Why Aren’t My Quail Developing?

[CovidtimeQuail]

I believe many people feed more readily available chicken starter, and they up the protein with meal worms or other insects. Making your own feed is difficult due to the various vitamin supplements needed, but perhaps you can find a decent chicken starter as a base.

That's what I had to do with the first two sets. Same feed, but the second try yielded better results, I think due to better hatching stock.

I used chick starter with ground up mealworms and peanuts. They didn't grow quite as fast as the third batch with game bird feed, but they got to full size just fine.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

You said they were sold to you as button quail eggs?

 

[FloorCandy]

The beaks actually tip it towards nutrient deficiency in my opinion. I'm not sure its a general caloric deficiency or a specific nutrient but features developing without weight gain is textbook malnutrition in my experience with other animals, unless the genetic defect is with their metabolism, in which case I doubt they would have hatched at all.

I agree, small bodies and big heads screams malnutrition to me.