A total of 672one day old- female quails was allotted to a completely randomized experimentaldesign, with three treatments (non-trimmed birds; 1/3 of the beak trimmed andcauterized beak), 8 replicates of 28 birds to evaluate the effect of beak trimmingand drinking system on productive performance. The birds were beak trimmed at21 days of age, and at day 35 the weight gain, feed intake, feed conversionand mortality were evaluated. At day 39, 576 quails were transfered to layingcages, and assigned to a 3x2 factorial arrangement, to evaluate three beak trimmingmethods and two drinking systems (cup and nipple) by using four replicates of24 birds each. The production phase started when the birds reached 50% egg production,at 60 days of age. The quails submitted to beak trimming by cauterization showedsmaller weight and lower feed intake during the initial period. Stress paindue to the cauterized beak can justify not only lower feed intake and lowerweight gain, but also increased mortality. It can be inferred that once thismethod takes more time it has caused more pain and higher levels of stress,worsening the performance of birds. The trimmed to 1/3 of the beaks cut canhave caused stress to the birds less intense, without effect on performance.No differences on bird performance and egg quality were observed between drinkingsystems and beak trimming during the laying phase. In the initial phase, beaktrimming system reduced performance, however, during the production phase, bothdrinking and beak trimming systems do not affect performance and egg qualityof Japanese quails.
