When Do Baby Quails Start Eating? (Day-by-Day Growth)

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When do baby quails start eating?

Quails grow very quickly, in a little more than a month they reach their maximum size, but the first days of the quail require special care because they are especially sensitive birds when they are newborn.

The fact that the quail can grow so fast makes it an easy bird to care for, but those first days after they are born, they need a lot of attention, especially when it comes to feeding. Like chickens, quails, which are Phasianidae birds, will already have hair when they hatch, and they will immediately get up and start walking and feeding. Just after hatching.

Compared to chickens, the size is very small and weak, but the energetic quail chicks scream loudly and eat a lot of rice from the start to grow.

The process of growth of the quail until it can eat, day by day

After hatching, quail chicks are still moist and remain quiet, breathing, until the hatching is cured.

Two to three hours after hatching, the body dries completely and becomes a chick.

Quail hatchlings eat the food immediately after hatching, but instead of feeding them adult food, feed the chicks with added antibiotics, or fine quail feed.

6 days after hatching The fluffy hair that was growing at the time of hatching begins to come off, and the face becomes crispy. Feathers also begin to grow. You can see the straw that is the axis of the feather.

By the tenth day after hatching, the feathers have changed, and the face is still that of a chick and the body begins to take on adult form.

14 days after hatching, it can weigh 33 grams. Its size and weight are doubling with each passing week. In that time, you can start giving him sunbathing through the glass little by little.

They can also make their first flight or jump, even if it is only a few tens of centimeters.

On the 16th day after hatching, the quail can learn to take sand baths, although nobody had taught it, this is a vital activity that it will perform instinctively.

20 days after hatching, you can transfer the quail to an adult cage where you should prepare a sand bath.

30 days after hatching. can weigh 90 grams. It looks almost the same as a fully grown quail. At this time, the quail begins with its peculiar cry, in case of being male, its sex will be evident.

The feathers have changed and the appearance is the same as that of an adult bird, but the growth continues after this.

Important tips for feeding a baby quail

The temperature is the most important thing after passing the quail baby to the cage to feed, quails in early life are very sensitive to cold, heat can not be needed. An adequate temperature must be maintained inside the cage when quail chicks are fed.

Quail chicks have a body temperature of about 39 degrees when they are in warm places. You can put heaters in the cage and set the temperature at about 30 degrees in a low place so that the chicks can move around in a warm or cool place.

Gradually lower the temperature as the chicks grow. About 25 degrees around 2 months after hatching.

To avoid drowning or being wet and eventually dying from a drop in body temperature, put a sponge or marbles in a plastic bottle of PET water to prevent accidents.

Keep in mind, if you are going to put the quail chicks in a cage with mesh at the base, that the squares at the base should be small enough so that their feet do not get stuck.

Also make sure they are large enough for the droppings to fall underneath to a tray to avoid problems when feeding quail chicks.

What foods are appropriate for baby quail?

Protein sources:

Fish flour.
Ground soybean cake.
Cotton paste.
Dehydrated alfalfa

All the mentioned above ingredients have a high protein content, being the most important elements for the development of the bird since it is a precocious bird. To the diet that is given to the bird, one or 2 of any one of the protein sources before mentioned can be added.

Energy sources:

Corn
Milk powder
Wheat by-products
Sugar cane molasses

Corn is the most important carbohydrate ingredient for poultry being an accessible and cheap grain. But also other sources of energy are available, this gives the small quail the required amount of energy for its daily activities and it grows faster.

Supplements of calcium and phosphorus:

Bone meal
Calcium Carbonate

They represent a natural ingredient that is a great source of nutrition for quail, including calcium and phosphorus, important elements for the development of the chick.

What do baby quail eat in the wild

In nature, quails supplement their diet with the feeding of some insects to increase their protein intake.

The insects are an ideal food for when the quail are very small as it affects their growth.

In the case of young quails being raised in the wild, their parents will feed them insects at the very beginning of their lives as these birds require strong growth and this food is very nourishing and easily available to the quail.

When the quails grow up they will start to eat all kinds of food and adapt to the place where they are.

Homemade baby quail food

Perhaps your interest in quail breeding is not for commercial purposes and you need to feed the quail chick with some easily accessible food at home, if this is the case there are various food options that you can easily find in your home to feed the quail chick.

There are many hobby breeders that feed baby quail with porridge, this is an easy solution because they are very small birds. The following are some homemade foods that baby quails eat.