Raising Quail

When I was raising quail I found that any birds that hatched after the initial group were very likely to die. I have left eggs in the incubator as many as 5 days after initial hatch just in case. But every bird that hatched one or two days and rarely into the third day were normally very weak and couldn't compete with the earlier hatchlings. You wouldn't think it but one or two days makes a huge difference and the later birds usually would die. When they are born on time they still have the remainder of their yoke sacs to feed from for the first day or so. When they stay in their eggs to long they absorb the yolk sacs and are born in imediate need of nutrition. They will be to weak already and are unable to compete with the older chicks. If they live thorough the first week they were normally good to go. You are always going to have some die despite your best efforts. If they are crowding under the brooder they are not warm enough. I used to keep my brooder close to the birds so there was a lot of heat and they would decide how close they needed to be to stay warm. As long as there is enough room for them to get away from heat if it is excessive they will be good. I would adjust brooder as needed to prevent piling. For the first week or so I would also place a wash cloth under brooder to help retain heat and prevent any upward drafts. They will shit it up pretty quick. I would discard shitty cloth and replace with a clean one. Hope this help at least a little.
 
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They were too hot. I had a bum thermometer that was reading very low in the brooder. Fixed that and put smaller bulbs in the lamps. Think they are good now. Backyard chickens is a great site for poultry.
 
Got 3 eggs tonight and just boiled up the first 2 I got. They were good, can't wait to get a shitload and make some egg salad.
 
Don't know if your into it but those quail eggs.....pickled......awesome. I used to get the pickling juice from Star Pickling, boil the eggs, peel and throw them into a jar with the juice. The longer they stay in the jar the better they taste.
 
fishhawk357 said:
Don't know if your into it but those quail eggs.....pickled......awesome. I used to get the pickling juice from Star Pickling, boil the eggs, peel and throw them into a jar with the juice. The longer they stay in the jar the better they taste.
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I tried it once and didn't like them. Do you have a good recipe?
 
Mike-Mike said:
Got 3 eggs tonight and just boiled up the first 2 I got. They were good, can't wait to get a shitload and make some egg salad.
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That's awesome. It will certainly take a shitload to make an egg salad. Made omelets for the kids for lunch today with our chicken eggs and all I thought was I would need about 30 quail eggs to do what I did with 6 chicken eggs.

On another note I cant get over how fast these things are growing. THey are a week old and really starting to develop feathers. I will take a picture tonight and post it.
 
They do grow fast. My birds are outside and it's been like 7 Deg at night. They are really hearty and easy to care for. Mine lay at like 5-6pm so I get pumped to walk out there and see what they made me today.
 
fishhawk357 said:
When I was raising quail I found that any birds that hatched after the initial group were very likely to die. I have left eggs in the incubator as many as 5 days after initial hatch just in case. But every bird that hatched one or two days and rarely into the third day were normally very weak and couldn't compete with the earlier hatchlings. You wouldn't think it but one or two days makes a huge difference and the later birds usually would die. When they are born on time they still have the remainder of their yoke sacs to feed from for the first day or so. When they stay in their eggs to long they absorb the yolk sacs and are born in imediate need of nutrition. They will be to weak already and are unable to compete with the older chicks. If they live thorough the first week they were normally good to go. You are always going to have some die despite your best efforts. If they are crowding under the brooder they are not warm enough. I used to keep my brooder close to the birds so there was a lot of heat and they would decide how close they needed to be to stay warm. As long as there is enough room for them to get away from heat if it is excessive they will be good. I would adjust brooder as needed to prevent piling. For the first week or so I would also place a wash cloth under brooder to help retain heat and prevent any upward drafts. They will shit it up pretty quick. I would discard shitty cloth and replace with a clean one. Hope this help at least a little.
Click to expand...

So I only have one chick left of the later hatches. We had about 45-50 in the initial hatch and then probably 15 or so in the rest. You just watch them die. I wonder if it is something isn't formed right genetically. They don't grow. All the others are feathering out and growing at an incredible rate but the late hatchers just do nothing. Here is a pic of the size difference:

 
coastie said:
That's cool. Are they a pain to crack open? I ask because I saw quail egg scissors on Ebay. Looks like an easy way to open them up vs cracking a couple dozen into a bowl for breakfast.
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No they crack easy. The membrane under the shell is thicker than a chicken egg, so once you rip that your good.


Disregard spelling I will blame my phone.
 
coastie said:
So I only have one chick left of the later hatches. We had about 45-50 in the initial hatch and then probably 15 or so in the rest. You just watch them die. I wonder if it is something isn't formed right genetically. They don't grow. All the others are feathering out and growing at an incredible rate but the late hatchers just do nothing. Here is a pic of the size difference:

Click to expand...

I have no real idea why the late hatch birds die. I think because of their weakened state due to using up the yoke before hatching and already being smaller and easily stepped over, stepped on and generally bullied by the other birds they have a lesser chance of pulling through. I used to keep late hatch birds separate to attempt to give them a chance with variable success. Sometimes it worked other times it didn't. I sure did hate seeing the little buggers slowly waste away.
 
fishhawk357 said:
I have no real idea why the late hatch birds die. I think because of their weakened state due to using up the yoke before hatching and already being smaller and easily stepped over, stepped on and generally bullied by the other birds they have a lesser chance of pulling through. I used to keep late hatch birds separate to attempt to give them a chance with variable success. Sometimes it worked other times it didn't. I sure did hate seeing the little buggers slowly waste away.
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My wife made it a mission to try to save some. She was up trying to feed and water them by hand and holding them. She was upset when they died. I felt bad for her. Next hatch I am going to separate them by hatch time and see if that helps.
 
coastie said:
My wife made it a mission to try to save some. She was up trying to feed and water them by hand and holding them. She was upset when they died. I felt bad for her. Next hatch I am going to separate them by hatch time and see if that helps.
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My wife also has a hard time when we are brooding pheasant. I no longer bring her up to the brooder as she gets very disappointed when she sees a dead one.
 
Mike-Mike said:
I have been eating these eggs like a boss. My mistake was not doing more birds. I should of done 38 and not 8.
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Thats awesome. I have had several people ask me if I will have extra eggs. I may end up keeping more than I planned for the eggs. I figure if I can cover the cost of the feed than I am solid.
 
5 eggs today! These babies are ramping up.
hebynaty.jpg
 
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boilermaker said:
Next time, could you put in something for scale? I can't tell just how small these things are. They look great though
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I couldn't find a quarter. That's a .40 cal round.
epyqa6y8.jpg



Eta: this is the first time I got 6. I am at full production.

Disregard spelling I will blame my phone.
 
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derek said:
What made you guys decided on quail vs chicken?
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I chose them because I can have males ( chicken roosters make a hell of a racket). This way at any point I can independently increase my operation. I could have 80 birds in about a month and in 6-8 weeks start eating the males and letting the females lay.

Also, I though it was just something different. Seem everyone is doing chickens.


Disregard spelling I will blame my phone.
 
derek said:
What made you guys decided on quail vs chicken?
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They take up less space and are providing eggs and meat faster. Supposed to be more efficient feed converters. I also like the idea of something that is more easily hidden if need be. As above they are different. I am going to see what the market is for the eggs as well. I see folks selling them for 7-8 a dozen at the local farmers markets and they sell out. I am going to try selling both chicks and birds too. Figure if I can cover my expenses I am happy.
 
I was going to give chickens a shot now that I have the space for it, but this thread has me thinking about Quails instead.

Great thread. [thumbsup]
 

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