Coturnix quail absolutely love sprouted seeds and whole grains. They can eat many of the same sprouts we enjoy. Let me share the best whole seeds to use and which seem to be their favorites! Here’s my experience using sprouts to feed Coturnix quail:
This article contains Amazon affiliate links to the sprouting seeds and supplies I use and show in my images.
Sprouts to Feed Coturnix Quail
Let me first share that quail cannot live on sprouts alone. They are granivores, which means they primarily consume whole seeds and grains. While sprouts grow from these seeds, the quail will only eat a portion of this green food. Sprouts cannot make up 100% of a quail’s daily feed year round but it can be used as part of their daily ration, as a short-term emergency feed if necessary (see below) and as the healthiest “treat” you can offer your covey. Sprouted seeds are nutritious and safe for feeding to domestic quail.
How I Sprout Seeds for Quail
There are a multitude of sprouting trays on the market but my favorite way is to use a quart size glass mason jar with a sprouting lid. The lids have tiny drain holes that can manage the smallest alfalfa and clover seeds. Clear glass exposes the sprouts to kitchen sunlight so they green up nicely without needing any type of humidity dome. Plus the mason jar sprouting lids are flat and easy to store, since I use the mason jars for so many other things in my kitchen. You can find sprouting lids on Amazon but my favorite white sprouting lids are currently only offered on eBay.
Scroll down for step-by-step picture directions if you are new to sprouting!
What Seeds to Sprout?
Coturnix quail eat a wide variety of seeds, all of which can be sprouted. Wheat berries, whole oats, black oil sunflower seeds, grey striped sunflower seeds, safflower, milo/sorghum, white millet, and quinoa are some of the most common. I also feed my quail sprouted alfalfa, radish, broccoli, and clover (one comes as a salad mix of sprouting seeds). Let me show you their favorites and how sprouts can be used as fodder, an emergency feed, and a healthy treat:
Alfalfa Sprouts for Coturnix Quail
My covey seems to relish alfalfa sprouts. This is handy because you can sprout them easily in 5 days in a mason jar, enjoying part of the alfalfa sprouts yourself on salads and sandwiches then letting the quail have the rest. Alfalfa is one of the easiest sprouting seeds and a fantastic beginner option. I use 1 Tablespoon of alfalfa seeds, which will fill the jar more than halfway with green sprouts.
Sprouting Microgreens for Quail
I prepare a variety of sprouts regularly for my family and I’ve found it just as easy to start a jar for the quail at the same time. We use the Nature Jim’s sprouting seeds brand, which has a number of options. 1 Tablespoon of microgreen seeds has proven to be perfect for creating a half+ jar full of green sprouts on day 5. This leaves just enough space and airflow that mold has never been a problem while they sprout. Below I’ve sprouted a salad mix of broccoli, radish, alfalfa and clover microgreen seeds. The quail ate all of them!
Sprouting Wild Bird Seed Mixes
You absolutely CAN sprout bird seed blends! But they are tricky. Most blends contain cracked corn and sunflower kernel pieces that won’t sprout but are too difficult to hand-pick out of the mix. The best way to handle this is to sprout the bird seed blend for just a few days and feed it when the seeds have small roots. The tidbits that won’t sprout will have absorbed moisture and swollen, so they will be easier for the quail to consume. They will not have had a chance to completely break down or go moldy by the time the whole bird seeds begin to send out roots. Watch the sprouting jar carefully for foul odors and plan to feed these sprouts on day 3 or 4, no matter how many roots nor how much green stem/leaves are visible or not visible. The quail will absolutely devour them! If you can obtain pure white millet, you can sprout and grow these for 5 to 7 days if you’d like to feed a clean green fodder.
Feeding Safflower Seeds & Sprouts to Quail
You may have noticed bright white safflower seeds in your bird seed blend or for sale by the bag on the bird seed aisle. They are half the size of sunflower seeds with a thick center ridge. These are the largest seeds a Coturnix quail adult is willing to swallow whole and they could be cracked before feeding for easier digestion. (Using a mortar and pestle to lightly crack them is sufficient.) But safflower seeds also make fantastic sprouts! When soaked, the white seed casing turns gray and green leaves appear on day 6, being quite green by day 8.
Feeding Sprouted Sunflower Seeds to Quail
My covey does not eat whole black oil sunflower seeds, which are smaller than grey striped sunflower seeds. I sprouted a Tablespoon of black oil sunflower seeds as an experiment, which the quail happily ate. If you need to feed whole sunflower seeds, use a mortar and pestle to pound them into smaller pieces the quail can swallow. Coturnix quail will swallow raw, unsalted sunflower kernels whole.
Feeding Sprouted Whole Oats
Whole oats are long and rectangular seeds. If your covey does not seem to enjoy them whole, they can be sprouted into lovely oat grass!
Sprouting Human Grade Foods
The bean and rice aisle at the grocery store is loaded with lentils, split peas, pearled barley, quinoa, and other whole grains you can sprout for Coturnix quail. These larger grains work well in all sprouting jars and trays, no matter the drain hole size, so give them a try! Most are ready to feed in 7 days with some needing up to 9. You can let grasses like wheat, corn, and milo grow to a longer length over 7 days in a sprouting tray.
How to Sprout Seeds & Microgreens for Quail
- Place 1 Tablespoon of your desire seeds in a clean quart mason jar. Fill about halfway with 1.5 to 2 cups of water and let the seeds soak for a minimum of 12 hours and up to 24 hours. I place the sprouting lid on my jar now to help prevent spills.
- After the 12-24 hour soak, invert the jar over your sink to drain off the liquid through the holes in the sprouting lid. Run clean water through the sprouting lid until you have about 1/2 cup of water in the jar. Swish the seeds in the clean water then drain it off again.
- Invert the jar over a plate to drain and let sit for 6 to 8 hours. You’ll need to rinse and swish these seeds twice per day over the next 5 to 7 days. I find that keeping them by the kitchen sink and doing it once in the morning at breakfast and once in the evening at dinner is easiest.
- On Day 5, pour the sprouts into a fine mesh strainer/colander for a final rinse to try and remove the leftover seed casings. They can be fed directly to your quail or placed in a clean mason jar with an airtight lid and stored in the fridge for up to a week.
Note: I soak my sprouts with filtered water but then do the daily rinses with tap water. The chlorine in tap water may help prevent mold.
Do Quail Have a Favorite Sprouted seed?
My covey did not seem to be too picky when it came to trying all the sprouted greens! I did notice that alfalfa, millet, and quinoa seemed to be the favorites that were sampled – and then quickly devoured – first. But every single seed I sprouted and offered was eaten within an hour of placing it in the coop.
Eaten Root and All!
The quail don’t just eat the green tips of microgreens. They eat them root and all. They even sampled some of the seed casings that were left behind among the sprouts. I give my quail fresh sprouts in a shallow dish or pan that I place in the cage with them for a few hours. When I retrieve it, everything has been eaten and the dish can be rinsed and go into the dishwasher. This is such an easy way to feed my covey fresh greens that are incredibly good for them!
The Best Sprouting Method for Each Seed:
While the mason jar method works fine for larger seeds, I now use fodder trays for black oil sunflower seeds and whole oats. Safflower seeds are easier to feed whole or cracked than to sprout. Sprouting white millet and white millet-based finch seed was easy in the mason jars. The alfalfa sprouts and salad mix were by far the fastest and easiest, producing the most greens. I’ll continue to offer these regularly since one jar can make sprouts for both my family and the quail.
Emergency Feed Ideas
If you’re in a situation where you must make a bag of whole seeds, like bird seed, stretch for as long as possible, I would suggest sprouting 2 Tablespoons of bird seed per quart mason jar or up to 3 Tablespoons in a 4×6 inch plastic food/sprouting tray, which will turn into enough green fodder to supplement a covey of 12 quail for 1 day. This is a nice amount of green that should be eaten with very little waste while the remainder of the dry seeds can be fed whole from a no waste feeder. (Remember, quail need to eat dry feed or seeds along with sprouted seeds.)
If you have large seeds that are too big for quail to swallow, like sunflower seeds, these are best sprouted. Coturnix quail may not eat anything larger than safflower seeds and whole wheat berries.
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