What Works and What Doesn’t – Watering Quails

In preparation for my quail chickies hatching, one of the things that I bought was a quail waterer.

It looks like this:

You can get this at your local feed store.

After the quails hatched, I learned a couple of things.  1. Quails are messy drinkers and eaters.  2. Pine shavings absorb water like a sponge.

I’d leave in the morning with fresh pine shavings and a full water bottle…and come back in the evening with a sodden mess and a water bottle that needed to be refilled.

I turned to the web and found mentions of others using rabbit/guinea pig waterers for quail.  You know, the ones with the little metal ball at the bottom that they move to get a drink.

I bought one of those and installed in in the brooder.

I bought this from Wal-Mart for about $3.

I put a small dish underneath it.

Works like a charm!  The quails figured out very quickly how to drink from it, their bedding stays dry, and I don’t have to refill it as often.  We’re all happy!

I’ve read of people using these with day-old chicks, so don’t bother with your standard quail waterer.