Time without food

[Pineapple]

Unexpectedly I have to leave for 3 days. What can I do to make sure my quails have food? No other people available and I have to leave later tonight.

 

[allykay219]

When my feeders are full my quail usually take cpl days to eat all of it. I give them zucchini and cucumbers out of the garden too and they'll eat on them for a few days. I cut the zucchini up and fourths and split it up but I give them whole cucumbers. I'd prob worry more about them getting water if I had to leave mine.

 

[quails-101]

Quail have storage pouches in their throats for seeds and other feeds witch can last them days with out eating and they have the same storage idea for water but it is not in their throats. So your quail can be good with out food for about a week.

 

[eHuman]

If you are raising them for meat, never let them run out of food. If they are layers or breeders, never let them run out of food. If they are pets, why would you let them run out of food?

Place a second or bigger feeder.

 

[Pineapple]

If you are raising them for meat, never let them run out of food. If they are layers or breeders, never let them run out of food. If they are pets, why would you let them run out of food?

Place a second or bigger feeder.

Every healthy animal (including people) should go periods without food. It has a lot of health benefits if it's controlled or periodic. Look up "caloric restriction."

 

[DK newbie]

Every healthy animal (including people) should go periods without food. It has a lot of health benefits if it's controlled or periodic. Look up "caloric restriction."

Actually, that's not entirely true. It's correct that some species - humans included - benefit from not eating every other day or so, but there are animals that have next to no places to store energy and/or a very high metabolism that makes it crucial for them to eat with very short intervals. I don't think quail belong to either group, but still I'd do as eHuman - place a second feeder. The benefits of caloric restriction come at a cost, primarily a reduction in reproductive activities. That's usually not something quail owners want.

 

[Pineapple]

Actually, that's not entirely true. It's correct that some species - humans included - benefit from not eating every other day or so, but there are animals that have next to no places to store energy and/or a very high metabolism that makes it crucial for them to eat with very short intervals. I don't think quail belong to either group, but still I'd do as eHuman - place a second feeder. The benefits of caloric restriction come at a cost, primarily a reduction in reproductive activities. That's usually not something quail owners want.

I didn't say days. You may need to read more carefully.

 

[eHuman]

I didn't say days. You may need to read more carefully.

No you didn't you said a week. Quail kept for meat or egg production at the very minimum will lose weight and stop laying, and have been known to canabilize or eat feces in the absence of food.
Recap:
(OP) I have to leave for a while how do I feed my quail?
(You) Let"em starve they'll be fine. I read that for some species it's healthy. Don't really know about quail though.

It's just not productive to give advice that could potentially harm someone else's covey when you are really just correlating non related exceptions.

Is it possible that they would be fine? Sure it is.

Is it possible that his quail could die and you bare no responsibility? Sure it is.

If you care, feed your animals. Don't experiment on them.

 

[Eric 2016]

No one said a week and no one said to let them starve, why would you post that?

 

[purslanegarden]

A simple solution is to have a feeder that is refilled by some kind of gravity action. Fill that container up, and the food will keep falling and replenishing the feeder as the quail eat their food. A similar thing for water is good, but seems like they dirty up their water more often, or at least it's more visible that they did. However, for 3 days, it should be OK.

I use a 1 gallon waterer for 10 quail, it lasts about 3 days before I refill it, but it could probably go 4 days.

However, for a weekend trip (2 days), I usually am content if I can have enough food for them for 1 or 1.5 days. They don't need food all day long, and can go a few hours without food I'm sure. In that case, what I do is put in two feeders (gasp!) so they have a larger supply of food than usual. It's not to say they won't eat both feeders done in 1 day but hey if they do, then it won't hurt them to not eat the 2nd day, right?