Own private household for many has become a symbol of their own vegetables and fruits, which allow you to diversify your table with fresh and environmentally friendly products. Some breed chickens, geese and ducks in order to provide themselves with more meat.
But today, quail is increasingly appearing on the scene. They are quite unpretentious, take up little space, give high-quality meat and egg. It’s just that bad luck can come out with feeds, since compound feeds intended specifically for these types of birds are not sold everywhere. So today we’ll talk about how you can make quail food on your own, and we’ll also discuss options produced by the industry.
What are they fed at all?
As a rule, beginners do not have such problems: they buy only a few individuals, which are fed with the same products that are used to feed chickens. If you live in a more or less large city, then the nearest pet store will probably have special food for quail. As a rule, it is produced by the usual mixing of cereals, whole grains and bran. But there are several standard recipes used in large farms that are engaged in the industrial breeding of these birds.
Industrial types of feed
- Option PC-5. This production recipe must include corn, sunflower or soybean meal (the latter is used less often), fishmeal and wheat, as well as animal fats. They include salt and phosphates and chalk. Lysine is used to cover amino acid requirements. The composition of PK-5 should contain 35% of the protein component, at least 5% of minerals, as well as 60% of cereals or grains. In this case, the quail feed rate is about 30 grams. If you breed meat, then the amount of feed you need to increase by approximately 8%.
- Option PC-2-1. It also mainly includes corn and wheat. As a protein base, fishmeal and soybean meal are taken. To cover the demand for macronutrients, salt and chalk are added to the composition of this feed. Since this is the simplest and cheapest food for quail, it is used to feed the main livestock. If during the period of oviposition in the body of birds there is a shortage of some elements, then it is compensated by special premixes.
Other options
An analogue of the above recipe is a variety of PK-2-2. It is slightly different in the content of mineral additives and protein, and therefore is intended solely for feeding quail, which is already more than one month old.
As usual, the basic composition of another feed - PK-1 - also includes the same corn and wheat. Unlike the previous version, barley and some wheat bran are also added to it. In addition, the protein component in this case is 40% of the feed: about 2/3 of these percent is fishmeal, and the remaining third is filled with bone meal.
Attention! Due to the high content of the protein component, special attention should be paid to the storage conditions of this food, as at improper temperature and humidity it can deteriorate and become poisonous to birds.
This food composition is suitable for laying quails during intensive egg laying, as it contains a huge amount of protein, balanced in vitamins and minerals.
All these feeds are the most common both in private farms and in industrial enterprises. It is believed that the norm of all these types of feed is about 27 grams per day per bird. Young animals are fed as needed, since in terms of their weight they eat much more adult birds.
These feeds are well suited even for four to five-day-old chicks, but when they are fed, the mixture needs to be soaked for a couple of hours in slightly warm water. By the way, we remind you: regardless of age, physiological condition and breed, birds should have water at any time.
Feeding specifically for adult birds
Especially for adult birds, PK-6, PK-2-2, PK-4 grades are produced.
- Type PK-6. It contains 60% of a mixture of corn, wheat and barley (1: 1: 1). The protein part (30%) is represented by meal, lysine, fish meal and fodder yeast. 5% are chalk and phosphate. Of course, they add to this quail food and ordinary table salt.
- Recipe PK-4. The cereal component includes the same cereals as in the case described above. In addition to them, the feed contains wheat flour and some bran. Finely crushed seashell, chalk and salt are added there. Note that these compositions and norms have remained since Soviet times. Now there are many companies that produce their own varieties of feed. You can find out about them in the nearest branch of Zoovetsnab in your region.
Attention! Feed should be bought only from those who have all the necessary hygienic certificates of conformity.
How much does it cost?
If you contain a couple of quails "for the soul", then you probably do not pay much attention to the cost of feed. But in the case when your goal is the large-scale breeding of these birds, it is advisable to know about the composition of the feed (as we wrote above). Knowing the composition, you can easily distinguish truly high-quality feed from banal premixes, which are sold at absolutely sky-high prices.
On average, quail food, the price of which will be described by us now, is sold on the same conditions. In different cities, the cost of feed can vary from 5 to 30 rubles per kilogram. So, in Moscow and Kazan you can buy feed for 12-15 rubles, in Novgorod you can find it for only 9 rubles.
DIY feed
Almost all experienced farmers are advised to cook their own food for quail. Fortunately, there are no secrets in this matter: put more grain, which quails are never abandoned! Many owners also use for the preparation of feed banal cleaning of vegetables and fruits. Being washed and boiled, they are great for these purposes.
To make quail food with your own hands from food waste, you must carefully remove from it all the rotten and moldy parts, and then put it to cook for at least 40-50 minutes. They do this in order to prevent the bacteria contained in the waste from harming the health of your bird.
The cooled mixture is carefully crushed, crushing it with your hands, or use a meat grinder for these purposes. You should know that compound feed should be given only in the form of a small slurry. By the way, the peel from garlic or onions should not be fed into the feed in any case, since the quail has a small throat, and they can simply choke and die.
In addition, the husk often simply clogs the esophagus, which also leads to death. Thus, making fodder for quails with your own hands, very carefully choose from the products intended for the preparation of the mixture, all foreign impurities.
The benefits of food waste feed
Why is this food so useful? Firstly, the remains of fruits and vegetables are an environmentally friendly product. Secondly, they contain a huge amount of vitamins and minerals, which are extremely important for bird health.
In addition, all trace elements have a positive effect on the quality of meat and eggs. If you use industrial feed, then such homemade gruel can be added to it in small portions. Note that there you can add finely crushed shells from quail or chicken eggs. This is especially true when you make food for laying hens.
But such a mixture can not be rightfully called compound feed. Therefore, now we will tell you about one recipe, which largely repeats industrial varieties.
Homemade compound feed
Consider the simplest composition of feed for quail. You will need to mix a kilogram of feed wheat, barley and corn in a ratio of 1: 4 (100 and 400 grams). Use a special crusher to grind. Add a quarter teaspoon of bone meal and a full teaspoon of unrefined sunflower oil to the mixture. Then salt everything by pouring half a teaspoon of table salt there.
It is necessary to mix the resulting composition thoroughly. This amount of food is enough for one quail for exactly 45 days. To calculate the amount of feed you need, multiply the number of your quail stock by the weight of each feed component.
Second recipe
Here is the second quail food recipe. Take 700 grams of corn grain, and then mix them with 400 grams of wheat and 100 grams of grain of any leguminous crop. Using a grinder, grind the feed. Then add a teaspoon of unrefined sunflower oil to the resulting mixture , add a teaspoon of crushed sea shell, as well as a teaspoon of chalk and table salt.
The advantage of this food is that it can be used not only in the dry state, but also in the form of liquid slurry, as it should be mixed with water. By the way, quail is very fond of water, so they will especially like the last option.
As in the past case, all components are designed to prepare a portion of food, which one quail can eat for 45 days.
Storage Notice
Attention! All feeds whose recipes contain sunflower oil or oilcake require special storage conditions. The fact is that vegetable fats , under conditions of elevated temperature and direct direct sunlight, quickly begin to oxidize, which leads to an instant loss of all nutritional value. Moreover, the compound feed acquires an unpleasant smell and taste, and its large doses can easily lead to the death of the bird, which will eat this feed.
In conclusion
In a word, these birds are very undemanding to the feeding conditions, so that they can prepare food from almost everything that you have at hand. Importantly, do not forget to include minerals in the composition of home-made compound feeds or cereals. This is especially true of maternal livestock during intensive laying. At this time, the body of the females requires a huge amount of calcium and phosphorus.
If they are not provided with all these substances with food, then the consequences can be very different: starting from the mass death of quails, ending with massive cases of eating their eggs.
This is how quail food is made with your own hands. There is absolutely nothing complicated in this, but it is necessary to observe all the proportions given in the article as accurately as possible.