44 



THE GAME BREEDER 



inch board, dividing it off about every 

 seven inches; raise it about six inches 

 from the ground, with a front board 

 coming down from the top leaving a 

 space of four inches so they can easily 

 get under, tn front of the nests fasten 

 light brush and long straw, forming a 

 cover. In each nest, which should hold 

 one or two hen quails, place a small 

 white marble three-fourths of an inch 

 in diameter for a nest egg and the quail 

 will take to the nests as readily as do- 

 mestic hens do. 



Gather the eggs daily, since there will 

 be less chance for breakage and for the 



CaliforniaValley Quail. 



birds becoming broody. You may keep 

 as many hens as you like in a pen, but 

 do not have an excess of cock birds or 

 some will kill the others; this, however, 

 only during the mating season. 



My hen quail, worked on this plan, 

 each yield me almost fifty eggs in the 

 season with nearly one hundred per 

 cent, fertility. 



I use both incubators and hens with 



equally good results. I have obtained 

 perfect hatches in both ways. After 

 quail eggs have been incubated for a 

 week an eight pound hen could walk 

 on them without doing any damage. 



I use both bantam hens and brooders 

 in raising young quail. If the bantams 

 are steady I let the young birds go with 

 the hens in a small run, fifteen inches 

 high at one end and ten inches at the 

 other, made out of one-half inch boards 

 with a cover of one- half inch wire net- 

 ting. This is covered for two feet with 

 roofing paper, which is the only protec- 

 tion the birds have from the weather. 



These runs should be placed on hard, 

 solid ground, where it is impossible for 

 the young birds or the hen to scratch 

 or tunnel under. Put a layer of fine 

 sand in the bottom. The young birds 

 are not fed for the first twenty-four 

 hours. 



I leave the hen with the young birds 

 for five or six days ; then I transfer 

 the birds to a fireless brooder, about 

 the size of a large soap box, with a 

 filling of Eiderdown that will not ravel 

 or pull out. I let this down until it just 

 touches the bottom of the brooder, as I 

 find the little birds ' like to have some- 

 thing pressing on their backs. In this 

 climate there is plenty of warmth. We 

 have the doorway of the brooder in the 

 corner which matches one in the runs. 

 This is as it should be in any brooder, 

 since the small birds will find the way 

 in the corner where it would be almost 

 impossible to drive them in if the door 

 was in the middle. 



One of these brooders two feet square 

 will hold fifty quail until they are old 

 enough to stay out. In raising quail 

 you may add a newly hatched brood to 

 those already two weeks old with no bad 

 results. In feeding we use no wet food ; 

 the first few days we feed boiled egg 

 rubbed dry with finely ground meat 

 scrap and any of the small wild seeds 

 which will be readily taken from the 

 start. We add to this bill of fare corn 

 and wheat grits. Finely chopped onions 

 and lettuce should be given at all times 

 and a drinking fount of fresh butter- 

 milk should be beside their drinking 

 water. The buttermilk is used to pre- 



\ 



i 



