De Beaking Quail

[dykeswa]

Need any ideas on debeaking quail if you raise them in an enclosed pen?
Yes No Etc...

 

[clickie]

i've never heard of quail being debeaked before. are they pecking each other?

 

[kingmt]

I was wandering about taking the tip off. I think they are turned over so fast & if it is just one bird being a problem no one wearies about it.

I will be waiting to hear others input on this though.

 

[dykeswa]

Quote:
We had a munch or bobs and tenn. reds and there were a few that did get pecked kinda bad and it seamed that it just kept going and going so we were told we needed to debeak them, just wondering if anybody else does it ???

 

[ozzie]

Yes you can do it - I've read in another quail forum that you can use a pair of nail clippers to trim the sharp end of their beaks until they get over the fighting - one of the members did it and it seemed to stop the fighting. This is technically not 'debeaking', more like beak trimming. The beak will grow back. In the chicken world when they 'de-beak' they also use heat to cauterise the end of the beak so it doesn't re-grow - generally what you see in battery hens.

ozzie

 

[dykeswa]

Quote:
Thanks for the feedback so far

 

[bigjohn]

I used to have an electric de-beaker many years back and used it on the newly hatched chicks. It was fast and painless and the beaks would eventually grow back, but it took a long time.

Now I just use nail clippers and clip back the top beak. Just don't clip the vein in the beak. It does help with those mean and aggressive birds because they cannot get such a tight grip when fighting.

Actually, the beaks can get too long just like your finger nails and some birds need trimming. My breeders seem to have very long beaks and I do trim them a bit if it looks like they need it.

One quail breeder (bobwhite) that I knew used the electric de-beaker and he cut the beaks back to a point that they never grew back correctly. Not sure why he was so aggressive, but he raised 1000's of birds at a time and could not afford to have pecking and fighting problems.

I don't think it is cruel at all if you are careful. It is like trimming a dog or rabbits toenails.

 

[dykeswa]

Quote:
Well we used a soldering iron to burn just the tip of the beaks to get this under control, just trying to see what the concenus on this was.
Do you think Coturnix would do good in northeast texas ?

 

[monarc23]

I use nail clippers or scissors and just clip thte tip of the beak off, it grows back suprisingly fast very minimal blood and it makes the bird not want to peck as nastily as it did. Once it grows back i never notice aggression again in that bird!

I havent had to debeak in months though.

 

[millerwb]

Quote:
Don't see why not. Mine are doing great here. We have already made it to 100 and NO rain in sight!