Feeding quail from birth: what and how to feed?

Many new quail farmers immediately ask: what and how to feed quail chicks from birth so that all the birds grow up strong and healthy? After all, the diets for newborn quail, grown quail, males, and females differ greatly. There are many important nuances to be aware of.

What do you feed quails?

The young quail are kept in specially equipped cages with small feeders and waterers. Their feeding is regulated to ensure their optimal development.

Conventionally, the life of these babies is divided into 3 periods:

1. From birth to the end of the first week.
2. From the second week to the end of the first month.
3. From the fifth week.

There are different opinions regarding feeding. Some farmers believe that quail should be fed special feed mixtures from the first days of life. Others believe that natural products with additives are better.

Mixtures tested in poultry farms:

1. Start feed. Contains all the necessary vitamins, supplements, and minerals.
2. The options of compound feed PK 6-6 or PK 3-8 for young animals (from 4-5 weeks of age) will be ideal.
3. The cheapest mixture: equal parts corn, soy, alfalfa or meat and bone meal.
4. You can add vitamins to the diet of growing chicks by adding worms and maggots to their food.

In the first weeks of life, it's best to replace compound feed with premixes and supplements containing proteins and minerals. As chicks grow older, they should be given starter mixes containing:

• corn;
• sunflower meal;
• soybean cake;
• wheat;
• fodder yeast.

From 8 to 21 days, you can feed them PK 5-41 compound feed for young animals, which contains corn, wheat, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. It is advisable to choose a feed with a higher protein content.

Since quail chicks are very sensitive to changes in food, experienced poultry farmers advise expanding the menu gradually.

Feeding stages

From birth, each chick needs 5 grams of food per day. Within a month, their weight increases 15-fold. A month-old quail consumes up to 30 grams of food.

Feed	1-5 days	6-10 days	11-20 days	9:30 PM
Corn	—	8 g	20 g	30 g
Wheat bran	4 g	5 g	5 g	10 g
Green	—	10 g	15 g	20 g
Skim milk	5 g	10 g	10 g	15 g
Cottage cheese	—	10 g	10 g	—
Eggs	3 g	—	—	—
Shell rock	—	0.5 g	0.7 g	1.7 g

Nutrition after hatching

Quail chicks should be well fed almost immediately after birth, so it is important to consider the following points:

• Give only boiled water to drink; for the first three days, you can dissolve a couple of crystals of potassium permanganate in it.
• Day-old babies eat only egg whites and mashed boiled eggs. Quail eggs in their shells are best, but shell-less chicken eggs will also work.
• You can add boiled millet and ground corn feed.
• If you're too lazy to bother with cooking, you can give them chicken or turkey feed.

Feeding day-old quail chicks

Some believe that not all quail eat natural foods well, so it's easier and more reliable to replace them with special compound feed. Just make sure to grind it thoroughly. Food for month-old turkey poults is suitable.

Important tips:

• Eggs are important in the first days of a chick's life. From birth to 5 days, quails eat one egg per day. And from 6 to 10 days, one egg is enough to feed ten quails.
• One day, babies can be given a mixture of bran, yolks, greens, boiled grated carrots and ant pupae.
• Food is rubbed through a mesh with cells no smaller than 3 x 3 mm.
• In cold weather, it is recommended to feed baby quails grated carrots with white crackers: 2 g for each.

If you buy compound feed, choose one with a high protein content. Make sure to grind it.

Feeding from day 2 to day 7

When distributing feed, it is important to take into account that from the second day of life, some feeds need to be reduced for quail.

Key points:

• Add cottage cheese on the 2nd day – 2 g each.
• On the third day, add fresh herbs: green onions, dandelion leaves. Nettles are also acceptable, but be sure to parboil and cool them first. If you don't have any greens, use grated carrots instead.
• On day 4, no new foods are introduced, but eggs are replaced with cottage cheese. Fish oil can be supplemented until day 7.
• On the 5th day, add boiled grated carrots, ground grain, and boiled fish.

This diet is maintained for a week. Quail should be fed six times a day, at regular intervals, including at night. The food should be kept at the same temperature as the air. It is recommended to provide a feeder with crushed eggshells, chalk, and ground shells; this will complement the mineral complex.

Don't use sand instead of bedding! Quail chicks will start eating it, which often leads to their death.

Feeding two-week-old chicks

As the second week begins, life becomes a little easier for the owners, as feeding the chicks four times a day is now sufficient. Protein can be reduced, but by no less than 25%. It's more cost-effective to use a commercial feed containing ground corn, oats, and wheat. A mixture such as PK 5-41 (for chicks 1-3 weeks old) boasts such a composition.

If it is not possible to buy ready-made food, the diet is composed, including:

• porridge;
• cottage cheese;
• eggs;
• boiled fish;
• greens: spinach, clover, nettle, tops;
• grated beets and carrots;
• cabbage;
• mineral and protein supplements.

Mineral supplements can replace ground chalk, shell rock, and gravel; they not only provide essential nutrients but also help clear the chicks' stomachs. The diet should contain 280 kcal, 25% of which should be protein.

The approximate menu for quail chicks aged from one week to one month is as follows:

Feed	Quantity in %
Wheat	11
Corn	40
Soy sprat	31.6
Nutritional yeast	1.9
Bone meal	2.9
Cheese whey (dry)	10
Feed chalk	0.9
Broiler premix PK-5-1	1
Salt	0.2

When the quail chicks are 2-3 weeks old, a container of sand is placed in their cage after feeding. It's important for the chicks to bathe in it and clean their feathers and crop.

Gravel should be poured separately, it improves the digestion of food.

Feeding 5-6 week old quails

When the quails are one month old, you can feed them only three times a day and transition them to adult food. This should be done carefully, 5-6 days in advance. Reduce the protein content of the feed by 15%. Conversely, gradually increase the percentage of crushed grain.

Approximate composition of compound feed if you make it yourself:

Products	% in composition
Wheat	15-20
Corn	42-40
Bran	6
Sunflower meal	9-10
Soybean meal	11-20
Meat and bone meal	2-3
Nutritional yeast	3-5
Cheese whey (dry)	4
Feed chalk	2-6

Many poultry farmers also make a mixture of ground wheat and corn, with added protein, minerals, and vitamins. Protein content can be increased by adding bone meal, fish meal, soybean meal, cottage cheese, and cooked fish. If purchasing compound feed on a regular basis isn't an option, it's best to consult the ingredients and choose a suitable diet.

Some farmers buy feed separately for males and females:

• PC 6-6 is more suitable for broilers.
• For laying hens – PC 1-24.

Advice from experts: if it is difficult to measure out a portion of compound feed, you can measure it out with a matchbox; one will hold 10 g of the mixture.

Weakened quail chicks

If the babies are born weak, a different feeding schedule is needed.

Approximate composition:

• First day. Hard-boiled chopped chicken or quail eggs, grind them with the shells.
• Second day. Cottage cheese is mixed into the eggs, 2 g per chick per day.
• Third day. Chopped greens are added.
• Day fourThe amount of eggs is reduced and the amount of cottage cheese is increased.
• Day five. Add ground wheat groats and small worms to the food. You can replace them with boiled lean fish.

Greens are essential; nettles, spring onions, dandelions, and lettuce leaves are all good options. The more succulent the food, the faster the quail will grow stronger.

Feed 5-6 times a day, using only fresh mash; discard any leftovers. Broiler feed is also acceptable.

If the farm is large, you can simplify the task and buy ready-made turkey mixtures, adding ground grain to them.

What is the best feeding schedule for chicks?

Quail chicks are fed according to their age: young ones – 5-6 times a day, 5 g per bird, and older ones – three times a day. But the key is to feed them at regular intervals! Bread can be given, but this will reduce the nutritional value of the daily ration.

Some tips:

• Feeders are not filled to the top; two-thirds is sufficient. This is because quails are messy eaters and scatter their food, which they then trample.
• During the first week, feed 5 times a day; during the 2nd and 3rd weeks, the number is reduced to 4. From the fourth week, food is given three times a day.
• Egg-laying quail chicks aged 5 weeks and older are given 22-30 g per bird. Meat-and-egg breeds receive 25 g each.
• As the chicks get older, they can be given whole pears and apples; the fruit can be clamped between the bars, and the chicks will readily peck at them.

If all feeding and rearing conditions are met during the first 4 weeks of life, the survival rate of the young is 95-98%, and during the second 4 weeks – 98%.

Diet for females

When quail chicks are a month old and are being transitioned to adult food, many poultry farmers recommend separating the chicks by sex to formulate the correct diet. Layer food should contain a quarter of crude protein and sufficient protein. Otherwise, they will lay less eggs, and the yolks will be larger or even double in size. These types of eggs are not suitable for laying.

Basic ingredients for the mash:

• cottage cheese;
• fish;
• seeds;
• grain – 12 g per day for each individual.

The recommended amount for a female starting at 6 months is 10 kg of compound feed per year. If she eats more or less, pay attention to the lighting and temperature in the cages. Quails are very sensitive to their living conditions, which immediately affects their appetite.

The daily requirement can be determined by the goiter: its length is increased by 3 times, and the resulting figure is used as a guide.

Diet for males

Once the chicks have briskly passed the six-month mark, their diet needs to be adjusted, just like that of laying hens. To help them grow and mature faster, the farmer will need to stock up on a variety of grains.

Basic ingredients for the mash:

• barley;
• millet;
• insects;
• boiled fish;
• crushed beans;
• poppy;
• oats;
• boiled eggs;
• canary seed.

What is important to consider when feeding male quail:

• Eliminate rye completely.
• Give legumes in the form of cereals or boiled.
• Add poppy seeds at a rate of 5-7 g per individual.
• Add vetch, mixing with oats.
• Change the water in the drinking bowl at least twice a day.

You can buy special food for male quail. If you can't find any, you can substitute parrot food.

The role of food in the development of quail chicks

The staple diet for these babies is corn, which is high in starch and considered a high-energy food. The only drawback is its low levels of vitamin B, amino acids, and minerals, which will need to be replenished. This can easily be achieved by adding meat and bone meal, fish, and meal to the mix.

Features of other products in the mash:

• Oats. Before feeding dietary feed to quails, the grain is cleaned of film and crushed.
• Wheat. It's nutritious and healthy. It's ground into flour and dried. It's not added to wet mixtures, as the flour turns into a sticky mess that clings to the beak. Therefore, it's not recommended for young birds.
• Carrot. Forms vitamin A in the body of birds, rich in carotene.
• Yeast. Lots of vitamin B. Quails absorb proteins obtained from yeast better than proteins from plants.
• Cottage cheese. Provides protein. Do not substitute with milk, as it may cause digestive upset in birds.
• Legumes: millet, rapeseed, rapeseed. Contain many amino acids.

How to feed quails correctly?

Before introducing the chicks, the cages must be properly equipped. It's important to remember that most quail chicks find food in the feeder themselves, but if they get lost, you can attract their attention by tapping the tray with a stick. They'll interpret this as their mother calling and come running to peck at it.

Important tips:

• Feeders are made from cardboard trays, but are intended for quails aged one week and older. For tiny quail, food is poured onto a napkin or cardboard, as the sides will get in the way. On the third day of life, the chicks can be given jar lids.
• Since quails are very messy eaters, it's best to make feeders that only fit their heads. This will prevent food from being scattered and dirt and excrement from getting into the feeder. A drywall tray with large-mesh mesh is suitable. Bend any sharp edges, and secure the mesh securely to prevent the chicks from getting entangled.
• Quail chicks need to be taught to drink; not all of them can. You can do this by tapping on the waterer or holding the chick up to it and tilting its beak toward the water.
• Water needs to be changed frequently. Nipple drinkers are good at keeping the water clean, but they have a significant drawback: they leak, causing dampness in the cage. Therefore, deep vacuum drinkers are best.
• Quail chicks should not be underfed, this is even dangerous in the first 3 weeks.
• You cannot leave food out if, 2 hours after feeding, the portion is still not finished; it is poured out and the feeders are cleaned.

A little trick: a clock with a second hand placed nearby will help attract the quails' attention to the feeder or waterer.

Requirements for drinking places

A water bowl, such a necessary item for chicks, can also become a source of danger. If the bowl is too deep, chicks climb in to bathe and often drown.

Drinking bowls should be:

• Roomy, but not deep.
• Made from materials that are easy to clean from dirt and food debris. Food-grade plastic or stainless steel are suitable.
• Installed so that children cannot climb inside.

Quail chicks up to one month of age are given only boiled and cooled water.

Do quail chicks need vitamins and other supplements?

Many new quail farmers wonder: do quail really need vitamin supplements? After all, grains and greens provide plenty of them. The question is how concerned the owner is about the rapid growth and weight gain of the brood. If you want your quail to grow strong and healthy, minerals are essential. Moreover, mineral supplements aren't that expensive. And most importantly, they can easily be replaced with readily available products:

• Eggshell. Boil and grind.
• Shells. They are also washed and crushed, the particles should be 0.5 mm.
• Green. It helps improve digestion. Experienced farmers say that quail are initially extremely reluctant to eat it. But once they get a taste, they clear the feeders completely.
• Oilcake, meal, meat and bone meal, and fish meal. Provide protein and lysine.
• Drinking solutionsOnce a week, add a weak solution of potassium permanganate to the water bowls, alternating it with a selenium solution.
• Vitamin C. It is recommended to add more to water every 10 days. One to two tablets per liter of liquid is sufficient.
• B vitamins add separately.

You can't mix different vitamin supplements in water, as they can "kill" each other during a chemical reaction in the liquid.

What is strictly prohibited to feed?

Although quails are considered omnivores and aren't particularly picky eaters, there are still some foods that should never be fed to them. Otherwise, the risk of stomach injury increases, which could result in the chick's death.

It is forbidden to give:

• Sprouted potatoes contain a dangerous poison called solanine.
• The water in which the potatoes were boiled.
• Leftovers from the table, in particular bread and sausage.
• Unrefined oats and barley.
• Silage, sauerkraut.
• Compound feed for pigs.

Quail feed recipes

For farmers who find it inconvenient or expensive to purchase feed, recipes for preparing food for quail chicks themselves are suitable.

The easiest ways:

1. Mix wheat or corn grits with sour milk and a boiled egg. Grind thoroughly. After the third day, add nettles, cottage cheese, and carrots, all chopped and mashed.
2. Mix boiled eggs in their shells with oatmeal, wheat groats, porridge, or sour milk. In a 4:1 ratio.

There are also more complex recipes that closely resemble the composition of high-quality quail feed. These mixtures are best given to quails from 4-5 weeks of age.

Recipe 1

Ingredients:

• Barley groats or barley – 100 g
• Corn grits – 400 g
• Meat and bone meal – 1 tsp.
• Unrefined vegetable oil – 0.5 tsp.
• Minced fish or meat – 50 g
• Cottage cheese – 50 g
• Greens – 50 g

Preparation: chop the herbs and grind with other ingredients.

Recipe for laying hens

Ingredients:

• Corn – 200 g
• Wheat – 200 g
• Premix for laying hens, 10% – 80 g
• Roasted sunflower cake – 90 g
• Meat and bone meal – 45 g
• Soybean meal – 90 g
• Nutritional yeast – 45 g
• Peas – 30 g
• Vegetable oil – 10 g

Preparation: Boil peas, corn and wheat, grind, mix with ingredients.

Recipe 3

Ingredients:

• Carrots – 100 g
• Wheat – 200 g
• Sunflower cake – 100 g
• Soybean meal – 50 g
• Meat and bone meal – 30 g
• Nutritional yeast – 30 g
• Sunflower oil – 10 g

Preparation: Boil the carrots, mash them, and grind the wheat. Mix with the remaining ingredients and mash thoroughly.

Helpful tips

At first glance, feeding quail chicks seems complicated, requiring attention and a strict schedule. But over time, the owner will get used to such activities.

Some important tips:

• If there is no special food, you can compensate for the lack of important substances in the diet by increasing protein, greens, carrots and cabbage.
• Don't collect greenery for quail along the roads; it's of no use and harmful.
• Minced fish and meat for mixtures should be stored at a temperature of 1-3 degrees below zero, and for no longer than six months. For large farms, it's best to purchase in measured quantities.
• For mixing ground meat with other ingredients, it's easier to use a meat grinder. Both manual and electric grinders will do.
• In the spring, you can diversify their diet with a mixed feed for parakeets and canaries. If the young are breeding, it's best to eliminate commercially prepared feed from their diet for a month during the breeding season.
• Milk cannot be given in its pure form, but adding 1-2 spoons to a serving instead of cottage cheese is quite acceptable.
• The quail feed should be the same temperature as the air in the room.

Always carefully check the expiration date of food when purchasing a large batch!

The problem of how and what to feed quail chicks is quite solvable, although it does require some effort. The key is to accustom the babies to a balanced diet from the very first days, so they don't get picky when introducing unfamiliar foods. It's just important to follow the dosage and not overdo it with supplements. If you manage to handle the young ones the first time, everything will become easier and easier. In any case, experience is the key!

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