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Post by cindyrads on Jan 14, 2011 11:35:04 GMT -5
What is the best age a quail should be to get good nutrition from it?
Cindy
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Post by goingpostal on Jan 14, 2011 12:22:44 GMT -5
Older is better but you need a variety of ages as well. I haven't tried it yet with my crew but I was planning on ordering 1 week and 8 week olds from rodentpro.
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Post by bluemoose on Jan 14, 2011 12:37:34 GMT -5
I get 10 week quail for mine.
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Post by goingpostal on Jan 14, 2011 13:00:26 GMT -5
Bluemoose, do yours eat that all in a day? I was trying to figure amounts based off weight but not sure how much they eat in raw yet. I have four, 3 males, one who's a hog. I figured the one week olds are equal size to the mice I normally feed and 8 weeks would be enough for a day but maybe I should up to 10 weeks instead.
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Post by cindyrads on Jan 14, 2011 13:15:48 GMT -5
That was another question. How big are they? I usually buy adult frozen mice from Rodent Pro. I'm trying to find pics online of the different ages of quail.
Cindy
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Post by goingpostal on Jan 14, 2011 14:14:40 GMT -5
They have the weights listed which should give you an idea, I always look at their downloadable price list, which has everything on one page so you can kind of compare sizes and prices of things.
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Post by bluemoose on Jan 14, 2011 14:18:37 GMT -5
Even the 10 week quail aren't all that big. Mine can easily eat one quail a day but the three of them also share meals with a ravenous 5 month old kitten. If you have four Postal and three of them are males, I would think they could finish a 10 week quail over the course of a day. Plus I feel leaving whole prey out for a while isn't a big deal. Mine get rabbit that take them a couple days to finish.
My guys get 5 protein sources (not including occasional chicks) so I don't bother too much with different ages. I just get adult everything since the younger ones tend to be lacking in nutrients.
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Post by goingpostal on Jan 14, 2011 14:51:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the info, I will go for the largest quail along with the smaller ones, are you feeding whole ones with feathers and all? I figured getting some small ones would be easier to convince them to eat it since they can all have their own. I'm not sure how well sharing is going to work with larger prey, usually Pip digs right into meals and none of the others will challenge him, they just wait until he's had his fill.
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Post by bluemoose on Jan 14, 2011 14:59:01 GMT -5
I feed all my prey completely whole with fur and feathers included. Mine don't necessarily share (the kitten won't let the fuzz touch the food while he's eating) but since they have food available almost all the time, it's not usually an issue. Everyone just eats when they're hungry.
The ability to leave food out for 1-2 days is one of the things I like about whole prey as opposed to raw. The fur/feather coving on prey reduces air exposure and allows it to stay good longer.
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Post by sunnyberra on Jan 14, 2011 16:06:08 GMT -5
I have everything from a few days old to adult for my guys. So far, they're stuck on the day olds and don't like the bigger ones >:C But I'm working on them, since the young animals tend to be low on most nutrients, and I always consider them more of a "treat" than a meal.
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Post by bluemoose on Jan 14, 2011 16:17:20 GMT -5
Like most foods in the world, the healthier ones don't taste as good
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candiceboggs
Going Natural
Ferrets are nature's anti-depressant.
Posts: 187
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Post by candiceboggs on Jan 24, 2011 6:48:49 GMT -5
Not much help to your question, but just an idea - I was able to get jumbo quail in packs at my local asian grocery store far cheaper than rodent pro sells theirs. You might see if any of them sell quail where you're at. I don't know how old they are though.
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Post by rarnold18 on Jan 24, 2011 8:47:05 GMT -5
I feed older, adult sized quail and for the 10 fuzz, I usually give them two and it takes about a day to finish them off... I feed them whole feathers and all though they do enjoy making a mess with the feathers....
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