Help with button quail

[BODEENY]

What do I feed my day old Button quail chicks???

 

[DK newbie]

Gamebird starter or turkey crumble - something with 25-30% protein. If you can't get that fast, I guess hard boiled chicken eggs will work too.

 

[GrandmaBird]

Run the crumbles in a blender or something to make the pieces smaller almost dust but not all the way to dust. I suggest not offering them an other food until they are 4 weeks old. Crumble is all they need and lots of fresh water.

 

[fishforbrains]

Shouldn't you have gotten food before they hatched? I was told it was vital button quail eat within a few hours of hatching. Our local farm store sells gamebird starter, 28% protein, already ground into a fine powder by the pound which is ideal for button quail chicks. If you're in a pinch, maybe ground up cat food mixed with cornmeal will keep them alive while you go find some food?

 

[BODEENY]

Shouldn't you have gotten food before they hatched? I was told it was vital button quail eat within a few hours of hatching. Our local farm store sells gamebird starter, 28% protein, already ground into a fine powder by the pound which is ideal for button quail chicks. If you're in a pinch, maybe ground up cat food mixed with cornmeal will keep them alive while you go find some food? 

What farm store is that?

 

[GrandmaBird]

Try Tractor Supply or any other farm animal supply store. You can use crumbles marketed for turkey, duck and gamebirds. Do not use chicken food there is not enough protein in it.

 

[DK newbie]

Actually, around here (Denmark) you can get chicken food with 24% protein. It is intended as a supplement for chickens that are fed with grain, so it might have too much of other things though.. I guess it might be better than what I feed my buttons right now though - apparently they don't make my pheasant starter anymore this year, they don't think people are going to hatch more pheasant chicks. Guess they don't know it works for grown button quail ^^ Anyway, what I got this time, was 'pheasant grower' with only 19% protein. Good thing I don't have chicks now, guess the adults will survive on this till spring.

 

[fishforbrains]

Be careful buying gamebird food. My store sells this crap marketed as "game bird food" made by purina that has only 12% protein in it, which you can only find out by bringing a magnifying glass to the store and examining the package carefully. Would probably kill your birds right off, that's even lower than the amount chickens need. The only good gamebird food they sell is the pre-ground starter food and little 5 pound bags of Manna Pro gamebird food that has 24% protein, that if ground up in a coffee grinder is ok for button quail. For my jumbo browns and gambels, I've resorted to buying gamebird food off Amazon. They'll sell you a 50-pound bag of 28% protein game bird feed with free shipping.

 

[BODEENY]

Be careful buying gamebird food. My store sells this crap marketed as "game bird food" made by purina that has only 12% protein in it, which you can only find out by bringing a magnifying glass to the store and examining the package carefully. Would probably kill your birds right off, that's even lower than the amount chickens need. The only good gamebird food they sell is the pre-ground starter food and little 5 pound bags of Manna Pro gamebird food that has 24% protein, that if ground up in a coffee grinder is ok for button quail. For my jumbo browns and gambels, I've resorted to buying gamebird food off Amazon. They'll sell you a 50-pound bag of 28% protein game bird feed with free shipping. 

Ok that's great also, any tips on how to raise them?