Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Stage 1: Hatching
Although young quail can be shipped through the mail, it is probably easiest for you and
less stressful for the birds to begin by hatching eggs yourself. Quail can't sustain pro-
longed shipping periods; their small bodies do not handle chilling well.
You can purchase a small Styrofoam incubator at most farm stores or order one
through many different sources, some of which are listed in the Resources section at
the back of this topic. These small, compact incubators hold several hundred quail eggs.
You may choose to turn them manually or buy the turners that fit inside the incubator.
Either way works perfectly fine.
Quail typically have a fairly high hatch rate compared to most fowl. I've had 70 to
75 percent of my shipped eggs hatch — a far better rate than I've ever experienced with
shipped chicken and other poultry eggs. (With chickens, a 40 percent hatch rate is con-
sidered a great success. You'll hatch even fewer turkeys, and the rate for geese is piti-
fully low.)
Because fertile quail eggs are usually less expensive than the chicks, you need invest
only minimally to get started with these birds.
Stage 2: Young Quail
Because they're tiny, quail babies chill more quickly than do chicks. They also more fre-
quently drown in waterers that are too deep. Try to avoid using shallow dishes and other
such water containers when they are babies. The quail no-drown fount bottoms that fit
on Mason jars are the best way to go.
Bedding
Regular newsprint is fine for bedding. Sprinkle large-grain, almost gravel-like, sand on
top of the newsprint for better footing. Place an excelsior pad (like the ones that are sent
in the box when your chicks are shipped) underneath the heat source. If this is not avail-
able, newspaper pages will probably work just fine.
Do not use slick-surface papers, which could result in injury, and do not use fine saw-
dust or very fine powdery sand sold for reptile bedding, as the birds tend to pick at it,
fill up their crop, and perish. If you'd like to try a wood-product bedding, use what is
frequently sold as “shavings,” which are course and roughly the size of quarters. Do not
use the fine powdery waste that comes from use of a circular or table saw.
Heat
Baby quail are much like turkeys or guineas as babies; they have a fairly high heat re-
quirement — at least 95°F (35°C) at their level — for the first week. Use a heat lamp and
