DIY Quail Feed Ingredients

The Gardenisto | October 12, 2015
Quail Feed
Homemade Quail Feed

On the topic of DIY poultry and quail feeds, many naysayers will say its a waste of time and money. However, they may not have baby quail that require a very high protein content feed for the early stages of life, and probably don’t live somewhere where its hard to get a quality high protein feed. So, if you are not a naysayer, and looking for some help, here is a list of things to help you provide proper nutrition to baby quail, or just bulk your protein content.

The list is for readily available food items, from grocery, hardware, and pet stores, that can be used to bulk protein content of chicken feeds. Or perhaps you’ll use them to mix your own.

50%-56% Protein: Dry Meal Worms – Found in the bird feed section of stores, or pet stores. 5lbs on Amazon
40% Dry Protein: Soybean – Bulk food section at grocery store – 25lbs on Amazon
20%-22% Protein: Flaxseed – Bulk food section at grocery store – 25lbs on Amazon
20% Protein: Meatbird Chicken Feed
18% Protein: Finch Bird Seed – Found in the bird feed section of hardware stores, or at pet stores
16% Protein: Standard Adult Chicken Feed
13%-16% Protein: Wheat Berries – Bulk food section at grocery store
10% Protein: Dry Milo
9% Protein: Dry Corn

After measuring out ingredients to the right ratios on a food scale, we use a nut and spice grinder or old blender(dedicated to this process) to bulk the protein content of feeds. We also dust calcium, vitamins, and any other seed mixes to increase vitamin, fat, and oil contents of our feeds.

If you use the bulk soybeans, they should get a quick roasting in the oven. Otherwise, they will contain growth inhibitors, which is counterproductive to the effort of bulking your protein. Heat destroys the growth inhibitors in raw soybean. Just stick them on a pan in an oven for a bit, until they are evenly golden.

The naysayers can hate, but our quail frequently reach maturity at an early age, are healthy, and happy. The eggs our breeding quail lay are large, hatching rates high, and the health of newly hatched chicks great. Its worth it to us to make our own high protein quail feeds. It may not be for others, but we’d rather encourage than discourage you, and hopefully provide some help along the way.

If you have additional suggestions, please leave us a comment, and we’ll add it to the list. Thanks.

Tags: , , , , , | Comments
Sportsman's Magazine Author Photo
Written By The Gardenisto
The Gardenisto is passionate about aquaponics, hydroponics, horticulture, and traditional gardening. The Gardenisto shares his knowledge to help other enthusiasts in their own gardening endeavors.

3 responses to “DIY Quail Feed Ingredients”

  1. Roy says:

    I am a little confused about the “ratios” of the ingredients. Are you using equal amounts of each ingredient?

  2. Sorry Roy. I didn’t create a specific formula, I only provided it as a resource for people to create their own blends based on protein needs of their specific gamebirds. Or to simply bulk the protein content of chicken feed for their gamebirds.

  3. Ashley H says:

    Hi! I was wondering if you still use this combination and if so would you share your ratios please?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.