Baby quail feeding

[Nabiki]

I’ve double checked my figures and must admit that I’d confused the protein levels between meal worms and crickets which are actually higher in crickets but just to complicate things further they are also less digestible.

@Nabiki I can see from your other posts that you’re obviously a wealth of knowledge re. quail and although I hope to prove you wrong about their ability to self regulate nutritional intake I also hope I’ve not offended you by questioning your logic and would welcome any input you can offer as my feed experiment progresses.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/free-rein-feeding-method.1581742/post-26892559
I’ve kept chickens and bantams before but quail are new to me so I’m sure there’s plenty I have to learn.

I want to learn something new every day. I have some experience now, but I certainly don't know everything. A good debate with facts and actual studies is always welcome. We can both learn something, right?

Will you have a vet involved to check up on them? A control group? I would be interested to see an actual study on this.

 

[Ital]

I want to learn something new every day. I have some experience now, but I certainly don't know everything. A good debate with facts and actual studies is always welcome. We can both learn something, right?

Will you have a vet involved to check up on them? A control group? I would be interested to see an actual study on this.

I would too. There will be no control group, the only reason I’m doing this is because I miss my bantams and can’t find an appropriate feed here in the U.K. as have since developed an auto immune issue and have to avoid any contact with gluten and oats so a control group eating a commercial blend isn’t possible.

I tried to get advice on here for making my own feed but the general response seemed to be don’t do it, they’ll all die.

I’m attempting to make it as safe as possible by weighing and recording each item as it’s added and then recreating their choices into a sample to be sent off for analysis to see if it meets their necessary requirement.
If any of them die I’ll be taking them to a vet for an autopsy/necropsy but I’m hoping that can be avoided.

After reading your posts I’ve redesigned the menu to make it easier for them while their small by only including ingredients with a complete amino acid profile and in a combination which if they were to select randomly from in equal amounts it would end up about 28.4% protein but it’s much harder to estimate the levels of other nutrients so I’ll be relying on them for that and lab testing their choices retrospectively.

Sorry if I was a bit off before, I’ve become a bit defensive since using byc as I’ve found people are often critical of what I’m trying to do in a way that’s not especially constructive.

 

[Nabiki]

I would too. There will be no control group, the only reason I’m doing this is because I miss my bantams and can’t find an appropriate feed here in the U.K. as have since developed an auto immune issue and have to avoid any contact with gluten and oats so a control group eating a commercial blend isn’t possible.

I tried to get advice on here for making my own feed but the general response seemed to be don’t do it, they’ll all die.

I’m attempting to make it as safe as possible by weighing and recording each item as it’s added and then recreating their choices into a sample to be sent off for analysis to see if it meets their necessary requirement.
If any of them die I’ll be taking them to a vet for an autopsy/necropsy but I’m hoping that can be avoided.

After reading your posts I’ve redesigned the menu to make it easier for them while their small by only including ingredients with a complete amino acid profile and in a combination which if they were to select randomly from in equal amounts it would end up about 28.4% protein but it’s much harder to estimate the levels of other nutrients so I’ll be relying on them for that and lab testing their choices retrospectively.

Sorry if I was a bit off before, I’ve become a bit defensive since using byc as I’ve found people are often critical of what I’m trying to do in a way that’s not especially constructive.

I often ask what people consider hard questions because there is a lot of misinformation out there. If you give me a study done by a reputable source (such as UC Davis or other university), I'm far more willing to change my mind. I'm not always going to trust a source like "iyhavetruth.com" or something like that.

I do think your experiment can be useful to show that they can live on a home made diet (with recipe, because details matter), but it won't show that it's as good as or better than a commercial feed.

If I sound a bit jaded it's because of the incredible number of people who get quail and then feed them chicken feed or other feed that they've made that is completely inappropriate. Then they wonder why their quail are getting sick and dying.

 

[Ital]

I often ask what people consider hard questions because there is a lot of misinformation out there. If you give me a study done by a reputable source (such as UC Davis or other university), I'm far more willing to change my mind. I'm not always going to trust a source like "iyhavetruth.com" or something like that.

I do think your experiment can be useful to show that they can live on a home made diet (with recipe, because details matter), but it won't show that it's as good as or better than a commercial feed.

If I sound a bit jaded it's because of the incredible number of people who get quail and then feed them chicken feed or other feed that they've made that is completely inappropriate. Then they wonder why their quail are getting sick and dying.

I can see that must be sad and frustrating to watch. I’ll hopefully not be getting any problems or losses with mine.

Max life expectancy is 6 years so if I can keep them alive and laying beyond that I’ll be happy .

I’m also hoping that letting them choose their own lunch might address some of the issues with commercial blends.

It could better allow for the varied requirement between types of birds in a mixed flock, males vs females, moulting, laying vs not, levels of activity, temperature, time of year ect.

It might reduce overall feed consumption, apparently chickens will eat more of something deficient in what they need to make up the difference.

Also less waste, I’ve heard quail are messy eaters but maybe they won’t be dispersing as much amongst the shavings if the ingredients are provided separately as they won’t be searching through for the bits they need.

If you notice anything I’ve missed with what I’m doing please let me know, I’ll keep making updates on the free rein thread as I go.

 

[Nabiki]

I think max life expectancy is 6 years so if I can keep them alive and laying beyond that I’ll be happy.
I’m also hoping that letting them choose their own lunch might address some of the issues with commercial blends in that they don’t account for the varied requirement between types of birds in a mixed flock, males vs females, moulting, laying, levels of activity, temperature ect. and that it might reduce overall feed consumption (apparently chickens will eat more of something deficient in what they need to make up the difference), and possibly waste, I’ve heard quail are messy eaters but maybe they won’t be dispersing as much amongst the shavings if the ingredients are provided separately as they won’t be searching through for the bits they need.

If you notice anything I’ve missed with what I’m doing please let me know, fingers crossed.

Quail are messy eaters. They will kick their feed everywhere, so low waste feeders are a must.

Keep notes on your experiment with exact recipes, weights of your birds, and lifespans. You may also want to check their keels to see how their body fat levels are, feather condition, alertness levels, coordination and egg fertility to see how well nourished they are.