Coturnix Quail Chick Care: The Ultimate Guide with Pictures

Just-hatched Coturnix quail chicks are fragile and require specialty care. They are not as hardy as chicken chicks and while a few hatcheries are willing to ship day-old quail, losses are more common. In this article I’ll share the absolute best tips, tricks and buy-once products that have greatly increased the survivability of my home-hatched quail chicks. Here’s everything you need to know about Coturnix quail chick care with pictures:

Just-Hatched Coturnix Quail Chick Care

As soon as quail chicks emerge from their shells, a clock starts ticking. They can survive off the yolk sack they have absorbed for up to 48 hours. They need to remain in the incubator until they are fully dry. The brooder needs to have reached 99.5°F in the warmest spot before they are moved into it. I find it best to leave quail in the incubator for 12 hours until multiple are ready to move into the brooder together. Anyone still drying off stays in the incubator and will move to the brooder with other hatchmates later. (Afflink)

jumbo coturnix quail chicks hatching inside nurture right 360 best use for hatch quail eggs Coturnix Quail Chick Care The Ultimate Guide with Pictures feeding feed watering water raising raise chicks japanese quail jumbo standard jumbo celadon speckled blue egg brooder box hutch cage brooding keeping keep coop hatching hatch incubator leg band — Keep Coturnix quail chicks warm in the incubator until they are fully dry. Shown here is the Nurture Right 360 incubator with shelf liner as a non-slip incubator liner.

Keeping Track of Your New Chicks

Whether you just hatched chicks in your incubator or have a shipment arriving from the hatchery, you can safely leg band quail chicks! Opt for XSmall Size 2 leg bands for quail chicks who are 1 hour to 14 days old. Juvenile quail chicks who are 2+ weeks old need Small Size 3 leg bands. This article walks you through everything you need to know about using leg bands on quail chicks!

Preparing the Brooder

Quail chicks need an extremely secure brooder box. Sides should be solid or made of ½ inch hardware cloth at the absolute largest with 1/4 inch hardware cloth being the best. Your quail brooder absolutely must have a lid. At just a few days old they will begin to startle upward and once out, they run wildly fast. They are able to rapidly scatter and be lost in your garage very easily. A brooder with a lid is needed.

I actually use my Gorilla brand garden cart with a homemade 1/2 inch hardware cloth lid as a secure brooder. It is easy to clean, is up off the ground so predators have never gotten into it and it keeps the quail chicks secure.

quail chick brooder box made out of garden cart garage brooding how to raise care for quail chicks Coturnix Quail Chick Care The Ultimate Guide with Pictures feeding feed watering water raising raise chicks japanese quail jumbo standard jumbo celadon speckled blue egg brooder box hutch cage brooding keeping keep coop hatching hatch incubator leg band — My Gorilla garden cart is my quail brooder! The warming plate, reptile light, shop towels and quail chick water base shown here are what I use for every hatch.

Two Sources of Warmth Required

Day-old quail chicks can die of a chill mere inches from the chick warming plate. They are attracted to light and do not seem to understand how the warming plate works, often wanting to sit on top of it or squeeze behind it and then shivering. The best way to keep quail chicks warm is to use both a warming plate and a heat lamp or 60 watt or higher incandescent light bulb over the warming plate. (I use this one with a 60 watt bulb for lower fire risk.) LED lights do not give off any warmth so do not use them. The quail will naturally gather under the light so position it directly over the warming plate. This way if chicks end up on top of the warming plate, some of the warmth from the plate beneath them and the light above them will keep them close to the correct temperature. With quail chicks I do NOT use any of the anti-roost cones that prevent the chicks from sitting on top of the warming plate; it is better for the quail to sit on top of the plate under the light and live than to have most of the hatch die because they do not naturally want to go under the plate. (Afflinks) If necessary, I drape a bath towel over half of the brooder lid to trap more heat inside but I do not drape the towel over the heat lamp ever.

puppy pads in brooder brood box quail water base dish powdered food coturnix quail chick care ultimate guide free — Here is a picture of how I use disposable puppy pads inside the Gorilla garden cart that I use as a secure quail brooder. It’s not fancy but pad changes are very easy!

Brooder Bedding: Liners & Litter

For the first week of life I line the brooder with either disposable Scott shop towels or disposable puppy pads which I change every 48 hours. The quail chicks need a very flat surface to walk on where they can easily find their food. At 10-14 days old I switch to using Sweet PDZ Horse Stall Refresher, which is made up completely of the natural mineral zeolite, as a brooder litter. It keeps any brooder smells to nearly zero and is the absolute best quail litter I have found. (I also use it in my adult quail pens as litter.)

powdered game bird starter crumbles coturnix quail chick feed care raising brooding brooder box

Preparing Powdered Quail Feed

Your just-hatched quail chicks need 30% protein game bird starter crumbles pulverized into a powder that their tiny mouths can consume. This is an absolute must and feed stores do not sell powdered game bird feed so you will use a blender or food processor to do it at home. This article walks you through each step but I promise it is quick and easy to make enough for the first two weeks of life in ten minutes! At 3 weeks old quail chicks will be eating game bird crumbles straight from the bag with no blending needed. (Afflink)

powdered game bird starter crumbles coturnix quail chick feed feeding care raising brooder brooding box — Sprinkle some of the powdered quail feed on the ground near the shallow food dish to help the quail chicks find it!

Helping Quail Chicks Eat

Quail are very sweet but remarkably unintelligent little animals. At 1 day old, they do not understand how to eat from a dish and will starve to death, even with powdered quail food available for them. Newly hatched quail chicks have a powerful instinct to eat only what they find on the ground so their powdered food must be available directly on the ground. I use a very shallow ceramic plant saucer to hold some powdered feed and then sprinkle at least 1 cup of feed on the ground all around the brooder, near the chick warming plate so the quail do not have to wander far from the warmth to find it. They will walk through their food and even poop on it, which is fine. Once they understand what it looks like, they will begin eating from a very shallow dish less than 1 inch tall that they can hop up into by 3 days old. Until then, they must have powdered food sprinkled on the bottom of the brooder and the brooder lining must be changed every 48-72 hours.

quail chick best water waterer base system setup drink jug brooder brooding box raising care feed feeding watering — This red plastic base is a quail chick safety waterer that they cannot drown in. Only use this type of waterer for newly hatched quail chicks!

Helping Quail Chicks Drink

Tiny quail chicks are adept at drowning themselves in any chicken chick waterer. Even if marbles or rocks are added they manage to stumble in, drench themselves and chill to death before they can get back to the warming plate. A quail chick watering base is the only thing I have found that works to prevent these deaths. The Little Giant brand screws onto any size Ball or Kerr mason jar with a regular mouth. The water will need to be refreshed at least daily because they will poop in it. (Afflinks)

Be Careful with Water Additives for Quail Chicks

You can use Poultry NutriDrench and other water additives for quail chicks but only for extremely short 12 hour periods. Quail chicks are sensitive to anything that may begin to spoil or ferment in their water. Any sweet additives like molasses, elderberry syrup, and homemade electrolyte mixes, if left in the warm brooder environment for 24 hours, may lightly ferment and I have had it kill quail chicks. Because of this I offer water additives the first day only until sunset (to help get everyone drinking) and then clear water only that night and every day afterwards. If you are using a water additive and have 3-7 day old chicks suddenly dropping dead, switch to pure clear water only.

quail coop best litter for no low odor no poop smell keep stink free low — Sweet PDZ can be purchased from local feed stores, Tractor Supply or Amazon.

Odor Control

The shop towels or puppy pads lining the brooder will not do anything to help control the smell of quail poops. Once you switch to Sweet PDZ for brooder litter the smell will drop to almost zero. Until then, you can change the lining daily or sprinkle down a bit of Sweet PDZ on top of the poops once the quail are past 10 days old. Quail chicks and adults both will eat Sweet PDZ granules (zeolite granules). Mine have done this for years and it does not appear to hurt them at all if they ingest a bit; they are doing it because they need grit. Offering a shallow dish of play sand may stop them from eating the Sweet PDZ. 2 week old quail chicks will dust bathe in both sand and Sweet PDZ. I do not use Sweet PDZ around my quail chicks until after 10 days old when I am certain they are regularly eating their game bird feed. (Afflink)

Rapid Growth

Your quail chicks are going to grow incredibly fast. Their tiny bodies will transform over the next 3 weeks into nearly an adult size bird. Because of this rapid growth, the chicks cannot run out of food, even for a few hours, or it will stunt their growth. Keep plenty of fresh, clean 30% protein game bird starter feed available at all times.

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Quail Feeders that Work

I use this 3D printed no-waste quail feeder for my chicks and I love it! (It’s the feeder + quail feed ports option.) It fits any wide mouth Ball or Kerr quart size mason jar. If you remove the top collar insert, it can fit even wider mouth plastic jars that hold up to a pound of feed. Upcycling grocery store containers is the easiest way to find one that fits. Young quail chicks can get stuck inside of their feeders so I use a shallow glazed saucer until the quail are 10 days old and then switch to this no-waste feeder for the remainder of their time in the brooder. It has worked incredibly well at reducing feed waste. I also use no-waste feeders for my adult quail from the same Texas-based creator.

female coturnix quail with spotted feathers on chest feather sex japanese quail — The black spotted chest feathers on this young adult quail indicate she is FEMALE. Not all feather colors are sexable but dotted feathers all over the chest indicate female in Coturnix quail.

cinnamon chest feathers of male coturnix japanese quail feather sexable color — This juvenile with the cinnamon colored chest feathers that have absolutely no black spots is MALE.

Rosetta tuxedo female coturnix quail not feather sexable — This color is called Rosetta Tuxedo. Neither solid Rosetta nor solid English White birds are feather sexable. The solid chest color here does NOT indicate male. (This individual is a female.) This is an example of a bird who is not a feather sexable color.

Identifying Male & Female Quail Chicks

Chest feathers will be fully developed on day 21 and feather sexable colors should be clear. If your chicks are not feather sexable, females tend to be larger than the males and often more “fluffed up” in appearance when at rest. The males will be smaller with smooth, relaxed feathers that lay flat as they move around the brooder. None of the male chicks will be crowing yet but if you play a video of an adult’s crow within hearing, the males are more likely to alert and stand vertically tall, making a small, swallowing-like beak and throat movement as if they want to mimic what they are hearing. The hens remain more calm and while they may check their surroundings with a raised head, they do not stand nearly as vertically upright as the males. (This trick works once the chicks pass 21 days old and is especially useful if you have one feather sexable male or female in the brooder who you can observe to help you spot the difference.)

coturnix quail coop building plans backyard hutch white cottage style pen aviary free build plan — Click the image to purchase PDF building plans in our shop for this cute cottage quail coop!

coturnix quail ground pen aviary sand litter jumbo celadon hutch coop Coturnix Quail Chick Care The Ultimate Guide with Pictures feeding feed watering water raising raise chicks japanese quail jumbo standard jumbo celadon speckled blue egg brooder box hutch cage brooding keeping keep coop hatching hatch incubator leg band — Celadon quail in our outdoor garden ground pen. I now use a full bag of Sweet PDZ as litter in the ground pen (instead of play sand) and I LOVE how it keeps the odor extremely low!

Moving Juveniles to Outdoor Coops

Once the quail chicks are fully feathered all over their bodies (with the last head feathers coming in) at 21 days old, they no longer need supplemental heat and are ready to move into an outdoor coop. The outdoor coop should have a solid walled corner, a shelter or a “hide” where the chicks can get away from blowing wind and rain. If the weather is cold and rainy, blocking the most exposed side or window can help the juveniles acclimate and provide some trapped warmth. Quail who become wet late in the evening need immediate help getting dry and warm if overnight temperatures will be chilly.

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Choosing Supplemental Lighting

Quail have very poor night vision and seem to appreciate some supplemental night light, which also helps them to come into lay on time. I use these triangular LED solar lights which I point towards the most secure, solid walls inside the coop to encourage the quail to nest away from the windows at night. (Afflink) Quail coop sides or windows should be covered with ¼ inch hardware cloth. If it is larger than this, rats can reach through it to rip off chunks of flesh and kill your quail. I also like to give my quail a ceramic tile to stand on inside wire-bottom coops, which are easy to clean. When I refill feeders and waterers in the morning, I put the solar lights outside the coop to charge then place them back in when I gather the quail eggs in the evening.

Quail Egg Gathering Baskets That Work

Quail eggs are small and fall through most chicken wire egg baskets. I use the smallest Little Giant brand egg basket to gather my quail and chicken eggs. (Afflink) You can read more about how quail eggs bake and how quail eggs taste plus tips on how to prepare quail eggs for kitchen use. You’re going to love having fresh eggs from your backyard covey!

I would love to design a custom quail egg carton stamp for you! Click to visit my website shop!

Enjoy your Sweet Quail Chicks!

Coturnix quail chick care is a busy three weeks but it goes by quickly. Once they are moved to their outdoor coop, you’re only a few weeks away from fresh quail eggs and may find yourself tempted to hatch some brand new babies!

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Coturnix Quail Chick Care: The Ultimate Guide with Pictures