How to raise Quail questions?

[James the Bald]

Funny you should mentioned that, as I just sent this link in a PM to somebody about cat food supplement for quail feed. There are many factors that can affect egg production. With the recent cold winter blast, my girls went from 22 eggs a day to almost 6 a day. For a few nights, the temps dipped into the middle 20s, and I put a heat lamp (with a dimmer switch) on them set at 60 degrees and within the past couple of days their egg production increased.
James

 

[swords75xlh]

All I give my birds until they are 6 weeks old is kitten chow NOT cat chow . I'm just saying what works for me

 

[marjo]

All I give my birds until they are 6 weeks old is kitten chow NOT cat chow . I'm just saying what works for me

Would you be kind enough to elaborate on the kitten chow, do you grind it up and why do you use this rather than poultry feed
I'm just curious maybe something I may try if there is benefit for the birds

Thx.

 

[marksouth]

I put some kitten chow in a blender and added it to the crumbles in the brooder to boost the protien a bit. I've never read in the forum to feed chicks only kitten chow. My education comes from the forum and maybe I've missed it. The kitten chow I used was 40% protien, seems a little high for quail to be the only source of food. I might be wrong....

 

[TwoCrows]

I put some kitten chow in a blender and added it to the crumbles in the brooder to boost the protien a bit. I've never read in the forum to feed chicks only kitten chow. My education comes from the forum and maybe I've missed it. The kitten chow I used was 40% protien, seems a little high for quail to be the only source of food. I might be wrong....

Why would you be adding a 40% protein food to chick feed? Chicks do not need more than 30% protein while growing and this is for meat birds. Too much protein can harm the kidneys of babies, you are depriving them of the PROPER formulation of nutrients just for quail, AND you are adding way too much salt for growing babies.

Cat food is good for times of high stress such as molting or during extreme hot weather when they are not eating much. Not for babies in the brooder.

 

[dc3085]

Be careful playing with protein percentages outside the norm. Egg laying hens can get blowouts quite easily by getting too much protein, aside from the other health effects.

Valley quail like bobs, chukars, and some other galliformes are first year birds. Meaning they will reach maturity the spring after they were born assuming they are of proper age. 30 weeks is a good round number. So basically the first spring after they reach 30 weeks of age they will begin to attempt to reproduce.

 

[TwoCrows]

One of the most common issues with young laying quail is too much protein early on in life. They don't yet have their egg laying machines in gear. The high protein causes a new hen to release very large yolks and are difficult to pass thru the oviduct, causing egg binding. So it is advised to let young layers lay at their own rate, no added light or high protein foods. Excess protein is for periods of stress only. Especially food that is not designed for quail.

 

[marksouth]

Why would you be adding a 40% protein food to chick feed? Chicks do not need more than 30% protein while growing and this is for meat birds. Too much protein can harm the kidneys of babies, you are depriving them of the PROPER formulation of nutrients just for quail, AND you are adding way too much salt for growing babies. 

Cat food is good for times of high stress such as molting or during extreme hot weather when they are not eating much. Not for babies in the brooder.

because where I live I can only get 24% chick starter and I added it very sparingly once a week or so as recommended here in previous posts on the forum. As I am new to quail I can only go by what I read here and hope I can trust the information