I start mixing in some fine ground non-medicated chick starter crumbles. I wait until they're a month old before I start adding millet to their food, and I always make sure to sprinkle some grit over the food or on the cage bottom so they can grind up the seed properly.

They also need a shallow water dish (no deeper than a plastic bottlecap--quail chicks can drown). You may need to dip their beaks into it a few times before they start drinking from it on their own.