Food waste!

[chickenlittle77]

anyone has any advice how to control food waist in the quails pen? i have 3 level cages and each one of them has its feeder. underneath i have trays to pick up the poo. they do waste a lot of food, i clean the trays once a week sometimes twice and i find almost 1 1/2 #s of wasted food which i separate it from the poop and refeed it. is it common such a waste of food with quails?

 

[CedarRidgeChicks]

I am having the same problem..anyone else?

 

[chickenlittle77]

do u have a feeder like mine? btw mine is one of those u hang on the outside by the wire and can put food from the outside. i though of maybe making some gadget to go just underneath the part where they eat to collect the wasted food, i donnu, maybe someone has a better idea?

 

[millerwb]

Same problem. Have not found a good solution yet.

 

[monarc23]

I use round aluminum chick feeders


These:

(chick is sleeping) I use these for adult pens as well. They dont waste much if at all. They waste because they like to also dustbathe in their feed but even offering thema dust pan they normally still fling feed as well too

others have said they've used these feeders and had waste...well I have like 13 pens with various coturnix in it and None waste it

 

[shelleyd2008]

I use the same ones, though mine are the bases of the plastic feeders. I also use some I made from a cut-down butter bowl and lid with holes cut in the top. The quail can't get into it to scratch feed out, with their feet or beaks. They really like to scratch! You could also try using a hanging feeder that is just low enough for them to eat, but not so low that they can scratch it. They'll still probably kick some out with their beaks, but it won't be as bad. LilRalphieRoosmama bought some feeders from ebay that were made from pvc pipe. The quail can get their heads in to eat, but the way it's made they can't kick food out with their beaks. She says hers don't waste feed at all anymore. I'll see if I can find her post.


Tip: Do a search, this topic has been covered several times.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=130209

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We started using a rabbit feeder in our quail cages and the feed waste was terrible, then we switched to a 3 or 7 pound hanging feeder. That dropped feed waste to just about zero. We now use the 3 pound size in all our brooder boxes and the 7 pound in the grow out pens.

here is a pic
http://cgi.ebay.com/Hanging-Poultry...temQQimsxZ20090611?IMSfp=TL090611219006r26610

Steve in NC

 

[chickenlittle77]

thank you guys! i'm gonna try that type of feeder monarc uses! maybe it will help. i notice now that for the adults the wasting is being minimal because they r eating pellets instead of crumbles.

 

[chickenlittle77]

the hanging feeder is also a good idea, i just dont have enough hight in the cages for that

 

[chicken_angler]

I found a really good idea to catch the food before it hits the ground. Cut a 4 inch pipe directly in half length wise. This creates a trough that will catch the feed. Just wake it removable so that you can dump it back in the feeders.

Good luck!
Cody!!