I am not familiar with button quail, but my jumbo brown coturnix stay inside for 4 weeks. They hatch, stay in the cooker until dry! First week in the brooder 98-100F one 100 watt bulb with covers over the brooder and always given warm water. Cold water in there watering bowl can chill the quail and kill them. 2nd week 90F in the brooder with one 60 watt bulb warm water. 3rd week 80F with one 40 watt bulb luke warm water. Week 4 no bulb and tap water. Once they are fine with room temp, outside they go. Week 7 or 8 dinner. Very simple and straight forward. Every one of the quail but 1 that has made it out of the cooker has lived.
Joe
and where were you when i first started?!!!!!
that is what i figured, of course it took some day olds and now some older to figure that out, but now i know. its all good!! they will grace the crop of my bird soon!!!
Mistake can always happen. Out of my last 120 eggs, I only got 30 hatched. Went on a weekend camping trip and some one dog\or person unplugged the extension cord for my egg turner!
PM me your e-mail address. I have some PDF's on raising quail.
Post by Master Yarak on May 20, 2009 7:02:36 GMT -5
OK so more unsolicited advice. I know NOTHING about raising quail. This post is not about raising quail. Its about nutrition. That is something I know about. In the last 4 weeks I have spoken to two forum members who are feeding there birds quail exclusively. After speaking with me they have stopped. "Variety is the spice of life". Too much of anything is a bad. Quail is high in protein, very high. High levels of protein will alter the way the feathers grow. I need to say that these two folks have Red-Tails. Falcons are better at metabolizing these proteins. I know this how? From personal experience. On a very similar diet (too much protein) Bane's feathers grew in curled on the trailing edge. Guess what...I did not even notice. It was uniform and effected all the primaries. When I took her to the vet as usual prior to the start of the season, he pointed them out to me. So for all those raising quail please do not feed them exclusively. Mix in Rats rabbits snakes squirrels anything yummy. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
OK so more unsolicited advice. I know NOTHING about raising quail. This post is not about raising quail. Its about nutrition. That is something I know about. In the last 4 weeks I have spoken to two forum members who are feeding there birds quail exclusively. After speaking with me they have stopped. "Variety is the spice of life". Too much of anything is a bad. Quail is high in protein, very high. High levels of protein will alter the way the feathers grow. I need to say that these two folks have Red-Tails. Falcons are better at metabolizing these proteins. I know this how? From personal experience. On a very similar diet (too much protein) Bane's feathers grew in curled on the trailing edge. Guess what...I did not even notice. It was uniform and effected all the primaries. When I took her to the vet as usual prior to the start of the season, he pointed them out to me. So for all those raising quail please do not feed them exclusively. Mix in Rats rabbits snakes squirrels anything yummy. Yarak
Yarak,
i take offense to the notion that you think i have not learned anything.
the quail are nothing more than freezer decoration until needed. i trapped about 50 sparrows and plan on feeding rats also. Dont worry master, i have learned alot and plan on learning more.
i have yet to snatch the pebble from the hand, but i almost got it. ;D
that being said, quail are a nutritious meal for them, but eating quail every day cant supplment everything they need.
Yarak, I feed my RT 1-2 at the most quail a week, and the rest is jack rabbit which she caught herself. My quail mainly go to other falconers and on my dinner table
i am putting the quail in the brooder, i see them picking on certain ones, and by picking i mean picking them up and slamming them down. so i put one in ther yesterday and i see him this morning, his legs are burnt to a crisp, and i have seen that on other ones after they are dead also. i am not sure how or why it happens. none of the other living ones are burnt like that. the one this morning lived, but his toes are burnt crispy and shrivled. he can stand, but it is a mystery to me how this happens. the other that hatched yesterday, his feet are permanently clutched for what ever reason, they will not lay flat, so i am putting that one under bad genetics.
so it has been a love hate relationship with these birds. i found that they can get lonely. i moved about 6 chicks at once in with the adults and they did fine. then i moved a single on in with the adults and it died, thought it was weird, no damage from other birds, so i moved another single bird over and it died a few days later also, again no damage from the other birds. so i think i am going to have to move in clutches. lucky for me, i have about 6 babies right now that should all make the same day transfer.
the chicks are now adults, but only one of the original adults is still laying eggs, the others havent started yet. i plan on seperating 1 male 2 females and hope i get some eggs.
i also moved the brooder outside. OMG, i saw a big difference, the chicks seem to be growing faster with natural sunlight on their feathers. they are not in direct sun, but they just seem better. at night it gets down to a chilly 75 degrees, so i think its plenty warm for them, i still have a light for them to get under if needed.
OMG!!! i was given about 30 texas a&m quail eggs, these are just feeder birds, they get up to 12oz so big dumb birds.
like 15 hatched yesterday. it was like an alarm clock went off and they all popped out!!!! amazing!! the day olds are as big as some of the 2 and 3 week olds i have in the brooder. i been told that they are full size and laying eggs in 6 weeks, i hope so!.
that and the news gets better, i went outside last night to check on the quail, and a hen was sitting on 3 of her own eggs!!!!
on the other end.. the Texas AnM quail are growing like GANGBUSTERS!!!!
in 3 weeks they are bigger than the adult button, the older button quail grow slower than the younger Texas quail, so next time i am going to get bigger quail and start that way.