Medicated or Non Medicated

[tanaro2]

I am new to this board as well as being new at raising Quail.  I have 150 Jumbo Brown Coturnix that are16 days old.  I am a licensed Falconer and my purpose for raising Quail is to eventually feed them to my bird.  All though that is the main reason, I would occasionally like to put some on the grill as well as breeding them for future use and local Falconers.  My problem is this..............  I live in a fairly small town and all the feedmills including the Tractor supply company (TSC) only have a high protein turkey starter that is all medicated.  I am having a difficult time finding a non medicated starter that has the protein levels that Quail chicks need to thrive.  I have read in several articles on the internet as well as the Game Bird Gazette that it is a NO-NO to use medicated feeds in Quail if the birds are going to be used for human Consumption or fed to animals, including all by products from the bird.   I don't know why that is but two of the feeds I have used contain the following drug for Coccidiosis.  Lasalccid  113 g/ton.  Now, one feed mill sold me a bag of rooster feed pellets which is also suppose to be good for game birds.  The crude Protein has a Min. of 30%.  The problem is that its not a starter for chicks and has to be grounded for the chicks to eat.  Calcium level is Min of .40% and max is .90  Crude fiber is listed as 6.0% while the Crude Fat is only 2.50    As I said, the protein level is great but its the rest of the ingredients that seem inadequate for chicks.  Can anyone give me info that can help me decide wether to stay away from this feed or should it be OK.  The other brand of feed I've found that is not medicated is Purina Flock Raiser.  It is only a 20% crude protein.  Crude fat is 3.50 and crude fiber is 5.0%  Is the protein level in this feed to low for Quail Chicks or should this work just fine??  These seem to be my only choices that I have found.   I prefer to use non medicated unless someone here can tell me otherwise on my paranoia using medicated.  Any help will be appreciated.  Thanks.

[sp2207]

here is what my bag of feed says:  this feed is designed to be fed to broilers, turkeys,ducks.geese,pheasants.quail and chukars  from 1 day old to finish.
  and it has a 21% protein level it also says pheasants.quail, and chukar :  Feed free choice as the sole ration from 1 day old to finish
this feed is produced for Farm and Fleet Stores
Id stay away from the medicated if the birds aren't sick
Scot

[tanaro2]

Thats the problem.  Its hard staying away from the medicated feed because that is what all the stores here are carrying.  The medication present in the feed is for Coccidiosis.  Not because they are sick but to be used as a PREVENTATIVE.  As I said, the only two products that I have found that do not contain Medication is the Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein) and the Rooster feed that is also suppose to be good for gamebirds.  It contains a whopping minnimum of 30% protein.  The problem with this feed is that its not a starter for chicks.  Its in pellet form.  Now I can grind it to powder but as I mentioned in the original post is that I don't think the ingridient levels of Calcium, Crude Fat, and Crude fiber are suitable for chicks.  I was hoping someone would know if it was still adequate.  I don't want to use a feed as mentioned above if it lacks in the proper nutrients for chicks, thus causing problems in thier growth and health.

[La.bowhunter]

the first link is to another subject, the second was posted in that thread by woodenegg responding to about the same questions.  you may be able to use the high protein diet to get them started ,then find what is suitable for adults that is non med.


http://www.thatquailplace.com/smf/index.php?topic=2388.15

http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/PNW564.pdf

[tanaro2]

yea.  Looks like I made a no-no.  I don't know what I was thinking but it looks like I started a topic that was already being discussed.  I used the search button for medicated but I think I may have typed the incorrect spelling thus leading me to believe there wasn't a topic for it.   When I finally found the topic, I wasn't sure if the way they were presented, carried any of the answers i was looking for, though most did hit on a few areas that i wondered about.  I'll try to be more careful next time.  Sorry for the mix up.  Thanks for pointing that out  La.bowhunter.