Category Archives: Quail – Feeding

FEED YOUR QUAILS PROPER AND CORRECTLY !!

I have recently decided to publish one of the many feeding comparisons / trials I do from time to time, which I think will assist the many people asking common questions about what to feed quails, and more specifically Coturnix coturnix Quails

TRIAL

I divided 66 day old Quails, all hatched from the same parent groups and hatching batch, into 6 groups of 11 each. Subjected them to 3 different treatments of two groups per treatment

TREATMENT 1 – Fed this group the standard Back Yard Farmer regime of 28 % Protein Quail Starter Mash from day 1 – day 21 of age, then switch to 26 % Protein Quail Growers Mash

TREATMENT 2 – Fed this group NXX Meatbird Crumble as per manufacturers recommendation

TREATMENT 3 – Fed this group WX Game Bird Crumble as per manufacturers recommendation

I am now quoting some of the results obtained up to 42 days of age. The intention was to follow this through to full egg production at 12 weeks of age, but for the benefit of the birds, I decided to terminate the trial at 42 days of age.

TREATMENT 1TREATMENT 2TREATMENT 3
Body mass at 16 days – g1057273
Body Mass at 24 days – g168122111
Body Mass at 31 days – g198142130
Body Mass at 42 days – g260212201
Mortality at 42 days – %0.00%13.60%22.70%

With the above results taken into consideration, I decided to terminate the trial for the benefit of the birds in some of the groups.

I have collected many more data from these trials and subjected the results to proper statistical analyses, but I think it superfluous to report

Coturnix coturnix QUAILS are not miniature PHEASANTS

Today I was called by an acquaintance who also “breeds quails” and was informed that he has lost over 150 quails this season dying mysteriously from whatever. My first question, as a animal nutritionist, was what he feeds the birds. I was appalled to hear that he gives them a commercial “Game and Quail Crumble” (A name invented by the reseller as the manufacturers does not even call it that) and supplements it with kibbled corn, peas and some “other seeds” and every so often they get some dog roll. This manufacturer also claims their product to be good for all stages of game birds, which is IMPOSSIBLE.

The mistake that many people make is to think that quails are just small pheasants. The feed companies that manufacture pheasant feeds, because there is a reasonable industry breeding and rearing pheasants for the hunting industry, want to jump onto the wagon and claim their feed is also good for quails as well, which is just not true. New Zealand is one of the few, if not only, developed countries in the world that does not have any animal feed regulations and / or legislation relating to feed analyses. This means the manufacturers can mix anything and claim anything and do not have to disclose any content nor analyses. It Is therefore difficult for anybody to comment on any feed, as very little is disclosed and no regulatory body oversee this industry

A quail hen of 220 g average body mass can lay up to 300 eggs of 11 g average (5 % of body mass), in a season. A total egg mass of 3,300 g, or 15 times the quail’s body mass

A pheasant hen of 1,300 g average can lay up to 80 eggs of 32 g average (2.4 % of body mass), in a season. A total egg mass of 2,560 g or 1.97 times the pheasant’s body mass

Quails are 760% more efficient egg producers than pheasants and they recommend feeding them the same?

So are there many other physiological and production differences between these two species of animals

I am an experienced and well qualified animal nutritionist who has been involved at all levels of animal nutrition in many countries of the world, and seldom, if ever, have I heard such misrepresentation of any animal feed.

If you want your QUAILS to be healthy, happy and efficient producers, feed them a series of well formulated QUAIL FEEDS that is specifically manufactured for every different stage of life and production

QUAIL HOUSING

Housing for quails is fairly simple, but there are a few rules that would make there lives much more pleasant and productive

1. The housing must be 100 % dry AT ALL TIMES (100 % roof coverage with adequate overhang). Open on two sides with two solid walls protecting birds from prevailing wind and rain. The open sides need mesh of about 13 mm X 13 mm aperture as cats would put their claws through the holes if it is larger and kill the quail. As much sun as possible with shady spots if they want to get away from the sun. The cage roof must be a maximum of 500 mm high, otherwise the quails may injure themselves if frightened and take off hitting their heads on the roof

2. Quails need an area where they can hide from prevailing winds and drafts. Nooks and crannies and / or thick vegetation is required

3. Coturnix Quails are ground dwellers and would not roost and would very seldom use a second level upstairs – so all their food and water requirements need to be at ground level. They can be taught to go up, but it is not natural for them

4. Coturnix quail need a sand bath to keep them healthy, happy and clean – so if their cage is on the ground and DRY, it is all good as they would create their own sandpit

5. Clean water and feed of the correct type all the time (ad lib). They would eat greens and table scraps (love meat) and it can be fed to them all the time as long as it does not make up too much of the diet (maximum about 20%)

6. A floor area of at least 2 meter square per group of 4 – 5 females and 1 male for the ideal cage (meeting all the above specifications) or more if the cage is deficient

7. If you want the quails to lay eggs all year round, you need to provide light for 16 hours per day, alternatively they will molt when the days are getting shorter and stop laying until the next season.

Quails and Plastic Bottles

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During the Dunedin Science Festival my eye caught a title while briefing through the program “Quails and Plastic Bottles”. I obviously was immediately interested and booked my ticket for the 1 hour lecture. The talk was a big disappointment as it discussed quails for about 10 seconds, in which some very inaccurate and irrelevant information was conveyed. The talk about plastic bottles, which was not quail related at all, lasted for another 10 seconds. With this in mind, I am giving you another look at Quails and Plastic Bottles. Needless to say that recycling old plastic bottles is the correct thing to do and it makes me tremendously happy to do my bit in limiting the carbon footprint and plastic pollution of our dysfunctional world. The alternative is to purchase some poultry feeders. at exorbitant prices, from companies here in New Zealand that import vast quantities of more Chinese plastics and the irony is that these purchased feeders are by no means so effective as the home made ones.

I use 2 liter used plastic milk bottles to make my quail water drinkers and feeders. Once the quail chicks reach another stage of maturity and size I introduce a new drinker and feeder to suite their needs until fully grown.

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I start off by giving them open feed and water covered by a wire mesh to teach them to eat and drink.

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At 7 days of age I introduce the next drinkers and feeders. The water drinker with the 25 mm openings, 50 mm of the ground, on two sides of the bottle (it stands in a corner) allows them to investigate and mostly by accident have their first drink. For the first few hours I drip water in the drinkers from above so the little quails come and investigate the noise and water sound and find themselves drinking by surprise. It only takes them a few hours to be master the water drinkers. It is however important to not have these drinkers before 7 days of age as the little quails are too small and fit through the hole and drown. If the hole is exactly 25 mm and round , not oval, the chicks will not fit through at 7 days of age and you will have 100% success. The feeders have 50 mm holes and the quails can eat from the outside, or get themselves into the bottle and eat inside. This teaches them where the food is and soon enough they will be too big to fit through the hole and only eat from the outside, like the mature quails do.

I cut the tops of the bottles in the beginning stages so they can fit into the brooders which is only 200 mm high. It is important to cut the height such that their is very little space between the top of the drinker and the roof of the brooder so the little quails cannot jump into them, which is a trick they learn early in life.

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At 14 days of age, I change the water drinkers to a 35 mm hole and 60 mm of the ground as their heads are getting too large for the 25 mm hole. I now also switch to only one water hole which makes it easier to fill to the rim without water flowing out of one of the other holes. Use the 35 mm 70 mm off the ground if the bedding becomes too high. The feeder remains the same.

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At 28 days of age I change to adult feeders and drinkers with 40 mm holes and 70 mm off the ground.

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At 49 days of age when I take them from the brooders to the breeding pens outside, they stay on 40 mm holes and 70 mm off the ground, but have a section at the top cut out to make feeding and washing of the feeders easier. I do not top up the feeders, but dump and refill. The water feeders are without the opening to prevent birds landing in the water as my cages are 600 mm high and they can fly and land in the water if open. These feeders hold about two days of feed and water for a breeding group of 5 females and a male which make it easy to go away for a weekend without having to feed.

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All the water drinkers you will require

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All the feeders you would require