Many people trying to raise Meat Quails for fun or as a business and running into some basic problems. There are 3 things, which I consider to be the most important factors in successfully bringing up young Quail.
1) Heat
When the Quail hatch it is very important to keep them warm. There is not much of them and they require 35degress Celsius for at least the first few days and up to a week. I gave my Quail 24 hours in the Incubator before moving them out into an enclosed pen. It differs what you do depending of the time of the year as well and you need to be aware of that. If you watch your young quail they will tell you what they need as far as heat is concerned. If it is to hot and they will spread to cold and they will move together. If you see the later do something about straight away as you could lose them very quickly.
2) Food and Water
Meat Quail growing very quickly and are mature within 50 days. This means that they need high quality feed with a protein level of about 28%. There is a specially made feed for game birds which has got this high level of protein. I know it isn't cheap, but then the little birds don't eat a lot. Some people use turkey starter and that could work well, but I'm not sure what difference it makes in growth rates. Others feed chicken starter and you shouldn't lose them on that feed, but they wont grow as quick. I started mine of by sprinkle a little bit of feed on the floor around a shallow feeder to get them started.
Water is also important, because if they get wet you lose them. Again a used shallow containers and added gravel to it so they could drink but not drown or get wet. This is only required for the first 3 or 4 days as they do grow so quickly and have feathers within a week.
3) Preditors
You have gone through all the trouble of hatching them right and they have the right feed and water now you have to protect them. Not only are they nice to eat for us at 6 or 7 weeks, but other creatures think they are nice a lot earlier. What am I talking about is cats, other birds and rats. This applies mainly to people which haven't got an incubator and using silkies, bantams or chickens to hatch their Quail eggs. Meat Quail wont hatch there own eggs and I have only ever heard of one person who had a quail sitting on eggs.
Get these 3 things right and you should be well on your way to see your little enterprise grow. For more information feel free to visit my site where you find pictures and videos to help you further.
