Can Quail survive of Chicken feed?

[R2elk]

@R2elk Ok, so try to get separate feeds. Can Chickens eat game food?

Game bird feed will not hurt chickens. They don't need that good of feed but they will do well on it. During molts some people prefer to give their chickens game bird feed.

 

[muddy75]

@Chicka_deee I would doubt this to be an issue as we have plenty of small chickens and I plan to integrate them along side some Bantam chicks. Plus they live in a fairly large enclosed area.


@R2elk Ok, so try to get separate feeds. Can Chickens eat game food?

@muddy75 I have a 3-tier cage I use when getting new animals or pet sitting (I clean throughly when transferring animals). How big does their enclosure need to be?

that’s a very controversial topic! in cage-kept groups, people tend to stick with no more than 3.5 birds per square foot with 1 male to 4 female ratio. In an outdoor aviary enclosure I would probably allow at least 1-2 square feet per bird. @007Sean or @R2elk may have different/better recommendations as they have way more experience than I do. As far as feed, chickens can eat gamebird feed but not the reverse, however, commercial gamebird feeds can cost way more per pound than chicken feed. If you have access to a local mill, sometimes you can find more cost-effective blends/quantities to meet your needs.

 

[007Sean]

My enclosures are huge, 300 sq. ft. I run 25 to 30 birds per pen....works out to around 12 sq. ft. per bird. This is overkill but I don't have any problems. I could run 60 to 70 birds in these enclosures and might not have any problems but to me that's 'overcrowding', that would give 4 to 5 sq. ft per bird. I think there would be a lot of harrassment between the birds and more likely to have deaths. I raise Bob's, Blues, Gambels, and Valleys under these habitat conditions. My Mountain quail are raised on wire and they have around 2 sq. ft. per bird. I don't raise Coturnix anymore but when I did they were housed in battery type cages. Just my

ETA corrected spelling due to auto correct.

 

[R2elk]

My enclosures are hugh, 300 sq. ft. I run 25 to 30 birds per pen....works out to around 12 sq. ft. per bird. This is overkill but I don't have any problems. I could run 60 to 70 birds in these enclosures and might not have any problems but to me that's 'overcrowding', that would give 4 to 5 sq. ft per bird. I think there would be a lot of harassment between the birds and more likely to have deaths. Just my View attachment 1698642

I assume that you mean huge. Too many people look at the minimum recommendations and interpret it as the ideal requirements.

 

[007Sean]

I assume that you mean huge. Too many people look at the minimum recommendations and interpret it as the ideal requirements.

Yeah, auto correct got me again. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[007Sean]

I assume that you mean huge. Too many people look at the minimum recommendations and interpret it as the ideal requirements.

IMO, minimum
recommendations/requirements are just inviting problems to occur...I understand some people 'don't' have the space, land etc. Instead they should be looking at how big they can make the enclosure to maximize the health of the birds, not the quantity of birds.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Ah, I realized you never mentioned what type of quail you are talking about OP and I should have been specific.

1 square foot/bird is the minimum for standard size coturnix. Bobwhites or the like, or even jumbo coturnix, *definitely* need more space.

As mentioned some commercial producers keep coturnix at a *higher* density than even that but I would really, really not recommend it. As someone else pointed out, even at the "minimum acceptable" you have more stress, more fights, more cleaning, etc.

I know I have to spend a LOT more time monitoring my birds for social stress (had to split two groups this week) than those who are able to keep them in bigger setups, much less the extra time I spend cleaning out tiny feeders and waterers.

Bigger = better for everyone if you have the space!