Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 4: Staple Food and Drink
• Method 2 of 4: Extra food
• Method 3 of 4: Feeding at different stages of life
• Method 4 of 4: Feeding for Different Purposes
• Tips

While quails are not picky about their food, it's best to know how to feed them properly to ensure a balanced diet. The diet often depends on the age of the quail, on the purpose for which you breed the birds, and, most importantly, on your preferences.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Staple Food and Drink

1. 1 Purchase high quality quail food from a pet store or online. Unlike other birds, poor quality feed negatively affects the characteristics of quails. This is especially important if you are raising quail for breeding or egg production. If you cannot find high quality quail food, try feeding them a different type of bird food. You can feed your poultry turkey feed, which usually contains more protein than chicken feed, making it more suitable for quail.
   • You can feed the quail chicken feed.
   • If you decide to use turkey food, check that it is free of drugs.
   • Before replacing quail feed with something else, be sure to consult with a specialist.
   • About 80% of the quail ration should be grains. Most feeds for quail and other poultry include crushed corn kernels, cereals (barley, oats, rye, wheat), millet, sorghum, oatmeal, popcorn, safflower seeds, peeled and unpeeled sunflower seeds.
2. 2 Feed the quail enough food and make sure it has the right texture. When feeding quails, you don't have to worry about overeating. Quails stop eating immediately after satiety. However, they are picky about feed sizes. If the grains or pellets are too small or large, the quail will not eat them. The feed particles must be of a suitable size.
   • If you are using pellets, try grinding them to a suitable size. Make sure that the feed particles are approximately the same size, otherwise the quail may choose only the pieces he likes and leave the rest of the feed untouched. This can lead to an unbalanced diet.
   • Try not to feed the birds with finely ground food. If it is necessary to grind feed, do so so that it does not become too fine powder. Powder can penetrate between the bird's fingers and cause infection.
   • An adult quail eats about 20-25 grams of feed per day.
3. 3 Keep food containers clean and dry and keep them easily accessible. Place cookware in a dry place out of reach of rain, snow, direct sunlight and wind. You can also set the food containers aside from the saucer of water. If the food gets wet, it can become moldy, which is a threat to the life of the quail. In addition, you should often clean the dishes from the remains of feed. Only wash it if the food gets wet or droppings get into the dishes.
   • Place dishes with food at the level of the poultry crop.
   • Try to use dishes that are flat and large enough to keep the quails comfortable and not compete for food.
   • Feeders may need to be emptied daily or only 2-3 times a week, depending on the number of quails.
   • Quails can behave quite sloppy while eating. Consider using a specially designed feeder to prevent spillage.
4. 4 Give the quails enough water and keep it in an easily accessible place. Usually, the saucer of water should not be above the bird's back. In addition, many quail breeders recommend keeping glass beads at the bottom of the dish filled with water.This not only makes the water more attractive to the birds, but also helps the chicks to get out of the saucer of water if they accidentally fall into it.
   • Quails love to drink. Consider making a drinker: dig a shallow hole in the ground, cover it with plastic wrap, and make a downhill slope in it.
5. 5 Keep your water dishes clean and change the water daily to prevent the growth of bacteria. Clean the water saucer three times a week with a non-toxic disinfectant. Do not pour old water into the birdcage. The cage must remain dry.
   • Pay special attention to the water during the winter. Make sure the water does not freeze.
   • Add a little apple cider vinegar to the water from time to time. The vinegar will kill the parasites and make the feathers look more beautiful.
6. 6 Keep food in a clean dry place and use it before the expiration date. If stored improperly, mold can appear in the feed, which is deadly for quail. Also, keep in mind that quail food may be of interest to other animals, such as insects or rats.
   • Use feed before its expiration date - usually three weeks from release date. It is possible that you will have to use it even faster if you live in hot and humid areas.
   • Throw away expired or smelly food. An unpleasant odor means that the food has expired or is moldy.
   • Rats can not only eat quail food, but also contaminate it.

Method 2 of 4: Extra food

1. 1 Give the quails some fruits and vegetables. About 20% of the quail's diet should be vegetables, fruits, leaves and other roughage. Don't be afraid to give your quail other types of food. However, when doing this, try to take into account the natural habitat of the quail. For example, if you have quails that are naturally found in the desert, give them cactus fruits.
   • Consider planting berry bushes on your property, such as blackberries, currants, blueberries, bearberry, barberry, irga, snowberry, and lettuce.
   • Give the quails vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, peas, lettuce, turnip leaves.
   • Be careful with tomatoes. Although ripe tomatoes are good for quails, they should not eat other parts of the plant, its leaves or branches.
2. 2 Consider giving quail and other types of food. Although quail feed should be the main part of the diet, biscuits, pasta, rice, and sweet corn can be used as treats.
   • Quails love nuts and seeds. Consider planting nearby trees such as ash, buckthorn, hazel, and oak. The quail will eat the fallen fruit.
   • Quails, especially chicks, also love insects. Insects contain a lot of protein, which is necessary for chicks and quail laying eggs.
3. 3 Be aware that certain types of food can be toxic to quail. These are foods such as avocado, caffeine, chocolate, grape seeds, meat, parsley, rhubarb, tomato stem and leaves, salty foods, raw potatoes, and most citrus fruits.
   • Quails themselves avoid food that is toxic to them, unless they are starving. Feed your quail well to keep them away from junk food.
   • Many plants are poisonous to quails, although most of them may not be caught by birds. However, you should keep this in mind.
   • Don't give your quail anything from your garden. The birds will quickly guess where you are getting food from and will try to get it on their own, which can harm your garden.
4. 4 Place a bowl of fine gravel on the quail. This will help the birds digest their food, although if the quails walk on the grass often enough, they themselves will find something on the ground that aids their digestion.

Method 3 of 4: Feeding at different stages of life

1. 1 Feed the hatched offspring food for the hatched chick for the first 6–8 weeks. Chicks need a lot of protein, which is rich in this food.Chick food also contains other nutrients and vitamins that they need for health and rapid growth.
   • Feed the chicks from long, straight trays. Change to circular trays after chicks are 2 weeks old. Use smaller saucers for water.
   • You can feed the chicks finely ground food until they are 6-8 weeks old. After that, it is better to switch to a larger feed in the form of grains or granules.
   • When raising chicks, teach them how to drink by immersing their beak in a bowl or saucer of water. If the chicks are raised by a brood hen, she herself will show them how to drink water correctly.
2. 2 When chicks are 6-8 weeks old, switch to quality food for growth. For quail, it is best to use feed that contains 20 percent or more of protein. The protein-rich feed will provide a balanced diet and healthy adult birds will grow from the chicks.
   • If you are raising quails for food, there is no need to feed them food to grow. Give them final feed instead.
   • If you are going to use quail for breeding and egg production, gradually transfer them to the new feed by 10 weeks of age.
3. 3 When the quails begin to lay eggs, transfer them to pelleted layer feed. This feed contains additional calcium, which allows birds to lay healthy eggs with strong shells. Remember to lightly grind the pellets if they are too large for the quails. This is especially important if you are using layer feed as it contains larger granules than quail feed. However, do not grind the granules too hard or they turn into powder.
4. 4 Make sure the quails have fresh water at all times. Clean the water saucers three times a week and change the water once a day. The saucers will get dirty, as quails often enter them, throw garbage into the water, and so on.

Method 4 of 4: Feeding for Different Purposes

1. 1 Decide what you are going to breed quail for. Do you want to get quail eggs, meat, raise birds for sale, or just keep them as pets? What you should feed the birds depends on your goals. There are four main types of food:
   • food for hatched chicks;
   • food for growth;
   • feed for laying hens;
   • final fattening feed.
2. 2 If you are raising quails for meat, feed them feed for the hatched chicks and for final fattening. Finisher feed will support birds until they can be slaughtered. It contains more dietary fiber than other foods.
   • Feed the birds feed for hatched chicks almost immediately after hatching and up to 6 weeks of age. When the chicks are 6 weeks old, switch them to finishing feed. Continue finishing feed until it is time to sell or slaughter them.
3. 3 Give the birds food for hatched chicks and for growth if you are raising quail for flight and as game. This diet is also suitable if you want to raise pets from quails. Compared to finishing feed, growth feed contains more protein.
   • Feed the hatched chicks to the birds until 6 weeks of age. Then transfer them to growth food and feed to birds until they are 16 weeks old.
4. 4 Pay special attention to the quails you raise for breeding and egg production. These quails need special nutrition when the time comes to lay their eggs. If they are not given special food, the eggs will be too weak and fragile.
   • Most quail breeds should be fed for hatched chicks up to 6 weeks of age. Then you need to transfer the birds to food for growth. When the birds are 20 weeks old, start feeding them layer food.
   • Pharaoh quails up to 6 weeks old should be fed food for hatched chicks. Then you need to transfer them to feed for layers. Quail of this breed does not need food to grow.

Tips

• Avoid giving the quail treats too often to avoid disrupting their diet. A balanced diet should be based on standard feed.
• Quail food can be purchased at an agricultural supply store, pet store, or online.
• Give your quails enough grains and keep them from starving.
• Don't worry about overeating the quails - after they are full, they stop eating.
• If your quails are lacking in protein, consider adding some hatch feed or other feed that contains at least 20% protein. You can also supplement your diet with turkey food.
• Add shredded oyster shells or crushed eggshells to your feed. This is especially important if the quail is laying eggs with soft and thin shells. Shells and eggshells contain a lot of calcium, which is necessary for eggs to have a strong and hard shell.