What In The World Do You Feed Quail??? What I Learned.

in #life7 years ago

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When I first got my quail, I was confused on what to feed them. I went to the feed store and they sold me a wild bird seed mix. It had "quail feed" on the tag so I bought it. I went home and fed the quail, they loved it, but I just wanted to make sure I was giving the little guys the right food for the best egg production. I looked up their crude protein requirement and saw it was 25% to 30%, then read my new feed bag of wild bird seed, 10%. Not going to work.

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I read further to find out turkey and game bird feed had high protein in their food and it was used with good results by some homesteaders for their quail. Its crude protein content is 27%, perfect! I also bought dried mealworms, which my quail where hesitant to try at first, but once they did it was like a piranha feeding frenzy. I chopped up some fresh apples and squash, they weren't sure but then ate all of it. Harley Quinn loves cooked potatoes.

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The mealworms have a 50% crude protein, so keep that in mind. They are also very expensive so I'm going to grow my own mealworms for them. I will post about it when I do.

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Another important thing is making sure that they have enough calcium in their diet. I add oyster shell as they eat it so help with that. If they don't get enough calcium they may peck their eggs. And that can be hard to stop once it starts. It looks like its too big for them but they eat it somehow. I also added a cuttlebone in their hutch. It helps their beaks stay trimmed and gives calcium too. Some of my quails beaks were long, the cuttlebone cleared that right up.

In closing, I recommend mixing it up so they don't get board. Try to be mindful of how much protein your birds need and mix accordingly. Quail are very smart and can get board easily so introduce them to new things every now and again. Observe what they like to eat and modify. They all have their own taste preferences just like us. Quail LOVE to scratch when they eat, so please give them a hard surface to eat on so they can indulge. They would be sad little quail if they only had wire under their feet, we wouldn't like it either.

Thanks so much for reading, if you like my posts lets be friends! Follow me, Big Love.

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Great article, another supplemental food source you might want to consider is black soldier fly, they are easy and great composters.

Thank you! Black soldier fly, I will do some further reading on them. Thanks for the tip! Always looking for new ways to feed and compost. Looking forward to learning from everyone on steemit.

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Save your chicken egg shells toast them in the oven to kill any critters then grind them up in a cheap food processor from the Goodwill.

That's a great idea for more calcium! Thank you @jetjockey!

Yes, with birds it can be difficult to first determine what to feed them. They are so different. Then gradually gaining knowledge:)

They are very sensitive little beings. It has been fun learning about them. Birds have always been my favorite, I loved watching the wild ones when I was little, guess I still do. I love their different personalities, getting to know them. Thanks for reading @animal-shelter!

I'm a bird lover too. I spread wild bird food on the house's deck, and wait for them to flock and feed. All types of birds join into the frenzy. It's a very enjoyable daily sight.

Isn't it great! You get to know all of their personalities, and are about to pick the individual out of the flock. They become favorite neighbor's, of the trees.

My favourite time is when a squirrel joins in (they love the sunflower seeds from the bird mix), all creatures feeding in harmony!

I love that too!

We are hoping to get quail soon and were also confused on what to feed them. I read that a wild seed mix was exactly what they should be eating so I guess I better look into that more cause apparently not! Thanks for the info :)

Glad it helped! You will love your quail, I'm so happy about mine.

Do you think you would be able to feed them exclusively seeds if you upped the meal worms?

I think so, if you added table and garden scraps for variety. My quail love the seeds, so I feed them a mix of seeds, organic turkey starter and mealworms. I try to keep in mind the amounts of protein and fat in each and adjust my amounts accordingly. Seeds are the cheapest to growing mealworms and giving them seeds would be cost effective.

The best feed I can find is 18% organic chicken starter. After that it's 16% organic layer feed. There aren't a lot of organic options where I am. It doesn't seem like seeds would cover that other 12%? If we did meal worms we would farm them ourselves for sure. Those guys are expensive!

Hi @lifemovedbysteem, I've started a little mealworm farm recently and am looking forward to seeing your future posts on yours. I'll make a video on mine soon so we can share what has worked and not worked with each other.

I posted my mealworm factory post, let me know how you like it. Cheers!

That sound great! Nice to meet you @cahlenlee! I look forward to learning from each other.

Just awesome dear..Waiting for next.
Following you...

Thank you so much, your sweet response gave me a happy smile. Hope you have a great day and enjoy my future posts.

Welcome...💐
Please visit my profile hope you like my photography and don't forget to follow and upvote me..@saan💐👍

I love photography, I will check yours out. Thanks.

I look forward to seeing how the meal worms work out.

Thanks keep an eye on my blog, ones coming up!

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