Have you seen pellet game feed?

[jcatblum]

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The high protien will help with fatter birds as well. How well do your guineas lay eating the catfish pellets? I will have to compare ingredients of catfish food & game food. Could even be a good supplement or treat???

 

[casuarius]

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The high protien will help with fatter birds as well. How well do your guineas lay eating the catfish pellets? I will have to compare ingredients of catfish food & game food. Could even be a good supplement or treat???

They lay much better than with game bird breeder. I've tried many different feeds over the years. I havent had any problems with overweight birds with the catfish diet. You could feed it to them only through breeding season if it was a huge concern, but I feed it to them yr round with no problems. I just bought a flock of true wild guinea fowl from a friend, they havent laid all yr, and I put them on the catfish diet since i've had them, about a month now, and they are already laying this late in the yr. He was feeding them regular chicken breeder :-/ Anyway, the feed is 32% protein, 4% fat, 7% fiber, 0.80% phosphorus min, 4% calcium min. Purina Gamebird Breeder is 20% protein, 2.5% fat, 7% fiber, 2.5% Calcium min, 0.8% phosphorus min.

 

[PeepsCA]

Thanks for the great info on the Purina Catfish Diet casuarius, very much appreciated

And I also wanted to thank you for your comment about Guineas and protein...

Guineas are mostly a insectivore by nature, and insects are extremely high in protein...so the more protein, the better.

I frequently bang my head on my desk trying to get thru to people about Guineas and a high protein diet, so it's always nice to see input about it from others that take their birds' nutrition seriously

 

[jcatblum]

I will pick up a bag of fish food & see how it goes over. I am wanting to fatten them up for winter. So the extra protien will help. I figure my free ranging flock gets most of their food from nature so the catfish food will serve as a nice supplement.

My guineas stopped laying over a month ago. I know others in my area have birds that are still laying. So I might do a pen of fish food & keep the other pen on game food. I picked up 5 dz guinea eggs @ auction last wk. My plan is to grow them out & butcher them. -- so the fatter the better. If we don't like the taste I will sell them for bug control in the spring, since I have plenty of guineas for my own farm at the moment.

I know some don't like the thought of butchering guineas, but what could be better than raising your food from start to finish?

 

[melroseladi]

I tried to get my guineas to eat layer pellets but they wouldn't have anything to do with them. I have so much waste with crumbles it is very frustrating. If the catfish pellets have the amount of protein and the amount of calcium required and the guineas will eat it then I think that might be a good option for me. My only problem would be keeping the chickens out of it.

 

[PeepsCA]

I've been tossing around the idea of butchering a few of my own from this year's hatches too... it's something I've never done before, and kind of grosses me out because it's just so messy, bleck

I've never butchered anything I've raised and fed from birth or hatch on up tho, so... I'm pretty squeamish and hesitant about it. I know these birds are all super healthy and have been fed good feed and lots of fruits and veggies from day one, so I am sure they would taste absolutely fabulous

I would really like to have a big family get together and be able to serve everyone a fabulous Guinea Feast since my Guineas have pretty much consumed my life and my family never gets to see me much any more, lol.

I might look into finding a mobile butchering company that will come out to the ranch, and butcher 10-20 birds for me, and I'll just stay preoccupied 'til all the yucky part's done and over with... that way I am only gonna be squeamish about actually eating them

But of course, to make it even more difficult for me... the Guineas I've been eyeing as good choices for butchering are starting to become really friendly/tame

So I am not actually sure I can do this

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Catfish Diet? I will have to check into that.

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Can this be feed to chickens and turkeys as well?

 

[Medo]

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Agways a great place..

 

[casuarius]

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Can this be feed to chickens and turkeys as well?

Yes, you can feed it anything I would think. Im not sure why the specialized fowl feeds are so low in everything. Most ground birds all eat alot of insects, so they get plenty of calcium and protein in the wild. I breed Cassowaries to, which are very rare, and for around 10 yrs now, i've been feeding them 28% protein dog food. They do very well on it. The ratite maintenance didnt work for them at all.

I've had Guinea meat before, it's very good in my opinion, alot like duck, except not oily. I've never killed my own Guineas, but I have chickens, and duck in the past, but kind of grew out of it. But the way prices are on everything now, i've considered getting into raising my own food. Or hunting. A couple of deer, chickens, or wild boar a yr, and I wouldnt have to buy much meat Boar tastes just like pork, but healthier.