Quail don’t look great

[featheredplanets]

Firstly, sorry for asking so many questions!

Secondly... when I got the 6 females they looked really healthy and the guy obviously knew what he was doing, having dealt with dodgy chicken breeders, I know a few things to look out for. They laid 2-3 between them for the first 6 days and have not laid since. I got them on the 11th. This is understandable, it’s stressful moving and he had a light on them for 18 hours a day. Here they have no supplemental lighting, yet. But my worry is, they just stand about hunched up. I think they’re bored though they get grass clippings, sods, they have stuff to jump on and pot to hide in. But when chickens stand around looking dejected, it can cause worry as it usually means they’re not feeling great. Is this just a quail thing? I’m seeing a couple loose feathers, I think there may be some pecking order arguments but I know the cage is a little small for 6 quail. Once I get some vinyl, they’ll be living on the shed floor and have 2.5sqft of space each, area is about 4x4. So is the worrying behaviour just because of the slightly cramped space or something more concerning?

The pic shows a little over half their cage

Oh and they should be 12 weeks old.

 

[Nabiki]

They look a little crowded to me if that's over half of their cage. They should have at least 1 square foot per bird, I wouldn't want to give them less than twice that. Can you give them some live or fake plants to hide in? This is the enclosure (summer pic) that I keep eight birds in. It's approximately 20 square feet.

 

[Kiki]

What are you feeding them?

 

[featheredplanets]

They look a little crowded to me if that's over half of their cage. They should have at least 1 square foot per bird, I wouldn't want to give them less than twice that. Can you give them some live or fake plants to hide in? This is the enclosure (summer pic) that I keep eight birds in. It's approximately 20 square feet.
View attachment 2008411

I can certainly get on it. So do you think the crowding is why they’re acting run down?

 

[featheredplanets]

What are you feeding them?

Chick crumb. Non med, of course. Brand is Argo. It’s 18% but I’m doing my best to find a game or turkey starter that is non medicated.

 

[Kiki]

Chick crumb. Non med, of course. Brand is Argo. It’s 18% but I’m doing my best to find a game or turkey starter that is non medicated.

Chick crumb is not good enough....unless they are eating oyster shell too.
Can you get LAYER crumbles?

 

[featheredplanets]

Chick crumb is not good enough....unless they are eating oyster shell too.
Can you get LAYER crumbles?

Yes they have fine oyster shell in a cup. What type of layer? Quail or chicken? Both options I have looked at have low protein contents, I thought you try to go as high as possible with quail?

 

[Kiki]

Yes they have fine oyster shell in a cup. What type of layer? Quail or chicken? Both options I have looked at have low protein contents, I thought you try to go as high as possible with quail?

Disregard my comment about the chick feed then.
I just assumed you were not offering oyster shell.


The high protein feed is only necessary for their first 6 to 8 weeks of life.

I switch my quail over to regular old chicken layer crumbles at about 7 weeks of age.

I am not a fan of feeding a chick feed with oyster shell on the side because I have seen too many times that the dummies will not eat the oyster shell on the side.... So I prefer to not give them a choice by feeding them a layer type feed.

 

[Kiki]

I don't think you mentioned poop...
Can you get a few pictures of fresh poop?

 

[featheredplanets]

Disregard my comment about the chick feed then.
I just assumed you were not offering oyster shell.


The high protein feed is only necessary for their first 6 to 8 weeks of life.

I switch my quail over to regular old chicken layer crumbles at about 7 weeks of age.

I am not a fan of feeding a chick feed with oyster shell on the side because I have seen too many times that the dummies will not eat the oyster shell on the side.... So I prefer to not give them a choice by feeding them a layer type feed.

Ah okay, I didn’t know that they only need it for their first couple months. I’ve seem some others feed layer and it seems to work for them so I think I’ll try it when the current bag of feed runs out.