Quail care

[CJ_PH]

I really like your brooder set up. I have 3 plastic bins and a huge mess at 3 weeks. I’ve been trying to figure out an “intermediate” cage set up because they are too small for their final cages.

I found something on YouTube where he made a frame and has put 1/4 inch wire mesh over the frame which he put inside the plastic bin, made a small cut out on the bottom of the bin to have the poop pan out in.

Here's the link :

Hope it helps

 

[HillGuy]

I use peat moss.
This exact stuff:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Premier-1-cu-ft-Peat-Moss-0262/206020295
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I feed this for the first 6 weeks:
http://bryantgrainco.com/index.php/poultry/
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Then at about 6 weeks of age I switched them to the poultry "Lay Krumble".

Here is what one of my cages looks like:

I had not thought of peat moss. I may try that. My aviary has a dirt floor covered with sand. I then put down a layer of straw, and add more straw as needed to keep things dry/clean. Need to clean & replace the straw every other week.

What is the cleaning cycle like with the peat moss? Any issues with poop balls on the feet? My birds have had some.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

I had not thought of peat moss. I may try that. My aviary has a dirt floor covered with sand. I then put down a layer of straw, and add more straw as needed to keep things dry/clean. Need to clean & replace the straw every other week.

What is the cleaning cycle like with the peat moss? Any issues with poop balls on the feet? My birds have had some.

I keep mine on loose soil and peat moss with a bit of mulch, straw and leaf litter from the trees on my property. If you add a little peat moss and other substrate here and there and keep turning the soil (don’t let it get rainy and muddy) their feet stay very clean and the poop breaks down in the soil over time. There’s a good article on here that describes how to keep quail on deep litter, and while real deep litter doesn’t always work in every type of pen you can take some inspiration from that!