Bob's hatched:0)

[douglasgraham]

I'm on the way with my first brood of quail. I had 125 eggs and I got 98 chicks! I lost 2 the first day so I’ve got 96 birds as of this morning. I feel pretty good about that and pretty lucky. So far so good. I’ll post some photos of them this weekend.

I’ve managed to keep the temp constant and the chicks are eating, drinking and running around like crazy. This is so much more fun then chickens.

I put alfalfa in with them and they seem to like it. How much should I keep in there? Is there something better then alfalfa and should I include grit? Right now they have alfalfa their feed and water with quickchick mixed in. Also the brooder has pine shavings with paper towels over top when should I just let them run around on the pine shavings and remove the paper towels? I’m replacing the paper towels every night and that seems to be working really well.

[jk]

That's around 78% of the eggs that hatched.  Good job. Good luck with them.

[honda2hummer]

when i started out I didn't have that good of a hatch, good job, god luck with your birds

[douglasgraham]

Thanks I feel pretty lucky. I still have not lost anymore birds.........I'm kind of waiting for the hammer to fall however! I'm standing guard.

I have photos but I can not post them? The message says the folder is full and to contact the adminastrater?

[Britton Howe]

on your shavings I wouldn't use pine supposly in poisioness to birds. I use cedar. but if your not losing any I would just keep it the same. good luck.

[Reeves]

on your shavings I wouldn't use pine supposly in poisioness to birds. I use cedar

It's the other way around.

Also, I never use anything for bedding that they cannot eat & be good for them. Wood shavings of any kind are not good for them to eat....

[CharlieHorse]

I'd ditch the wood shavings too.............you're just inviting preventable problems by using them.


Good job on the hatch!

[douglasgraham]

Thanks for the tip. I ditched the shavings and will just use paper towels until they go onto the hardwire floor.

I have another question. I have started to get some pecking and I have lost 3 more birds. I went through all the birds and lightly debeaked all. In the process I niped 3 of them a little to much and got a speck of blood! Is that going to kill them? Should I have set them aside? The good news is that the chicks over all seem to have stopped the pecking for the most part.

I'd ditch the wood shavings too.............you're just inviting preventable problems by using them.


Good job on the hatch!

[magnumhntr]

What color light bulb are you using in your brooder? If it is a white light, you would do yourself a big favor by getting a red, green, or blue bulb. This will cut down on, if not eliminate, the pecking.

[Britton Howe]

what kind of bedding is best I've used straw then I started using ceddar shavings. I've had no problems with the shavings  just curious whats best.

[douglasgraham]

I started with the infrared but the wattage was to high so I switched to some lower wattage blue brooder bulbs and it seems to be working well? The debeaking seems to have stopped the pecking and I added a lot more alfalfa. They seem to be happy right now. The outdoor temp here in VA has been all over the place, nights in the 50’s and daytime temps up in the 90’s! It’s making it really difficult to maintain steady temps in the brooder but I’ve managed to keep it with in 5 degrees of the recommended temp for the 1st week. Chickens are so much easier but not nearly as fun……….

What color light bulb are you using in your brooder? If it is a white light, you would do yourself a big favor by getting a red, green, or blue bulb. This will cut down on, if not eliminate, the pecking.

[douglasgraham]

From what has been said in this thread its best not to use any. I’ve heard that pine is the best but what I’m finding out is that paper towels over hard wire until they are big enough to walk on the hard wire. I agree with the theory that the less they have to ingest other then food and water the better. I had pine shavings over the hardwire floor of my brooder with paper towels over that but I have just removed the shavings and I’m keeping paper towels down until they are older. The paper towels are easy to change and it keeps the chicks on a clean surface. I’m just guessing here as this is my 1st attempt at quail but it sounds like good common sense to keep them away from foreign objects that they can ingest and of course their feces witch all the books say is really bad for them.

what kind of bedding is best I've used straw then I started using ceddar shavings. I've had no problems with the shavings  just curious whats best.

[douglasgraham]

So just to check in I have lost a few birds but over all doing really well. There are so many i have not been able to get a count but I think I'm around 80 to 85 birds. The one thing that is amazing me is how well they can fly. Not even 3 weeks old and if I'm not careful they fly right out of my 3-foot deep brooder! I’m learning a great deal and mostly because of all the great info on this forum. Thanks again to everyone for all the helpful tips and advice. I do have one question when would it be OK to let them go on the hardwire floor? Thier feet seem big enough right now and I'm having trouble keeping up with the paper towel changing.

[Blue Ridge Quail Farm]

If you are using hardware cloth flooring 1/4" it is fine now.  Probably 1/2" would also be ok.  Good luck!
Tom

[douglasgraham]

Thanks Tom it is 1/2 inch! I knew I should have used 1/4 but i had a roll of 1/2 and thought I could also use the brooder as a grow out because of its size. I'm going to give it until Tuesday and let them go on the hardwire as they will be 3 weeks old.