Quail food

[chris]

hi all, i've been feeding my quail on chick crumbs, mealworms, cucumber, and my own seed mix that contains panicum millet, red & black rape, some hemp, and softbill insect food. they seems to love the mix mentioned above, the only problem is that the softbill food costs a fair bit for how much i get.. anyone got any ideas for a cheaper alternative (the stuff i use at the moment is orlux insect patee, i've been looking at buying sacks of food instead of small bags to reduce costs, but this stuff is gonna put a hole in my pocket! :lol:

http://www.everythingforpets.com/orlux_insect_patee.pet/use.id.5.item_id.2277.dept.307/

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

I suggest you use Bogena Universal instead of Orlux, although not as good regarding Insect content I'm sure your Quail will still enjoy Bogena & its a hell of a lot cheaper. :lol:

Paul.

[chris]

thanx mate, i might try cranking up the amount of live insects they get if i this bogena stuff doesn't do the trick :D

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Chris,

Let us know how you get on with the Bogena Universal, but you don't need to feed the Quail a large amount of Insects due to the high Protein level in the Chick Crumb.
But you could increase the Livefood during the breeding season to help stimulate breeding.

Paul.

[chris]

hi mate, no prob with increasing the livefood, should have a stack of it by the breeding season (crickets, hoppers, waxworms, mealworms). they don't seem too keen on chickcrumbs anyway except when they have chicks, unlike this mix which they absolutely love! i was hoping to cut down on the chickcrumbs and eventually phase them out except when there's chicks about (not too keen on artificial foods).

i think chick crumbs are meant for rasing poultry on and not as a permanent diet for quail, thats why i'm trying out alternatives. if i can get closer to a natural diet by feeding livefoods and various seeds then i'll do that and avoid chick crumbs where possible.

[laurab]

Hi Chris, my quail seem to dislike chick crumbs.

Apart from some seed, I also feed mine on mealworms, the odd cricket now and again, any spiders that dare to enter my shed and I have found they adore wood lice and ants eggs.