Quail

[Jonsey]

I feed them Mannna Pro gamebird/showbird starter. 24% protein. I have just found a source for organic feed closer to home, but I haven't seen a price yet. Most of the organic feed I've seen is rather expensive.

Agreed on the amazing reproductive time.

I use Manna Pro for my rabbits. It seems high quality. I think I used Ag Land for my quail and it worked well too.

The cost for the organic stuff just blew me away so I started experimenting with little bulk bags of grain from the health food store. My mixture varried, but I put things in there like millet, red lentils, oats, and so forth. I soaked them overnight to soften them.( I added kefir later but that is kinda a long story)They continued laying when I did this, but the babies did not grow as big on this diet. If I did it again, I would probably try sprouting the mixture to get more food out of It. All this is pretty time consuming but I had fun with it.

Also, I have to say, nice job on the watering system. I have been thinking about setting something like that up but haven't got around to it yet. It looks very convenient.

Thanks for sharing your quail story.

[Jonsey]

[Irving]

So even in that run, they won't go inside at night on their own?

[Jonsey]

So even in that run, they won't go inside at night on their own?

Nope. They are really stupid. Infact, the first night we did not have the extra layer of small gauge wire on there. They settled down in the corners and went to sleep. In the morning I found that the raccoons had eaten most of them right through the chicken wire, so we had to reinforce, and I also started shutting them in at night. They literally just sat there and let themselves get eaten. The little house worked great for cold weather too. They stayed pretty warm in there.

[Irving]

Haha, amazing they are not extinct!

[GilpinGuy]

Haha, amazing they are not extinct!

The ridiculously fast reproduction rate is one defense. Hatched to mature in about 6 weeks? Amazing, really.


Edit: I originally wrote 90 days for some reason. It's about 6 weeks.

[Jonsey]

No kidding! Maybe the wild ones hide in the bushes. They are pretty good at sitting still, but you would think predators would smell them.

[Irving]

Is there any chance that you can rename your blog to Quail of a Tale?

Got a quail of a tale to tell you lads,
a quail of a tale or two
Bout the swquakin chicks, and birds I've loved
on nights like this with the moon above
A quail of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

Also, get a quail tattoo.

[GilpinGuy]

Hmmmmmm. I don't think so....

Where the hell is that from?

[Irving]

Oh boy are you in for a treat! I'll just post the link so it doesn't distract from the thread.
It's from a Disney movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkjTGCrLvAU