quail chicks

[sniperclp]

hi i am new to the forum and to hatching quail i am incubating 24 eggs and need some advice. what do the chicks eat once they are born and any more advice will be greatly appreciated.

atb sniperclp.

 

[foursons13]

We used game bird starter and crushed it up to almost a powder. They did great on it. Also make sure you have rocks or marbles in the water. They tend to drown. I actually thought I had enough rocks in the water and one baby found the lowest spot and drowned. I haven't hatched quail but have just raised a batch from day 1. Its pretty amazing how much they grow and mature in a week!

 

[Stellar]

I feed all my quail chicks unmedicated gamebird starter, and grind it up to a mash consistency. I also provide oyster shells at day one for bone strength. Some people feed the starter straight up with out grinding and without supplementation. It's preference so you can do whichever you please

 

[sniperclp]

thanks for the replys i will try the feed and put marbles in the water.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

i used straight up MANNA PRO GBS 24% protien UNMEDICATED the first 3 days, then i noticed that they wern't eating the bigger pieces, so i started blending it down, @7 days old we switched to PURINA STARTENA 30% protien UNmedicated (simply b/c i couldnt find it until then) and stopped grinding it down, they eat it fine now(they are almost 3 weeks old).

as with the water, a JAR LID works best filled with rocks/marbles/stones w/e you can find that will sit in there to keep the chicks from drowning, i took the stones out once they were large enough to not drown.

i havn't given them ANYthing else as far as nutrients. @3 weeks they are fully feathered, can EASILY tell males and females in pharaoh coturnix.



one bit of advice: with your brooder, best to use a towel(older the better it will get poo on it) for the first week, then switch to a LOW DUST wood shaving, newspaper(if its free

), any bedding for SMALL ANIMALS at the pet store will work, they go thru it fast, so make sure its cheap enough(i buy the BIGGEST bag of shavings at my local petco for about 11 bucks each, can't tell you how long they last b/c i honestly dont know, month or so?)

 

[Fat Daddy]

Do you have a brooder set up? Most use a rubbermaid tote and a heat light on top. Welcome to the forum... Bill

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Quote:
exactly what i have, 45gal tote with a hole cut in the lid, works great

 

[swheat]

Hope you can find the UN-medicated GBS, as I cannot find it here in my area.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I can only get medicated feed in my area, so that's what they get. I haven't noticed any problems from it. If I have GBS I feed them that, otherwise they get 20% chick starter (also medicated). I only grind or mash feed for button quail, the coturnix might not be able to eat the bigger pieces at first, but it only takes a few days for them to clean it up. I keep them on a towel for about a week so the bigger pieces are still in there for them to munch on once they get big enough.

ETA: After the first week they are put on pine pellet bedding. Shavings get a sour smell if they get wet, and they always get 'wet' with coturnix. Coturnix stink bad enough, then combined with the sour shavings??

Pelleted bedding is much more absorbent and I use it for everything. TSC has it for between $4.99 and $6.99 depending on if it's on-sale and one bag lasts for about a month if I don't have to overhaul the big brooders on the porch

 

[swheat]

Quote:
I am still searching for the un-medicated because I am wanting to pickle some eggs and I have a problem of eating eggs from medicated fed birds

...will probably want to grill a few extra roos also, but the birds themselves will be fine on it. Do you eat any of their eggs from birds on medicated feed ?