Quail and scratching

[gwboolean]

Hi!

I have, on a good day 40 Valley Quail or on a bad day 30. I have no idea where the other 10 go on the bad days. It has been very entertaining hatching and raising these birds and certainly a learning experience.

Presently, they are 5 weeks old and the little turds scratch even more than chickens. I have finally gotten them to eat out feeders that they can just get their heads in, but they still manage to scratch most of the feed out and then they refuse to eat almost any of it.

Is there a way to get them to be a little more accommodating to reducing the waste and mess? I have already had to cut them off dried meal worms (who the hell can afford live ones?) after finding that their crap really stinks bad after eating the worms. And let me tell you, these little guys can crap more than a grown chicken in a day (or it sure looks like it).

 

[702Quails]

Make sure they can only stick their heads into the feeder and can't get on top of it. You can make a feeder out of a small storage container with narrow diameter holes that are about 2 in from the bottom. A tube in the middle will also serve to increase its capacity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkmM1EzZwEg

 

[gwboolean]

Thanks, I will give that a look. I have to say, that for such little fellas they can sure make a big mess and waste like I have never seen.

I really do spoil these little dudes. We will see how spoiled they are when I let them loose.

 

[tennesseequail]

Use the long red ones

Cuz some hardware cloth to the inner dimensions

Put it in top of the food inside this allows their beaks to get in but they cant really scratch at all

 

[gwboolean]

Thanks. However, I am not familiar with hardware cloth. I will look into that.