Confused! Why won't quail and baby quail eat the quail seed block?

[Tropical]

I live in AZ and bought a quail block on amazon (shown pictured is the one I bought)... but the quail barely touch it!! Any idea why? The adult quail peck at it few times but then are not interested in it at all.

Also, some quail who visit my backyard have super young baby quail (only about one week old). It seems the super young bay quail CANNOT eat from seed blocks at all? I have been putting out raw rolled oats ground up so that the super young baby quail can eat it (they LOVE it)... but I cannot afford to keep doing it. Seed block is needed. But what is the point if they do not eat from it.

What seed blocks exist that quail will actually eat and one that the super young baby quail can eat from too?

I put shallow bowl of water outside with rocks in it so that the super young baby qual can't drown... OMG the super young baby quail... I have NEVER seen anything cuter!!!!!! One got separated from its parents last week and I had to rush it to quail rescue because it had clearly been abandoned for hours... I had NO idea quails lose track and often leave behind offspring by accident... oops.

Thanks!

 

[Icemaiden]

Hi Tropical & welcome to the forum.

I'm not a quail expert, but if my hens are anything to go by, they tend to be suspicious of any foodstuff that they haven't seen before. They might not be interested the first time, but after a while they'll eat it with enthusiasm.

With some peck blocks, the ingredients are stuck together with a natural starch or sugar that can make them incredibly hard to peck bits off of. Have you tried breaking some bits off , leaving them next to the block to give the quail the idea that they're good to eat? I guess wild quail will never have encountered s peck block before...