What is a good nutrition plan for my gamebirds

Quail are in fact more related to a turkey than a chicken. When observing this fact, it makes sense that they have different nutrition requirements than chickens. This Blog will give you the information you need to feed your quail chicks.

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our recommended feed Program:

First, Let’s start with starter feed:

Due to the small body size and relation to gamebirds, quail need to start on a 28-30% Protein Gamebird or Turkey Starter feed. To make sure you have the correct feed, look for the “Guaranteed Analysis” table. Here’s an example of Kalmbach’s Medicated Turkey starter that you can buy from Chewy.com. As you can see the actual CRUDE PROTEIN % is 28% protein.

Some feed stores may trick you in that you believe you are buying gamebird starter, but if you take a look at the protein % it is actually too low. For example, Fleet Farm carries a product called MannaPro 5 Lb Gamebird/Showbird Non-Medicated Supplement and it has picture of a California Quail on it, but if you look at the Item Details, it says its 24% Protein. Since our chicks get shipped through the mail and it can be a stressful process, we prefer you use the 28-30% protein level. Now, I have no problem if you use this as a grower feed for your quail. But we will get more into that in a bit.

More on What NOT to buy for Gamebird Starter feed…

Do NOT buy these feeds as Starter Feed! They are not enough nutrition for baby quail.

When looking for Quail Starter feeds, many of the labels can be misleading. They may have the words “Chick Starter” or “Gamebird Starter,” but like the feeds above, when you examine the nutrition label, the protein % is actually not high enough. Make sure you find the Ingredient label on the bag and read the % protein. If it reads lower than 28% it will not be enough nutrient for your baby quail. Now, the feeds above are listed at 22% and 24% protein, these you could use as grower feeds. However, Bobwhites would no go on a grower feed until 8 weeks of age. Coturnix would not go on a grower feed until 3 weeks of age.

MINI CRUMBLE

Try to get it as a mini crumble feed. Make sure the feed is medicated with Amprolium for Coccidosis prevention.

***You need to grind the feed into a powder. We recommend to keep Bobwhites on this powder for the first 7 days and the Coturnix for the first 3 days. Then transistion the chicks back to the crumble.

Just take your crumble feed and use a blender or food processor to grind the crumbles in a powder. Try to get the consistency of flour. See Picture below.

GROWER FEEDS

Once your quail have reached the growing stage, look to feed them a 22% protein level feed. Most commonly these are called Turkey Grower or Gamebirds Grower. This feed would be acceptable for that. I believe the best place to find feed for your gamebirds that is good quality, proper nutrition, and a decent price is at your local feed mill. The grower at a 22% protein may be a bit harder to find. But please make sure you are finding a feed that has a minimum of 21-22%. You can feed up to a 25% but I would not go higher than that. If you feed higher protein feed for too long you can cause disease issues in your birds. They will not be digesting that amount of protein at the older age so the excess protein is excreted. This will cause wet manure and bacterial growth in the gut.

At this time, once the quail are on this grower feed, this ends up being their maintenance level feed as well.

Are you looking to breed or have them lay eggs??

Look for a Gamebird or Turkey Breeding diet. This should be a 21 - 22% Protein level with also a Calcium level of 2-2.5% and Phosphorus 0.7%.

Can’t find a gamebird breeder diet near you??

You can keep them on a grower feed and supplement Calcium Carbonate such as Oyster Shells or Shell and Bone Builder. Supplement as much as they want to eat, they should not run out.