They won't need to eat much of the gamebird soft feed to get what they need because you are feeding scratch grain, which fills their crops. The soft feed remains in their digestive tract longer and the birds are actually able to absorb the nutrients in that feed. When they have no scratch grain and have nothing but soft food to eat they basically stay hungry all day- a bit like eating cheerios. It's nutritious alright- but you'd have to eat a whole lot of it to meet all your requirements. If you had a granola bar on your way to school after those cheerios or a piece of beef jerky- a handful or two of almonds- you'd be good to go until lunchtime. Any catfood by Wellness is a good bet-look for one with fish protein in it- a kitten chow is even better. Unless its in the weeks running up to egg laying through moulting season, their requirements for the high quality animal protein and animal fat are not necessary. They'll be fine with the scratch grain and few mouthfuls of soft feed. Come late winter a few weeks before spring, that's when throwing out a few handfuls of kitten chow are useful -keep that up through moult- increasing that kitten chow to about the last clutch of eggs and tapering back down to the non-breeding maintenance ration for the rest of the year. One of the best things you can do to further increase the nutrient value of what you're already feeding is provide them with pumpkins, melons, cucumbers- these are all types of gourds basically- filled with dietary fibres and sugars that need to sit out for a bit to really be nutritious -but that fibre fills up the digestive system and helps the birds retain even the scratch grain for a little while longer. Peanut hearts, Proso Millet and Milo are good supplements for very wet cold days. Dry cold its time to put some bacon drippings over the scratch or a suet cake out.
