Feed questions! Getting my quail tonight!

[bryan8]

Well I couldn't wait for my quail to hatch, so I found someone nearby that rasies coturnix. I already have my pen and I figure this way I can have some starting to lay while the others are hatching.

Im getting 42 Coturnix, and he told me they were 6-8 weeks old and starting to lay.

First off how long will a 50lb bag last 42 quail?

Second what the heck do I feed these! Im ready to go to the feed store, and need to know what to get. Agway has a gamebird finisher that's 16% protein and $15 a bag and they also have a grower that's 21% protein for around $15 too. Can I feed them regular layer mash from the mill? I know the layer is 20% protein, not sure what there grower mash is. But the layer is only $10 a bag.

Do they eat pellets or should I stick with crumbles or mash?

Bryan

 

[Anniekins]

My Agway also has a turkey starter which is 26% protein I think. That is what I started with but now I feed Blue seal Homefresh gamebird starter which is 28% protein. Dont know why but I can not find Purina gamebird starter that is not medicated here. Good luck.

 

[veggiecanner]

The game bird Layena I use is 20%
I also give them bird seed, chick grit, ground up oyster shell, and greens. Ocaisionaly I give them fruit or baked potato.
The bird seed was tricky, most of the mixes the seeds were too big, so I made my own out of any smaller seeds I could find out of the bulk section at the grocery store. Hulled millet and flax seeds for instance.

 

[bryan8]

Does anyone have an idea of how much a quail consumes weight wise per bird per week?

 

[buttonquailtx]

The amount of food you go through is dependent on several factors. One of the main fact factors is whether or not you keep them on wire floors. Quail are messy eaters and on a wire floor tend to waste a lot of food. That being said, keep in mind that there are pros and cons to both a wire floor and a solid floor. I keep mine on wire because it gets really hot here in Texas and a wire floor helps air circulation. Many people have tried different methods to keep their quail from spreading food around, but everything I tried only reduces the amount of wasted food; it doesn't completely stop the waste.

 

[veggiecanner]

My Layena bag says starting 4 weeks before laying 1/4 pound a week each.
That doesn't sound like a lot.

 

[Quailsong]

Fermented feed goes a lot longer than the dry stuff & is much healthier as it helps break down the anti-nutrients in grains. It's harder to 'flick' around & won't rot easily if done right. You can toss the previous' days crusty remnants from their feeding bowl onto the ground & they'll eat that up like it's something new. FF is useful for many types of poultry, other barn animals, even humans. (ie, we humans have been soaking our grains/beans for many thousands of years now as it's easier to digest that way.)

There's a user on these forums named Beekissed who does a lot of posts regarding FF. Best to check her out.

Also, as a side precaution, make sure you're keeping the ratio of males to females 1:4-7 if they're cooped up on wire. Out on the grass (in tractors) larger numbers can be kept together with much more success.

Best of luck!

 

[bryan8]

Fermented feed goes a lot longer than the dry stuff & is much healthier as it helps break down the anti-nutrients in grains. It's harder to 'flick' around & won't rot easily if done right. You can toss the previous' days crusty remnants from their feeding bowl onto the ground & they'll eat that up like it's something new. FF is useful for many types of poultry, other barn animals, even humans. (ie, we humans have been soaking our grains/beans for many thousands of years now as it's easier to digest that way.)

There's a user on these forums named Beekissed who does a lot of posts regarding FF. Best to check her out.

Also, as a side precaution, make sure you're keeping the ratio of males to females 1:4-7 if they're cooped up on wire. Out on the grass (in tractors) larger numbers can be kept together with much more success.

Best of luck!

Got them all in the pen tonight! There all happy! I noticed that some of the birds has they back of their necks plucked and I noticed some males fighting a little. Im not sure if it is over crowed or not. Could of be the pen they were In before was too crowed but either way Im going to count my males tomorrow. The pen is 8ft x 3 ft x 2 ft high.

 

[Quailsong]

Grats! Okay, I feel you may need to take some quick steps to make sure you don't have a big problem on your hands. Below is a suggestion, you're free to take or leave it as you wish.

The pen does seem a bit small for that many. Might be good to expand a bit, or at least make a couple 'back-ups' to reduce fighting.

The first thing is counting & temporarily separating the boys from the girls. The boys have a rusty breast & faded dots. The girls have no rusty breast but stronger dots. The girls are also more likely to have the back of the naked neck picked of feathers - it's often from inexperienced and/or aggressive males when mounting the females. Keep in mind, boys will sometimes mate with boys if there's no options so don't assume picked feathers is just the girls.

Find out how many boys to girls you have. A good ratio as I said above is 1 boy every 4 to 7 girls. If when adding them all up, (eg, 5 boys to 20-35 girls) you have way more boys in the ratio than you should then if you can try to put the extra boys together in a 'bachelor pad'. Pick your BEST looking males to sit with the girls. This is more likely to give you healthier birds. This split off should also help cut down on any extra fighting you're dealing with.

If you can wing/leg band them, this will help you as well. You could put them all into a large trailer for the days & easily put them back into their proper pens. An example of banding would be blue for boys, pink for girls, green for your 'extra' boys/roos.

 

[abobwhat]

Any updates on how everything is working out?