This year we purchased our very first quail. They are Coturnix quail with a rare gene causing them to lay gorgeous little blue eggs with cute little brown speckles. These eggs, and the quails themselves, have been used to sustain humans for centuries. In modern times, their commercial feed at your local grain store is expensive, and closely ties to transportation and fertilizer costs—and therefore our petroleum ever increasing prices. To offer a healthier and more cost-effective food source for our quail with minimal carbon footprint, we are growing our own homegrown quail feed.
This feed will contain:
- Borage
- Amaranth
- Crimson Clover
- Live mealworms
- Egg shells
- Beetles
Comfrey as a poultry fodder
Chickens. Comfrey is well-suited as a feed for chickens. Chickens’ digestive systems are not equipped to handle much fiber (fiber should be kept to between 5 and 8 percent of the diet). Comfrey is low in fiber and high in protein and minerals, especially when cut regularly. It has a protein to fiber ratio of about three to two. If the high-yielding Bocking 14 strain of comfrey is planted, 30 plants spaced at 3 feet by 3 feet (for example, six plants by five plants) will yield enough comfrey to feed 12 birds their entire allotment of green plant matter.
Comfrey can be an inexpensive source of vitamin A. Second-year hens fed half a ratio of comfrey laid large eggs with deep yellow yolks. The flesh of chickens that have been fed comfrey also ends up being more yellow, perhaps because of increased vitamin A content.
Chopping comfrey with a chaff cutter is especially recommended for birds less than eight weeks old. Another method for feeding comfrey to chickens is to hang it on a string and let birds jump for it (so it doesn’t get trampled on).
Citation: Russian Comfrey for Fertilizer, Feed and More
| Principle | 100 g Borage Leaves | 100 g Amaranth Grain | 100 g Amaranth Leaves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 21 | 102 | 23 |
| Carbohydrates | 3.06 g | 18.69 g | 4.02 g |
| Protein | 1.80 g | 16.50 g | 2.46 g |
| Total Fat | 0.70 g | 1.58 g | 0.421 g |
| Vitamins | |||
| Folate (B9) | 0.013 mg | 0.022 mg | 0. 085 mg |
| Niacin (B3) | 0.900 mg | 0.235 mg | 0.658 mg |
| Pyridoxine | 0.084 mg | – | – |
| Riboflavin (B2) | 0.150 mg | 0.022 mg | 0.158 mg |
| Thiamin (B1) | 0.060 mg | 0.015 mg | 0.027 mg |
| Vitamin A | 1.26 mg | – | 0.146 mg |
| Vitamin B5 | – | – | 0.064 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | – | 0.113 mg | 0.192 mg |
| Vitamin B12 | – | – | |
| Vitamin C | 35 mg | – | 43.3 mg |
| Vitamin K | – | – | 1.140 mg |
| Vitamin E | – | 0.19 mg | – |
| Electrolytes | |||
| Sodium | 80 mg | 6 mg | 20 mg |
| Potassium | 470 mg | 135 mg | 611 mg |
| Minerals | |||
| Calcium | 93 mg | 47 mg | 215 mg |
| Copper | 0.130 mg | 0.15 mg | 0.16 mg |
| Iron | 3.30 mg | 2.1 mg | 2.32 mg |
| Magnesium | 52 mg | 65 mg | 55 mg |
| Manganese | 0.349 mg | 0.854 mg | 0.885 mg |
| Zinc | 0.20 mg | 0.86 mg | 0.9 mg |
Amaranth
Amaranth, although it is often classified as a grain, is actually a gluten-free “pseudograin”. Pseudograins, unlike true grains, are not grown from grasses, and rather come from flowering plants; Quinoa and buckwheat are two other examples of pseudograins. Because they have similar nutritional properties and culinary uses as true grains, these pseudograins are lumped together with other cereals.
Before the Spanish conquest, amaranth was estimated to represent up to 80% of the Aztec diet. Spanish conquistadors ordered that amaranth fields be destroyed and proclaimed growing the plant to be a punishable offence.