Organic game bird food?

[Alwaysfowlplay]

Hey all, I’m having a ton of trouble finding an organic feed option for my quail. Right now I’m feeding a nongmo starter because that’s all I could get at the store but I would like to transition as soon as I can. I’m seeing a lot of different opinions in threads. So I plan to raise a breeding flock and a meat flock. So do I need a layer feed for the breeders is supplementing with oyster shell on a different type of feed acceptable?

I saw someone say to keep them on a high feed grower food continuously but wouldn’t that be too much for the breeders? Could I use a chick layer food and supplement with high protein foods? Does anyone just feed a mix of different grains/protein from their own recipe? What is the the protein I should be aiming for in the breeders and meat? If I’m butchering the eaters when they get to weight do I just keep them on a starter the whole time? Or should they be on a grower or awhile?

Thank you! This board has such wonderful advice!

 

[Green Bean Quail]

I think Prince has an organic option for gamebird feed on their website. I'm more of a hobby raiser so I don't know the specifics for meat feeder birds, but 28 protein is the minimum for quail.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

https://www.prince-corp.com/prince-premium-organic-feeds-pages/

apparently, they only have 18 chicken feed protein at the highest. you would need to grind the pellet and supplement it with eggs, cat food, or other extra protein

 

[Alwaysfowlplay]

https://www.prince-corp.com/prince-premium-organic-feeds-pages/

apparently, they only have 18 chicken feed protein at the highest. you would need to grind the pellet and supplement it with eggs, cat food, or other extra protein

That’s all I could find too. I did find a different brand organic turkey feed that’s 23% protein, so you think that would be better since it’s closer? I’m fine with supplementing seeds, worms, boiled eggs.

 

[Green Bean Quail]

If you grind the turkey feed it should be good. Just be careful about monitoring them to make sure they get enough. If you notice feather plucking, blood, or listlessness just up the protein.

 

[ColoradoPip]

It's not necessarily easy to find but it is out there.

https://handhfeed.com/

https://agapedistributors.net/modesto-milling-organic-turkey-gamebird-starter-crumbles-28-5051/

http://www.ranch-way.com/products/organic-feed/easy-feed-organic-turkey-grower

There are quite a few local places that offer organic game feed but you have to search and find them.

If you go to google and type in...

"organic game bird feed" +YourState

include the quotes and plus sign, replace YourState with, well the state you live in! You might get some local results depending on where you live.

You could also change YourState to your city, town, or county.

 

[SteveUK]

You could try boosting the protein with duckweed.
Duckweed is 45% protein, it's free, organic and it grows like mad.
Water + half a dozen flecks of duckweed + (a little) chicken poop = shed load of duckweed.
I'd dry it on fine mesh and grind with the pellets.
I feed it fresh to my chucks. They love it.

 

[Alwaysfowlplay]

You could try boosting the protein with duckweed.
Duckweed is 45% protein, it's free, organic and it grows like mad.
Water + half a dozen flecks of duckweed + (a little) chicken poop = shed load of duckweed.
I'd dry it on fine mesh and grind with the pellets.
I feed it fresh to my chucks. They love it.

Thanks. I was thinking of doing alfalfa sprouts so I’ll look into duck weed.

 

[Ehdeedee]

Our local homestead store carries an organic turkey starter, 28% protein. I just grind it up for the first three weeks. The chicks gobble it up and grow like weeds on it. At three weeks I will continue feeding the turkey starter, but I won't grind it as they are big enough to handle the crumb size. The only real difference between starter and grower or layer types is the amount of protein and the calcium. As long as the starter you are using has enough of both, there is no reason to switch to a different type of food.
I wish I could think of the name of the company right now, but it has escaped me. I need to go there this week, and I will try to remember to post the name here. I keep my feed in a plastic garbage can with the lid on to keep out freeloaders, so I don't have a feed sack handy to check.
J.

 

[SteveUK]

The other difference between starter, grower and layer (at least here in England) is that most starters and some growers contain medication, namely ACS. Hopefully organic feed does not or it shouldn't be called organic.
Personally I wouldn't give medicated feed to quail past the first 2 weeks, if you intend to consume either their eggs or meat.
Dry fish based cat food helpfully contains 30% protein and lots of vitamins and minerals. If you can't find high protein feed near you it's a good alternative (ground up, of course). Although an organic version may not be cost effective in the long run.