Good protein supplement?

[ghull999]

This may sound crazy, but I also breed fancy guppies and use a high quality flake food of 48% protein to increase the protein content of my feed. The quail love it and its easy to crush and mix with the feed.

 

[deshet]

Your local feed store may have high protein fish feed. It is usually about 30% or more. I am considering it for my quail.

I don't want to deal with grinding cat feed.

I also considered growing earth worms in compost.

Meal worms are easy to grow. A couple of dollars worth of live meal worms can be easily setup and producing tons of offspring in a month.

 

[mwtrees]

I would avoid most commercial cat foods. Most are really junk.

If you want to stay organic, for sure you will avoid commercial cat food!

Grow meal worms and if concerned about organic, feed them organically. Dried ones are available and the birds love them. But not organically grown for sure.

 

[MeepBeep]

I would avoid most commercial cat foods.  Most are really junk.

Based on what criteria, do you measure "junk"?

A lot and I mean a lot has happened in the pet food industry in the last 20 years or so... I'll argue all day that there are premium commercial cat foods that are of excellent quality and equal in quality to any commercial bird food you might be feeding already... Sure most of the big name ones sold for cheap are questionable many times but there is no shortage of excellent ones out there as well...

If you want to stay organic, for sure you will avoid commercial cat food!

Why can't one just buy a certified organic cat food?

Grow meal worms and if concerned about organic, feed them organically.

My suggestion for cat food was based on ease, cost and keeping a decent nutritional profile... There is a lot less hassle, time and effort to grind a bag of cat food and mix it with your existing bird food then raising larvae, plus you get more maintain a more balanced nutritional profile...

 

[preciouseureka]

I tried the hard boiled eggs...what I got was a stinky stomped on mess that put me off deviled eggs for a while.....it is very very challenging to find the right food in a small town....but I just discovered that my local feed store can order for me, if they do it with the regular order there's no extra charge, There's a gamebird food (sorry can't remember the brand) with a 24% protein, which works for me because Iike to handfeed mealsworms as a treat in the evenings. If anyone is living in a rural area, could be worth asking, even if it's not something they usually stock. Good Luck!

 

[fishforbrains]

Check Amazon. I buy a 28% gamebird feed from H+H off Amazon for my young birds. They have quite a few options, some organic, and it's mostly free shipping.

 

[quaillady1221]

I switched my quail over to Purina layena and I got some oyster shell powder they layed their first egg today !!!!

 

[preciouseureka]

Congratulations on that egg! Still waiting for ours to get going...our boys act like teenagers...excited about girls but unsure of what to do yet......

 

[quaillady1221]

That's ok these are my first quails lol just found another !!

 

[Mhays]

Just googling around doing research on protein and I found an AWESOME pantry-available supplement for both protein and calcium - parmesan cheese! Chicks seem to love it. It's a little over 38% protein, (you do have to watch the fat, it's 28% fat) and like 1% calcium - there is .08% salt, but that's probably OK if it is just a supplement. It's in many ways comparable to dried mealworms and works in a pinch.