Keeping quail from wasting food.

[Dogfish]

What type of feeders do you use to keep them from wasting all of their food? Mine like to kick it out of their feeder, where it falls through the plastice grates on their floor, to the ground.

 

[sfw2]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=409525

There are some good suggestions here.

 

[JJMR794]

Have You Tried Leg Shackles?

Just Kidding.... I Have Good Luck With Any Of The Chick Feeder Strips That Just Have Small Hole-like Openings Big Enough For Their Head, But They Cant Get In There To Scratch At It With Their Feet.

 

[Sumatra503]

They make quail feeders with very small holes that prevent sctatching.

You can also set your feeder on top of a cookie sheet or something wide with edges.

i've noticed mine are big wasters.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Mine have the long metal chick feeders and I don't notice any wasting. When they were in separate cages they all had the bottoms of the round chick feeders, no wasting then either.

 

[mhwc56]

Quote:
would you please have YOUR birds call MY birds and discuss this ? I think mine have contests to see who can chuck/kick the most food out of their feeders and make the biggest mess !

 

[Rozzie]

My coturnix (edited to clarify) have their food in a big frisbie. My husband bought it for the dog. She looked at him like he was a fool for getting something like that so I promptly repurposed it. They scratch in it but don't really kick a huge amount out. (Their pen has a solid bottom, though, so any they kick out can be found later.)

Now, I do have a couple of button quail that I need to have a discussion about this with. One dislikes the larger crumbles. He picks up the pieces and if he decides they are too big he clearly THROWS it aside. Then he goes back and tries another piece...

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I have tryed chick feeders, parakeet feeders, you name it I've tryed it!
I think the chik feeders work the best.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

I have tryed chick feeders, parakeet feeders, you name it I've tryed it!
I think the chik feeders work the best.

My buttons just have small bowls, actually they are the bottoms of small butter tubs or cottage cheese containers. I just cut them down to about 1" tall. Whatever they (buttons) spill they get to clean up, they only get fed once a day and they have solid floors.

I think what the OP was asking about are coturnix that are kept in raised wire cages, if they spill it it goes on the ground.

 

[Rozzie]

Edited to clarify my post...

The coturnix have the frisbie. Actually, one pen of button quail have a frisbie, too. They love it.

The rest of the buttons have a variety of things -- some have jar lids, a couple have chick feeders. What works best for me are the super small canning jars -- I have a couple dozen TINY ones that only hold 4 ounces. These aren't the standard 1 cup jelly jars but are half that. It's not even worth canning in them (the lids cost more than the food that would go in them). However, because I haven't seen them again, I've been hesitant to get rid of them. I'm glad I kept them as they are PERFECT food and water dishes for the buttons!