Feeding quails..,

[Binki]

I feed my quail gamebird feed and foreign finch mix supplemented with all sorts of treats, such as vegetables like carrots, tomato (fruit?) and cucumber. I give them grit too, the hens getting oyster shell with it, and I also give them treats such as mealworms I raise and aphid clumps I harvest from the garden, from what I read, aphids are meant to be good for them due to being high in energy and protein. I have also learned that the aphids do NOT last long with the baby quail... Who get them as the aphids are small enough for their teeni beaks.

I put in a pinch of aphids, which was like, 100 of them all clumped up, and the 7 baby quail swarmed them making happy peeps and next thing I know, there's no aphids in there anymore. They eat the aphids before they eat their main food now, crushed up gamebird feed mixed in with a little crushed dried mealworm for the extra protein, when given the option. And the silly things used to be scared of the aphids when they first hatched, running from the squishy bugs when I first put them in the brooder before a brave soul pecked one in an attempt to drive it off and found out they were tasty.

Here is a pic of the ravenous aphid munchers:
View attachment 714275

Edit: Also of note... As I have been giving this batch of chicks aphids, I noticed they haven't been getting pasty butt as much as the last batches used to, making me have to clean their butts less. Dunno if it is the aphids themselves or some good gut bacteria that is on them.

Hehe! That's pretty cool, wouldn't have thought to give aphids to chicks

I read that a type of ant actually farms aphids, almost like cattle They herd them together, even picking them up to move them and "milk" them by drinking the *sugar water?* the aphid excretes from feeding on plants.

Oh nice this video is what I'm talking about! Honeydew? Eww, haha...

 

[MageofMist]

Hehe! That's pretty cool, wouldn't have thought to give aphids to chicks

I read that a type of ant actually farms aphids, almost like cattle They herd them together, even picking them up to move them and "milk" them by drinking the *sugar water?* the aphid excretes from feeding on plants.

Oh nice this video is what I'm talking about! Honeydew? Eww, haha...

Quite a lot of ant species farm aphids, as well as scale bugs being farmed by ants. Some even raise aphids for meat as well as honeydew! I imagine the honeydew is what makes the baby quail love the aphids so much, because the tiny bugs must taste delicious to them and it is something they can 'hunt' with digging through their sand-like food when the aphids try to hide themselves from the hungry birds.