Mistakes I Made In My Quailing Experince. 7 Things You Can Do To Avoid Learning The Hard Way!

[bantamsrmyfav]

One thing I would share is don't mix different species of quail chicks together. I had a brooder of button, different types of coturnix and bobwhite. Which was already a bad idea because the other ones were bigger but I didn't think the small buttons could get trampled. That wasn't how the poor baby button died- it was pecked to death and it was very gruesome. I could go into details but it might not be allowed on this forum. That was over 10 years ago and I still feel bad about it and traumatized about what I saw. Needless to say I separated the other button chicks after that.

 

[Acre4Me]

~1. Using a heat pad for brooding.

~2. Running the brooder/incubator on limited power.
This costed quite a few chicks their lives. We live in the middle of nowhere so have very limited power. The heat pad and limited power were a disasterous combo. NEVER: run a brooder and a incubator on limited power.

~5. Having unsafe latches.
This was how I lost my button hen. The latch was a bit of wood that you turned to realease the door. Anyway, apparently mums Doberman x Mastiff had been watching me. At night he pushed the latch and killed her. He crushed all her eggs as well. NEVER: Have unsafe latches like that. Always use good quality ones.

~6. Feeding your quail with no true calcium.
This caused my coturnix quail to lay some very interesting eggs. If you don't give your quail good calicium they will lag odd eggs. The first weird egg had no shell and no yolk. It was just the inner shell and white weird. The second was snow white with brown spots .normal, but in the brown spots there was fluro green splodges. I did some research and this was from calcium deffciency. NEVER: Feed your quail gamebird feed alone. Always use 3 cups of their food by on cup blood and bone. Make sure the blood and bone is non medicated.(If you feel bad about feeding your quail ground up sheep then do it the hard way and grind eggshells as find as sand.

Thanks for the tips.

1. I used a heat plate - they use less power than a heat pad or bulb. Also, I found that quail chicks could not keep warm enough under the heat plate until about 1 week old. They needed a heat lamp for at least the first 4 or 5 days (I guess tiny bodies + fluff and not feathers makes for a chilled little bird).

2. Look into alternate methods of incubating eggs and warming chicks. People did this before power. Amish in the USA have these alternate methods today. I have seen old wooden incubators warmed with candles a few times. Anyway, I'm sure that an internet search can yield much info.

5. Unsafe latches: Very true! Also, having a kid helping you with tasks might lead to unsecured cages. We have a cage with a door that closes just fine, but any weight against it seems to allow it to open and we've chased down several escaped quail. We now have added a clip to the closure to ensure the quail don't escape.

6. Calcium: I use cuttlebone (like you would buy for a parrot) attached to the side of the cage. I found a source for a bulk box of like 55-60 cuttlebone for $45, otherwise I can buy 1 cuttlebone at the big box store for $1.15 each, so the bulk buy was better, and I have 5 cages of quail (5-6 per cage). The quail love to eat the cuttlebone.

Good Luck! You have learned a lot on your own, and now are a better quail-keeper!

 

[strawberricatt]

Thanks for the tips.

1. I used a heat plate - they use less power than a heat pad or bulb. Also, I found that quail chicks could not keep warm enough under the heat plate until about 1 week old. They needed a heat lamp for at least the first 4 or 5 days (I guess tiny bodies + fluff and not feathers makes for a chilled little bird).

2. Look into alternate methods of incubating eggs and warming chicks. People did this before power. Amish in the USA have these alternate methods today. I have seen old wooden incubators warmed with candles a few times. Anyway, I'm sure that an internet search can yield much info.

5. Unsafe latches: Very true! Also, having a kid helping you with tasks might lead to unsecured cages. We have a cage with a door that closes just fine, but any weight against it seems to allow it to open and we've chased down several escaped quail. We now have added a clip to the closure to ensure the quail don't escape.

6. Calcium: I use cuttlebone (like you would buy for a parrot) attached to the side of the cage. I found a source for a bulk box of like 55-60 cuttlebone for $45, otherwise I can buy 1 cuttlebone at the big box store for $1.15 each, so the bulk buy was better, and I have 5 cages of quail (5-6 per cage). The quail love to eat the cuttlebone.

Good Luck! You have learned a lot on your own, and now are a better quail-keeper!

Thanks! I impulse bought some day old button chicks from a friend, and raised them with a hot water bottle, so that is a good alt power method.