Gamebirds

The loss of Emtryl from the game bird industry resulted in game managers having to take a close look at their rearing practices to keep disease levels to an absolute minimum. Whether on the rearing field or in the release pen, open drinkers, susceptible to contamination through droppings and bedding were no longer acceptable, as the increased risk of diseases such as Hexamita, Coccidiosis and Tricomonas was too great a risk. The other associated problems of open drinkers such as flood risk and wet bedding resulted in many game managers looking at other drinking systems.

The Quill Drinker is the most innovative, robust and versatile nipple drinker on the market and has been developed from practical experience to provide pheasants and partridges with a constant supply of clean fresh water, reducing disease, keeping bedding dry and even reducing boredom and feather pecking. Its ability to take up to 250 birds right through from day olds to adults, be used inside or outside and on all gradients and types of land has made the Quill Drinker the number one choice for game managers who want the best system for their birds.

Feather Pecking

Feather pecking can be a problem in all ages of game but is most apparent on the rearing field. The key to reducing boredom and therefore feather pecking is to try and keep the birds occupied for a maximum amount of time throughout the day.

 Static drinkers, whether bell shaped or nipple lines offer the bird no variation in their daily routine – they simply have a drink and move on to feed, or perhaps peck their nearest neighbour. This is where the Quill Drinker is fundamentally different.  Whilst operating inside rearing units of any kind, the drinker oscillates throughout use, making the birds constantly follow and look for the nipples. This increases the amount of time each bird is occupied throughout the day and has been shown to reduce boredom and feather pecking between birds.

The end of bitting?

Some game farmers are no longer bitting their birds thanks to the combined benefits of the Quill Drinker and lower stocking rates – imagine the savings in time, labour, starve out figures and staff wages if you didn’t have to bit next season!

Unique Benefits

 Not only does the Quill Drinker provide numerous benefits to the birds, it also offers the game manger considerable benefits over other conventional drinking systems. The drinkers are extremely simple to set up and operate from water supplied by a covered header tank via 8mm water pipe. The drinkers can normally run from the same plumbing systems that are currently used for open drinking systems, meaning that all the operator is required to do is hang the drinker up, attach the water pipe and watch the benefit to his or her birds.

Once in situ they require very little maintenance. The drinkers are available in a choice of two colours; natural (white) for indoor use or under artificial light or green for both indoor and outdoor use. The drinker is a completely sealed unit so requires very little cleaning out, most game managers carry out this task once a season or in-between batches of chicks. Open drinkers need to be cleaned out at least once a day – with the Quill Drinker, this time and labour consuming job will be a thing of the past.

Other drinking systems whether open or nipple systems can be complex to set up, require continual maintenance and prove very difficult to store when not in use. Storage of the Quill Drinker is simple – because of their flat shape the drinkers stack neatly on top of each other and take up very little space.

The Secret to the Quill Drinkers Success

The success of the Quill Drinker lies in its clever design, the ten high flow rate nipples and the Rainbow Valve. The water level in the drinker and therefore the flow rate through the nipples, is controlled by the reliable, proven valve which is easy to adjust and has a safety shut-off feature. This shut-off feature means in the unlikely event that the drinker was to fall onto the floor, the water supply would be cut, preventing a flooded shed. The valve allows the operator to control the flow rate through each nipple simply by increasing or decreasing the height of water in each drinker accordingly. The higher the water in the drinker the higher the flow rate through the nipple, the lower the water level, the lower the flow rate and so on. This means that if necessary, for example, in times of very hot weather the operator can increase the flow rate to the birds.

Whilst in use, the drinker must be set at a height that encourages the birds, whatever their age, to really stretch for the nipples.

Each nipple is a 180º unit, which we feel maintains much drier bedding than a nipple that operates as a 360ºunit. A 360º nipple allows the bird to peck at the nipple from any angle, this can however lead to a greater wastage of water as the bird will peck one side, which tends to waste water on the other. The nipples fitted to the Quill Drinker can only be activated by tapping the nipple vertically which results in the water going in one direction only – down the birds throat. Whilst in use the drinker must therefore be set at a height that encourages the birds, whatever their age, to really stretch for the nipples.  

Initially, after installation, some game managers think they will have the Quill Drinkers set at a suitable height for the birds it is used on but it is surprising how far birds can reach – as an approximate guide for pheasants, please use the following measurements.

The game manager should observe his or her birds and alter the height of the drinker accordingly as the birds grow – if the birds do not have to stretch for the nipples, the drinker is too low.

The drinker itself is extremely tough – in tests we drove a landrover over one, after which it still worked – surprisingly, this is not recommended but demonstrates the strength of the high density polyethylene used in manufacture.  The plastic construction of the drinker is tested at temperatures ranging from -190ºC to +190ºC.  We are unaware of any other drinker that could stand up to this punishment! Unlike other drinkers on the market, your Quill Drinker will last you a long, long time and continue to give you its unique benefits season after season after season.

Pheasants and Partridges

Laying Stock

Clean water is essential for laying birds. Cocks and hens need to be in top condition for optimum breeding performance. To achieve optimum performance the birds must have access to a good quality feed and lots of clean water.

                                                 The Quill drinker can provide the ultimate system for clean water to help with fertility, laying and hatchability.

The Quill drinker can provide the ultimate system for clean water to help with fertility, laying and hatchability. Dirty water can harbour pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas, and Escheriaia.coli, both of which can have serious health impacts on your birds.  The height that each drinker is set whilst in use means that in uncovered laying pens, corvids (as well as rats) are unable to reach the nipples and use them as a source of water. This prevents the diseases that crows and rooks can carry such as Salmonella from ever entering the water system. All these factors help ensure the disease risk is kept to a minimum which should ensure peak performance from your hens.

From chicks to wood

From the moment the chicks arrive on the rearing field to the time that they leave for the wood, the Quill Drinker is the nipple system to give pheasants and partridges the best start in life to enable them to become strong fliers.  

The Quill Nipple Drinker is easily installed into all rearing units – suspended from the roof by an adjustable cord, which, as the chicks grow can be altered accordingly. In the first few days the drinkers allow chicks to move easily around the cardboard surround etc. As the chicks grow and the surrounds are removed, this freedom of movement is retained.

As soon as the chicks are removed from the chick box they will instantly take to the Quill Drinker - its unique design allows maximum light penetration to all nipples, stimulating the chicks to drink as their intense curiosity gets the better of them! The slim narrow shape prevents any brooding beneath the drinker (which could lead to fatalities) and also allows excellent visibility of all the birds within the unit. Chicks cannot drown because there is no open water available and the drier bedding results in less ammonia, less disease potential and less labour.

As the birds progress from night shelters to outside runs, the Quill Drinker can be simply left inside, or if preferred, taken out into the run. Green Quill Drinkers are recommended for outside use.

For game managers using electric hens, the slim design of the Quill Drinker means they work brilliantly – fitted either alongside or in-between the hens. Chicks are encouraged to go back under the hen as they are unable to huddle beneath the drinker.

As the birds progress from night shelters to outside runs, the Quill Drinker can be simply left inside, or if preferred, taken out into the run. Green Quill Drinkers are recommended for outside use. When used outside, the drinkers can be supplied with a strong galvanised tripod system.

In the release pen

The Quill Drinker is the only nipple system available, that has been designed to take pheasant, partridge and duck from day old, right through to release continuing all the benefits for birds as adults.

 Help your shoot show significantly better returns.

More and more game farms are using nipple systems to rear their birds. The transfer from rearing field to wood is a stressful time and the quicker the birds find water once released, the less chance there is of stress turning into disease and disease into fatalities. By having Quill nipple drinkers within a release pen, the birds will be able to find water straight away and as there is no change over in drinking system, stress and associated problems will be kept to a minimum.

Will birds reared on open water systems take to the Quill Drinker in the release pen?

“Our poults were delivered to wood having not been reared on any form of nipple drinker. They took to the Quill Drinker straight away. Next year I am moving all my pens over to nipple drinkers”
  Nick Purton, Private Syndicate Shoot, East Sussex

Increase your shoot's returns

We all know that in a release pen we will have to face losses from predators. Within the pen, these losses can generally be picked up and accounted for - what about the losses to stress and disease that occur out of the pen and cannot be accounted for? It is these birds had they survived, which could have held in those drives towards the end of the season, providing more shooting and on commercial shoots, extra income.

Apart from the odd large scale loss to a rogue fox or exceptionally bad weather, in a large number of cases, stress and disease are the biggest cause of pheasant and partridge poult losses within a release pen. The health and hygiene benefits that the Quill Drinker provides, can significantly lower disease losses, post release. When the cost of shooting a single bird is often higher than the price of a Quill Drinker can you really afford not to use Quills in your pens? The extra birds on the shoot would pay for the drinkers in the first year alone. On top of this, because disease problems are significantly reduced, the birds present will have a better overall state of health - this can mean healthier and therefore stronger flying birds!

When poults use the Quill Drinker, the noise that the nipples produce as they are being tapped can really help hold your birds. As the birds do start to inevitably wander, soon after release, they can loose themselves in the lush summer undergrowth but the sound that other birds make whilst using the nipples helps hold the birds and prevent them from wandering. Open drinkers stay silent. This particular benefit of the Quill Drinker is very effective around partridge release pens as the continual tap, tap, tap of the drinker by the birds, helps keep those released nearby.

"The most innovative, robust and versatile nipple drinker on the market"