Adding Mealworms at a Week Old?

[Ninjasquirrel]

I know!! They are so active and bouncy I just want the best for them I keep looking for any way possible to spoil them!

You could mash up some fruit. They might like that. I gave mine mashed strawberries when they wouldn't touch the meal worms. With chickens the thought is if it's bread...HECK YES. If it's fruit...YES. If it's vegetables...Well, if there is nothing else.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

You could mash up some fruit. They might like that. I gave mine mashed strawberries when they wouldn't touch the meal worms. With chickens the thought is if it's bread...HECK YES. If it's fruit...YES. If it's vegetables...Well, if there is nothing else.

hah! I’ll give them some crushed apples if I can’t get the mealworms. I hope it’s okay for quails to do apple! i have berries too if they don’t like it

 

[Nabiki]

Yeah, I’ll do that! Thank you!if I make them a sand bath, could eating that work too?

I've been told to be careful of giving them a sand bath too young. They will eat it, and they might end up with impacted crops if they eat too much of it. At a week old, they're still pretty dumb and good at finding ways of committing suicide.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

I've been told to be careful of giving them a sand bath too young. They will eat it, and they might end up with impacted crops if they eat too much of it. At a week old, they're still pretty dumb and good at finding ways of committing suicide.

Got it! Ill just let them stay with feed right now and wait for the real grits to arrive before I try mealworms. Thanks!

 

[maadroj]

Chick grit is also crushed stone, often larger pieces than sand. If you're worried, give it to them supervised to see how much they eat. Personally I think they would only eat as much as they need, but I haven't raised coturnix quail. Mealworms also come in different sizes. Start with the smallest. They will learn to swallow it straight down like spaghetti. When they're a little larger you can also try tiny crickets. They will go wild chasing them around. We probably started a little later with the bug treats, but it was a party. I think the mealworms helped endear us to at least a few of them.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I personally don't treat my quails with mealworms for a couple of reasons.

One, they're quite expensive and I have a lot of quail.

Two, mealworms look a lot like quail toes. I've heard this can encourage pecking toes, and as I already have a toe-pecking male who always pecks his chicks, I've avoided mealworms.

Three, When I did feed mealworms once, it turned my quails nasty. I have a cage with king quail females, a mother and her adult daughters she raised who always got along so well and were inseparable. I thought since they weren't my breeders and I had some mealworms from feeding my japanese quails (they would attack me for them so I stopped), I would give my lovely girls some mealworms to treat them. THEY WENT INTO AN ALL OUT FRENZY!!! Even the mother started attacking her daughters and looking around for more. I've found they haven't gotten along the same since.

That's just my experience, plenty of other people do it with no problems and they do love them. I have fed my quails crickets which they love to chase and feed to their mates and chicks, but without turning them into little monsters ha ha. I will probably get some more crickets soon and give them some every so often. Good luck.