A Few Days to Hatch, and Still Nothing to Feed Them!

[SkyWarrior]

Look for meat bird feed. It's at 22% or better.

 

[JJMR794]

Actually All Chicken Feeds Are Rather Lacking For Gamebirds.... There's More To Gbs Protien Than Just A Number... Quail Are Rather Specific In Their Needs. Chicken Feeds Use Too Much Fiber, Often Are Higher In Salt And Fat And Their Protien Sources Are Incomplete Or Even Useless To Quail. Wanna Know What Fiber Does? Go Eat 3 Bowls Of Grapenuts Cereal And Them Write Us A Lil Essay About It 4 Days Later (when You Can Finally Get More Than 2 Ft Away From The Tiolet For 5 Minutes...)


To The Op~ Have You Tried Purina Mills Website? They Have A Dealor Locator There... Just Type In Your Zip Code And It Will Show You All Dealors In Your Area~~ Automatically Disreguard All Tsc Stores, Then Take Whats Left And Start Calling Them.... Most Places Will At Least Order Feed For You If You Request It.

Granted, I Realize That There Are Some That Simply Cannot Obtain Gbs.... But If You Can Get It Its Not Only 1000x's Better For Your Birds, Its Also 10x's Easier For You Than Playing Mad Scientist In The Basement Or Out In The Barn Trying To Concoct A Suitable Feed, And Normally Cheaper In The Long Run

 

[Stellar]

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Jj, I was trying to locate purina suppliers for the OP, southern States, etc... Went to the purina site and typed his zip and only TSC showed up in his radius! Located a mill but they couldn't help.

Going to look for southern states or different brand of GB feed for OP when I am done with the birds as a last search result.

 

[LynnA]

I know its awful, but I boil the quail eggs, then blend them into pulp, shells and all and feed it back to the birds. My sister says this is canabalism and scowls at me while she says it...*lol* But the birds LOVE it! I mix in ground chick starter and the babies all go crazy over it! Please tell me this isn`t a horrible thing to do...

 

[ColbyNTX]

Quote:

Call any feed sotre in your area and see if they have a gamebird starter. If they don't, ask them to get some on their next truck. Most will be happy to get it for you. You may have to pay for it up front but who cares.

 

[Stellar]

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No this isn't terrible at all. What do the birds eat in the wild after all? Bugs, grubs, dirt! To be honest GBS had WAY too much salt as well.

 

[Orange Ribbon]

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Colby, I already called every feed store around here within 100 miles and nobody will order it. Everyone of them claim they cannot get it. I'd be happy to pay for it up front if someone would get it.

 

[Sushi]

Another problem with feeding cat food is the lack of vitamin D in it. Cats and dogs are capable of converting vitamin D2 into vitamin D3, so D2 is what cat and dog food contains, as it's cheaper to source. Humans and chickens need vitamin D3, especially in the winter when there isn't a lot of sunlight. Chicken feed has vitamin D3 in it. I would just top up the feed with soy flour. For my chick starter I run my layer rations through a coffee grinder and add a few tablespoons of soy flour or soy milk powder, which are pretty much the same thing but for some reason, my Bulk Barn store sees fit to charge more for the soy flour than the powdered soy milk mix.

 

[chrishel]

I've used Purina Flock Raiser in a pinch. I don't recommend it long term, but if you can get it, it will work. How about turkey starter?

You could order Manna Pro online. It's costly, but it's still better than nothing.

Good luck! I hope you find something soon!

 

[Orange Ribbon]

Okay folks, I got some good news. I called Southern States again out of desperation and guess what? They NOW have some game bird starter at 28%. However, it is medicated, but I don't care at this point. At least I know I can feed my birds if they hatch.

They are also carrying flight developer feed and "super breeder" which are both medicated also.

Quail Lady, I think you mentioned that medicated feed was thought to possibly cause sterility in birds, but hasn't been proven. Also a bird on medicated feed can still be eaten. So, fooey! I'm going medicated AND THANKFUL TO GET IT!!!