feed formula

[puyuhsegar]

Hi there,

What is the minimum amount of protein should be given to breeding quail? I just found one feedmill that are able to cook 1ton/cooking session. Before this no feedmill want to cook for less than 5ton. Previously I gave chicken starter that contains 22% protein but after 1 year most of the hens will lay less than 50% and some of them died just like that. How about 25% protein? I know GBS should be 30% protein but it is too costly to me.

 

[rittert3]

22% is bare min., I always had good luck with 28% turkey starter (which is harder to find now) with quail pheasant and CHICKENS. I like to use the highest protein I can find because I havn't ever had very many birds. But now I find myself asking the oppisite question. I found 32% gamebird ration and wondering if thats to high, it's $6 for a 50lb bag than the 22% I found. So, now I find myself scratching my head wondering if I should just get that and tone it down a bit with some whole milo or take the lower protein feed. I'm going to hopefully try to keep 6 trios of fancy colored bobs and 72 sized up cots (breeding) starting next fall so I will go through alot more feed than I have in the past I'm just kind of stumped here.

 

[joe125]

Well, game bird feed is a bit more complicated than just flat protein levels. If they are cooking up game bird feed, and not just high protein chicken feed, then you can fudge the protein down below 30%. Exactly how low for egg production, I don't know, but around 24% for meat production in coturnix. I still recommend 28-30% GBS for starting GB chicks!

 

[Stellar]

Yes, 24% is minimum for breeders. BUT for gamebird chicks you want the highest protein you can get, preferably 28-30%. 25% may work. Protein has many factors besides growth lately so keeping it as high as you can until 6 weeks is highly recommended. After 6 weeks you can go a bit lower but the first 6 weeks is VERY CRUCIAL.

 

[chrishel]

Gamebird Poultry
Purina Startena Layena Flight Sunfresh Sunfresh
Starter Maint. Layer Flight Flock Rais Layer Starter Turkey Show
Crude Protein, not less than 30.00 12.50 20.00 19.00 20.00 16.00 18.00 22.00
Crude Fiber, not less than 6.50 10.00 2.50 12.00 5.00 7.00 5.00 4.50
Crude Fat, not more than 2.50 2.50 7.00 2.00 3.50 2.50 3.00 5.00
Lysine, not less than 1.50 0.41 0.90 0.80 0.95 0.55 0.88 0.90
Methionine, not less than 0.50 0.20 0.30 0.30 0.35 0.25 0.32 0.30
Calcium, not less than 1.00 0.50 2.50 0.85 0.80 3.25 0.75 1.00
Calcium, not more than 1.50 1.00 3.50 1.35 1.30 4.25 1.25 1.50
Phosphorus, not less than 0.80 0.50 0.80 0.80 0.70 0.50 0.60 0.80
Salt, not less than 0.25 0.20 0.25 0.35 0.35 0.30 0.35 0.10
Salt, not more than 0.27 0.70 0.75 0.85 0.85 0.80 0.85 0.50
Vitamin A (IU/lb) 7,000 3000 5000
Vitamin E (IU/lb) 14 10.5 14
Bacitracin Methylene Disalicylate (g/ton) 50


I was just comparing all the different Purina feeds for my own info. I would like to put my breeder on Gamebird Layer (Purina calls it Layena). I had to substitute Sunfresh Flock Raiser for a 2 weeks (the time it takes me to go through 50 lbs) and the layers were not happy. I had a couple of girls start laying shell-less eggs and production went down. We also went on vacation for 5 days during that time so it that might have affected production.

I sent my husband to get one bag of Starter and one Layer and he came back with one Starter and one Flight, so I was trying to figure out the details of what each had in it. I'm going to mix it, so hopefully, I'll be OK. I'm thinking I still won't have enough calcium for the girls. So I will have to get some oystershell in there for them.

Anyway, I thought someone might be interested and benefit from my nerdiness!

Sorry! It's all lined up in my post, but not in the entry. I'll try to post the info another way so it's easier to read (it's a cut and paste from excel).