New Quail owner in Arizona

[Goldendog]

Hello everyone! We adopted 5 Coturnix quail that needed a home. I have been doing research to find the best way to care for them and this site has helped alot so thank you all for your posts.
They are very fun to watch and we are enjoying setting up a safe place for them to spend their lives in.
I have read that they need calcium which makes since with all the egg laying! I have given them crumbled egg shell but not all of them seem to like it. Does anyone use Oyster Shell crumbles or flour for their quail?

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Hopefully the quail folks will be able to advise. You can always use the BYC search function or visit the quail forum and quail articles here - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/quail.32/

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

I provide oyster shell on the side for all my birds.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC.
We are glad you joined this flock!
Jump right in and make yourself at home.

If your quail are laying eggs already you can feed them a chicken layer type feed which has enough calcium in it.

This video will help you learn how to navigate this site:

Coop Ideas:
Chicken Coops.

What exactly did you Google to get here? <<<<<<<<<<<

BYC has an APP!

 

[le_bwah]

Game bird feed + free choice calcium = nice strong eggs. My birds have had no issues with the oyster shell crumbles meant for chickens. Provide a little cup of it and top it off when it's getting low—they should only take what they need.

 

[Goldendog]

Game bird feed + free choice calcium = nice strong eggs. My birds have had no issues with the oyster shell crumbles meant for chickens. Provide a little cup of it and top it off when it's getting low—they should only take what they need.

Thanks for the advice. I want to do free choice but wasn’t sure if they would need the oyster flour or crumbles

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

Mine wouldn't touch the oyster shell. I dry and then crush up egg shells from my chickens to feed to the chickens and the quail, but the quail dont really care about it either so i dont bother giving it to them that often anymore... if i notice thin shells i will add it back.
I do supplement with chicken vitamins in the water twice a week and feed herbs like parsley and spinach as treats, which are both high calcium food, especially dried parsley but mine prefer fresh. My egg shells are very hard it seems to be more than adequate... they also like tuna and sardines, canned salmon, when i eat those things then the quails and dogs get some too.., but not very often, mostly the spinach parsley and other herbs is what the quail want.



Heres some stuff from the internet about calcium:

Among the top 20 calcium sources: dried parsley (1468 milligrams per 100 grams),
sesame seeds (975 mg/100g),
chia seeds (529 mg/100g),
boiled lamb’s quarters (258 mg/100g), and sunflower seed flour (114 mg/100g).
Dried parsley had more calcium than even dolomite powder, a calcium mineral supplement. Fresh parsley has 203 mg/100g.

Other herbs and vegetables from the Richters catalogue with high calcium (100-300 mg/100g) are vegetable amaranth, cooked dandelion greens, mustard spinach, balsam pear, roselle, and watercress.

https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/high-calcium-vegetables.php

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/foods-high-in-calcium/amp/

And heres another pretty good chart that lists alot of foods
https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/calcium_content_of_selected_foods/

https://www.anneshealthykitchen.com/top-50-foods-that-contain-the-highest-amount-of-calcium/



Sorry to put so many links i couldnt find one that satisfied me so i put several!

 

[Goldendog]

Thanks for the info. This is all very new to me-I have never had chickens or any kind of bird before. I have to say I totally love watching the quail. I planted some marigolds in self watering containers in their coops-within one day the girls had the marigolds gone and had started eating the dirt too! I think I will plant some parsley for them next. The other coop has one male and one female (they didn't get along with the other girls) and they haven't touched their marigolds.
I have been crushing up egg shells (theirs and also chicken egg shells) and they do seem to like them. They go nuts for cheese, sesame seeds and meal worms-I think my quail are going to get fat...They don't really seem to eat their game bird crumbles-they just wait for the delivery of their next snack so I am going to have to make myself limit it to once a day.

 

[rjohns39]

Good plan. They'll go for candy over a balanced meal any day.