*Sigh* Some people...

[Bettacreek]

Well, I was posting on another forum, and someone jumped my gun, basically telling me that my quail will die and they eat garbage because I don't feed gamebird food. I feed Dumor chicken starter (24% I think). He went off on some wild tangent about how his birds all died when he tried to raise quail, and that you can't use an incubator if it doesn't have an automatic turner, etc, etc. All of this because I made a post about how the nutrition in quail is better than the nutrition in a rat (higher calcium even). He went off on me because around here, rats cost $6, and with that cost, the cost of raising rats, and the nutrition being better in quail, I wanted to switch the balls over completely to quail. *Sigh* Why do people have to be such jerks about everything? All I wanted to know was if there were any other reasons not to feed quail to balls, and he insulted me because he could buy rats for $1 and I couldn't...
Has anyone else had massive dieoffs simply because they used a chicken starter instead of gamebird food with extra suppliments? I've never heard of such a thing, and I've been using it for the buttons since I got them, and the breeder I bought them from was using the same thing for his quail. So, was this some random fluke, is the guy an idiot, or what? Has anyone ever heard of massive dieoffs simply because they used chicken starter instead?

 

[farmgirlie1031]

I haven't had any problems. I normally buy the kind that says on the bag for mixed flocks since I have chickens, ducks, a pair of geese, a turkey, and quail.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

My bobwhites do great on layer crumbles. Ive had them since the end of last summer and they are healthy and happy, I havent lost any.

 

[Buster]

I've never fed my quail anything other than wild gamebird starter but when I was brooding quail and chicks together, the gamebird starter sure increased my pasty butts in the chicken chicks.

 

[imfowl]

He's an idiot.

 

[sred98]

I'm sorry he was such a jerk!

Some people are just rude, or they feel like since they aren't "face to face" that they can act any way they want to.

I found this off of Feathersite:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Stuff/FeatherFancier/FeathFancQuail.html
NUTRITION: The exact dietary requirements of the Japanese quail are still controversial. Turkey starter, chicken starter or a gamebird starter which can be purchased at local feed mills, should be adequate for proper quail egg and meat production. A free choice supply of calcium (lime stone or oyster shell) should be available to laying hens. Adult quail will eat 14-18 grams (.5 ounces) of a balanced ration. Fill the feeder only half full to prevent feed spillage. Fresh water should always be provided. Water is one of the most essential nutrients for the bird.

I don't know anything about quail, and I don't know what kind of quail you have, but this is specifically about Cortunix. I would think that quail are quail, and any breed of quail could eat what any other breed of quail eat. If I am wrong, someone will correct me!

I just wanted to give you a little moral support. There are a lot of people that feed their snakes quail. For a Ball Python, I am guessing you are raising Button? Anyway, sounds like they will do fine on it.

I found this on Button Quail:
http://www.gamebird.com/quailbutton2.html
The quail chicks are freely given 16% non medicated chick mash, which we sprinkle directly on the nonskid matting on the bottom of the brooders, to encourage the chicks to start pecking for food.

Once the button quail chicks are fully feathered and removed from the heat, they are moved to outside growing pens (providing the weather is suitable), where they can scratch the ground for insects. As adults, the button quail are offered 16% poultry/game bird mash, millet seeds, and chick scratch (ground very fine). We also feed a variety of fresh greens, such as dandelions and spinach.

Hope this makes you feel better!

Shelly

 

[Dill]

All I wanted to know was if there were any other reasons not to feed quail to balls

Maybe I'm not reading that right... but what exactly are you talking about feeding quail to?
Edit: Oh ball pythons, I was thinking about rubber balls or something.

I'm feeding my quail what is made for duckling. I think. I'm not really sure on that.. I'll have to check. I heard that was fine though.​

 

[Buster]

I think feeding quail to snakes would work good. The only reason I never fed fowl to snakes is because of a concern about salmonella. I have heard that snakes shed salmonella and I didn't want to contribute to any problems by feeding birds to them that could be carriers. I could be way off on that, but that was my thinking back when I had 6 and 8 foot constrictors here.

 

[Guitartists]

I'm figuring he means Ball Pythons

 

[horsejody]

The guy is a troll and just looking for some drama.