Thank You

[jeepster]

I just wanted to post here and say thanks. Thanks for the info the pics and all the help.
I haven't posted a lot of questions or threads because I have been reading everyone else's threads and questions.
Me I am new to quail I have 17 Coturnix that I will be raising for eggs and meat. Yes they are cute but I was raised that animals are food, mostly. When I get home this evening I will post a video to my YouTube channel so you can see my little peepers in their brooder.
Thanks again.

 

[TwoCrows]

BYC is the place to be when you need the info! Everyone here has something to contribute.

Make yourself at home here in the Quail section. Oh, and welcome to BYC!

 

[jeepster]

Thank you TwoCrows.

As I promised earlier here is the link to the video

In the video you can see two chicks that are tiny compared to the others. I was afraid that they were having problems since they didn't seem to be growing. I was right I lost one today and the other is looking poorly now as well. If I loose the second one I will be down to 16 birds. That is a higher percentage of loss than I was hoping for but with 16 I should still be able to produce sufficient eggs to up my numbers.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thanks for the video. Cute birds!

The smaller ones...are they getting enough to eat? Many times slow growers are not able to compete with the others for food and water. Is this area in the video where you are keeping them?

 

[jeepster]

They are in the brooder I made. And the brooder is in the spare room. The ambient temp in the room at night is a low of 55f and a high of 66f to 75f during the day. They have a heat lamp so they can stay warm and right now most of them are sleeping away from the lamp at night.

 

[TwoCrows]

This brooder they are in on your video is very small for all these chicks. What is the temp inside the brooder on the floor beneath the heat lamp? What are you feeding them? Do the little ones know where the feed is? They should have free choice feeding and you should not be on some feeding schedule but allowed to eat 24/7.

I would give them more space. 1/2 square foot per chick. These are oo cramped in. Know exactly what your temp is, and lower it accordingly. You should have started at 95 degrees on the first week and lowered it by 5 degrees each week there after for 5 weeks.

Make sure everybody has access to water and feed and there is no competition. If the room temp is fluctuating, so is the temp in the brooder which can kill chicks. So keep them in a room that has a constant temp.

 

[jeepster]

Temp in the brooder at the beginning was 98 under the heat lamp. I adjusted the height of the lamp further away as I observed the birds moving away from it. At first they were crowded under it but now they self regulate by being closer or further away as they see fit.

As for the feed there is a large feeder in with them (not in the video because as I said it was cleaning time) and they have free access to feed all the time.

Water is the same as feed they have free access to it all the time and it is placed so they can all fit around it to get a drink.

The brooder is to small. It was fine when they were smaller but as they have grown I feel they are a bit cramped. I will make another this week and split they flock. They will be moving to the grow out pens in another week once their feathers come in a bit more.