Thoughts on this as quail feed

[MasterD]

Saw a video on YouTube of a guy using ground up floting fish pellets as feed for his Coturnix quail. Maybe someone else has also seen the video. Anyways, it is sold at TSC and has a whopping 36% protein!
He says it does the quail no harm and beats spending close to $30 for something that has less than 30% protein.
Thoughts?

 

[JaeG]

As long as it's designed to be in the human food chain it should be ok, but otherwise the standards of what goes into them aren't as strict so there could be some not so nice things in there. But I'd dilute the 36% protein a bit because too much protein can be worse than not enough. Some people prefer 24% from hatch till death.

 

[paneubert]

What's the cost per pound? In my experience the ingredients in fish food is usually.....fish. So as long as that doesn't concern you then it is cool. Like @JaeG says, 36% is pretty high. But this could be a good thing since it means you could cut it with some cheaper and lower protein chicken feed. That would not be the worst idea since the chicken feed is going to have a more balanced vitamin and mineral profile compared to the fish food.

If my math is correct, you could for example mix 2/3 of the fish food with 1/3 of a classic 18% chicken feed and the final protein of the mix would be 27% I think....

 

[Diamond Dan]

I've been using that mix for the last 2 year. its high in protein and farly cheap at TS. got a high end processor at a yard sale for 2 bucks to grind it down to crumble size.i only got 12 birds and i have to make a batch every 3 week or so. they tear it up readily.it helps with cooling them down quickly when they start fighting. i use 2 different mixes, added wild bird seed or cheap chicken feed. you'll have to make alot once you get them to eating . it goes fast

 

[Diamond Dan]

PS: Added cracked corn in winter to help in raising body temp. Just grind it all together add some grit after blending also.. grind even smaller for chicks

 

[MasterD]

Awesome folks; thank you all for your answers/suggestions. Glad to see I'm not alone in wanting to use this feed.