Quail Growing Questions

[dimi]

Hey, all.
My 4 week quail are growing very fast and I had a couple of questions:
1. For now they are all in one cage (3'x2.5') while I am building out other ones. They seem to shed. I don't know the normal level of shedding but what is your experience with shedding? How often do you clean out their feathers? I seem to need to do it every day.

2. I feed them DuMor Chick Starter for now. On the back of the bag, they say that the starter needs to be fed with starter until 8 weeks but I wonder if I should start with next level sooner. At what age did you go to Starter/Grower or even if you skipped Starter/Grower and went straight to adult feed (Layena or similar)?

3. Anyone keeps them indoors - basement/garage? What's your experience with smell level?

Thanks,
Dimi

 

[dc3085]

Hey, all.
My 4 week quail are growing very fast and I had a couple of questions:
1. For now they are all in one cage (3'x2.5') while I am building out other ones. They seem to shed. I don't know the normal level of shedding but what is your experience with shedding? How often do you clean out their feathers? I seem to need to do it every day.

They molt into their adult feathers around this time, if you aren't seeing spots that are picked bald they are just molting. It will happen once a year.

2. I feed them DuMor Chick Starter for now. On the back of the bag, they say that the starter needs to be fed with starter until 8 weeks but I wonder if I should start with next level sooner. At what age did you go to Starter/Grower or even if you skipped Starter/Grower and went straight to adult feed (Layena or similar)?

Starter is a higher protein food for their growing bodies feed it until 8 weeks then you can step down to 20-25% protein away from the 30% the starter has.

3. Anyone keeps them indoors - basement/garage? What's your experience with smell level?
Their feces smells heavily of ammonia I would recommend keeping them somewhere extremely well ventilated and if it be inside I would keep them over wire and try to add kitty litter or something similar to their turd trays.

Thanks,
Dimi

 

[chickenman805]

Mine shed "molt" around 4 to 4.5 weeks it should last about a week.
I feed mine starter crumble until 5 weeks and then 1 part layer crumble 2 parts layer crumble until 8 weeks. supplementing meal worms the whole time. with the worms 'free choice" untill 3 weeks or feathered. and then feed 1 feeding morning and night after.

PS. I only feed past 6 weeks for breeders and layers. otherwise I harvest them at 6 weeks
I hope the info helps

 

[chickenman805]

If you keep the poo and area DRY DRY DRY and change trays at least every 3 days. you will have minimal smell. do deep cleaning/disinfecting once a week and you should be fine. im sure your quantity of birds will affect the outcome. i keep 4 in a 2x2' and only have noticeable smell when gets wet. Also I have noticed that soy in the food increases the stink. the better the quality feed also the less smell. these are just my observations of course.

 

[dimi]

Thanks for all suggestions, guys.

I keep them over wire and have a plastic tray underneath full of pine shavings. I clean it every other day. But the smell is somewhat heavy right now. No ventilation right now, though.
I am still contemplating whether to move them into garage or leave them in the basement and work out the ventilation options.

Kitty litter sounds like a good idea! Although that way I won't be able to use their droppings for my composter..

Thanks for the feed explanations and suggestions, I will keep that in mind.

I will keep my eye on the shedding levels. Hopefully this is just molting.

 

[dc3085]

If it isn't molting you'll see bald spots on heads and backs.

 

[dimi]

You are right. I didn't notice any bold spots on them.