starter

[mobe_45]

Last year I got  sportsmans choice gamebird starter. After reading all the posts here I changed to Purina brand this year.
Are there different sizes of purina gamebird starter? I got the starter but have to crush it for the first week or so or my birds die.
The crumbles are too big I think. The starter also has corn bits big enough that I am wondering if I need to give them grit before I do. I wait a week before giving them grit. In my mind it lets them know what is food and what is grit. Am I off?

[slider]

I have used it for years just straight from the bag with no problems . Even the day olds eat the larger crumbles. I just took 200 tenn reds out of the hatcher yesterday and fed it to them and in no time not a crumble was left..I do not feed grit to young birds..only adults during winter when feeding whole grain..but I do not keep pet quail or maybe I would..

[jchiar]

I feed Purina to my bobs without grinding it

[Little Bear Game Farm]

I feed Home Grown Starter made by Purina Mills and run it through a food processor for the first week and have good luck.  I think the only reason I continue this way is because if it aint broke, don't fix it.

I have a question for anyone who knows...  My first set I fed Nutrena starter that was non-medicated with 27% protein.  My second set I fed the Home Grown Medicated Starter that has 30% protein.  The second set of birds is the same size at three weeks old as the first set at 6.  Does that extra 3% make that much of a difference or just coincidence?

They were about the same price but I would feel comfortable releasing these birds in the wild now with the first set I waited until they were 8 weeks because they were so small.

[slider]

I would not think that the 3% would make that much difference in the developement but the medicated part could have kept them cleaner from desiese and increased there developement...