That Quail Place Forum
Raising Gamebirds => Brooding and Raising => Feed-Discussion pertaining to various types of feeds, brands, what to feed and when. => Topic started by: kmk75 on March 04, 2009, 04:25:01 PM
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I just got my 12 adult quail and picked up a 50lb bag of Agway Game and Turkey Grower. I was told that this would be just fine for 8 week old growing quail. The problem is that my pen is on 1/2 wire mesh and the quail just seem to be picking the pellets out of the feeder and dropping them on the mesh, which then obviously falls to the ground where the can't eat it.
Is this because the pellets are too big or maybe because they are used to eating off a solid ground?
Should I keep it this way and hope they learn to eat it in the feeder or should I put a piece of board under the feeder so they drop the pellets and break them up on a solid ground?
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Buy crumbles. Your idea is OK for quick fix, only.
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When I started I had a feed salesman tell me that quail would not waste as many pellets as they did crumbles . After a week I had lost 100 birds & they kept telling me that it couldn't be the feed that they had several people using the feed & I was new to this & took their word for it. later I found out they only had sold to people who had fighting chickens & when I started feeding Purina gamebird starter everything went alright so now I don't even feed pellets to my pheasants . it was a costly lesson.
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Well...I really don't have too much of a choice as to what I can feed them because there is only one place that sells the feed. They do sell the starter crumble but I was told that it is not good for adult quail only chicks up to 8 weeks. I think I may have to buy myself a coffee grinder and grind the pellets. It may take a bit of time but I think it will work.
Any one else use a some kind of a grinder to grind up pellets?....
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Don`t let him BS you. He can order the crumbles and if he want tell him that you are getting a new feed dealer. They should be on a Gamebird breeder crumble this time of year if you are going to let them lay and you hatch eggs. If you are going to eat them and they are grown then kill them now and forget the feed.
You do not want to be grinding them up all of the time it will get very old very fast. Put you a large pan like a cookie sheet under the feeder and that should help the feed waste problem. They will eat the pellets if they are not to large. It will just take them a little time to get used to them. Mine eat pellets all of the time but they are small.
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Once again I live on Long Island NY and there really isn't much of a demand for Game Feed, so I really do not have a choice to use a different supplier because there are none. I will put something under the feeders for now and see if I can break the pellets up a bit. I know it's a hassle but I will probably only have to do it once a week.
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You can use a brick, or sledge hammer (gently) in a metal bucket, or on a patio block. I have an old blender (used for $3-$10) that is dedicated to grinding starter, for the first few days. Breaking up pellets, for a dozen birds, would be a breeze.
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I thought about using a blender. But I went and bought a coffee grinder. It works well, but doesn't do very much at one time. I will try the blender though.
I also read that it is not a good idea to grind it up too much because it does damage to their nostrils and feet. Is this going to be a problem? Because the coffee grinder does seem to grind it up pretty small.
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One thing about a blender, if you don't over fill the pitcher, you can control the "crumble" size.
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I have noticed that my Quail & Huns will eat the crumbs and kick the pellets out. there are always pellets in the feed that didn't get crunched.
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To add to everyone else this far..............I've used a normal kitchen blender to grind up crumbles for newborns, I'd think it would work fine with the pellet too. It won't hurt it at all and is still good for kitchen use, just don't leave it out in the garage, my wife didn't appreciate it. :-o
I'd think that any feed store could order you in a good gamebird feed. Figure out what brand/protien levels etc. and ask them if they can get it for you. Otherwise they may not want to go to the trouble to research it for you and just tell you they can't get it. :-| Most feed stores around her don't know anything about gamebirds.
I never had any luck with pellets and birds. Have always used the crumble.
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The coffee grinder seems to be doing the job and the quail are eating the chopped up pellets. It doesn't take more than 5 minutes to do so I guess I will stick to this method. Thanks for the help.