Breeding Quails at Home for Beginners from Scratch

Quails are very tasty and interesting!

Raising quails is very interesting. In addition to traditional birds kept at home, birds of prey such as quail, pheasants, and partridges are of particular interest. They are valued as ornamental birds and as a source of tasty meat and eggs.

Quail meat deserves special attention. Unlike broiler chicken, it has a dark, almost brown color, which gives it a similar appearance to venison. Quail meat is different from other types of poultry. The breast and thigh muscles are virtually fat-free, so they appear dry. An important advantage of meat is the speed of cooking. A young bird can be baked in 30 minutes. Quails are tasty and nutritious, suitable for dietary nutrition.

It is profitable to raise poultry yourself at home. Young quails gain weight very quickly, doubling it on the second day of life. The chicks eat food immediately after hatching. You can teach them to eat by bending their head towards the feeder and drinker with your fingers. Birds have a fast metabolism, so they have some breeding features:

1. careful care of quails is necessary - maintaining the required temperature (38 degrees in the first days of life), especially when breeding and raising chicks and to increase the egg production of adults;
2. quail are sensitive to daylength;
3. the bird does not like drafts;
4. It is difficult to tolerate oxygen deficiency and dust in the room.

conclusions

1. Keeping Phoenix quails, Cobb-500 broilers and other birds is quite simple, but in order for the birds to grow well, you need to monitor the quality of their feeding and the cleanliness of the premises.
2. A ventilation system is required, but there should be no drafts.
3. The temperature for adults is 18-23 degrees, humidity is 50-75%. Young animals up to three weeks old are best kept in a brooder.
4. Birds have excellent immunity, so they practically do not get sick and do not need vaccination.
5. Feather loss and cannibalism are indicators that there is little light in the cages, the birds are sick, do not eat well enough, and live in cramped conditions.
6. Be sure to regularly disinfect cages, trays and other components of bird houses, promptly replace bedding, and remove manure.

Conditions for keeping quails

Japanese quails have special, fairly high requirements for growing conditions.

Temperature

An important condition for keeping poultry is maintaining the required air temperature.

For an adult bird

The egg production of a bird depends on the temperature:

• for breeding quails, an ambient temperature of 18-24 degrees Celsius is required;
• the optimal room temperature is 21 degrees;
• temperatures below 16 degrees cause inhibition of egg production.

When breeding quails at home, egg production is not the most important feature; you can keep Japanese quails without heating all year round. In such conditions, quails lay eggs only in summer and early autumn.

The health status of quails wintering in unheated enclosures is good. These birds tolerate the low temperatures of the winter season well, provided they are provided with:

1. good wind protection;
2. protection from precipitation;
3. high energy, low protein food.

An important factor in wintering quails in natural conditions is the adaptation of quails through gradual acclimatization of the body to low temperatures. For this reason, you should not breed quails by placing them in an unheated enclosure when the weather is cold. Move-in should take place in the summer. Then the decrease in ambient temperature occurs gradually, allowing the birds to adapt to the cold.

For chickens

The high temperature requirements for quail chicks are obvious.

Table. Required temperatures in the incubator for raising quail

Thermoregulation in three-week-old quails, like in adult birds, does not require additional heat sources. The room temperature should be around 21 degrees Celsius.

When raising chickens, like other types of poultry, you cannot be guided only by the recommended temperatures; it is important to observe the behavior of the babies:

• if they pile up and accumulate near the heat source, the temperature is too low;
• when the chicks move away from the radiator, the temperature needs to be reduced;
• at the optimal temperature, the chicks are distributed evenly throughout the incubator - some rest, some eat food.

Quail chicks should be kept at home in special brooders where a special climate is maintained.

Photo. Brooder for raising quail chicks.

Air humidity

Japanese quails are not very sensitive to changes in air humidity.

The conditions for breeding quails are as follows:

• recommended humidity is 65-75 percent;
• when humidity is too low, quail consume more water, thereby compensating for increased losses from the body;
• high humidity (for example, 85%) is not recommended, since it creates conditions for the development of many pathogenic organisms.

Drafts

An important element of the environment for keeping quail is the need to avoid drafts. These birds are much more susceptible to drafts than other bird species. Quails kept in a drafty room first lose their feathers, then their productivity decreases, and eventually they get sick and die. Before raising quails, you need to provide a proper draft-free rearing facility.

The problem of poor plumage, or even the appearance of bald, featherless stems in older quail, often has other causes. “Baldness,” especially in females, is often explained by the following reasons:

1. pterophagy - mutual pecking of feathers by birds;
2. aging - the older the quail, the worse the plumage;
3. genetic reasons - selection must be carried out, choosing birds with good plumage for breeding.

Lighting

Quails like to be in well-lit rooms. The premises should be as brightly lit as during a summer day. Light, in addition to nutrition, is the main factor in egg production.

For adult birds

In nature, quails begin to lay eggs in the spring, when daylight hours lengthen. After June 24, when daylight hours begin to shorten, laying eggs of wild birds stops. The decision to start laying is made by pituitary hormones; their secretion is influenced by 2 factors:

1. light intensity;
2. the process of lengthening daylight hours.

This dependence is important when breeding egg-laying quails. Mature layers (about 7 weeks old) should have 14 hours of daylight. The “spring” effect stimulates egg production; it is necessary to lengthen daylight hours.

Important! It is better to increase daylight hours by half an hour every two weeks, bringing up to 17 hours of light per day.

The increase in daylight hours for adult quail is predicted as follows:

For chicks

Quails have different lighting needs during the growing period. Chickens have a very fast metabolism, so you should not delay feeding them even for a few hours. It is recommended that chicks from the second week of life should be continuously illuminated without interruptions at night, and from the third week of life the lighting time should be reduced by 2 hours each week, so that by the 7th week of life the young quail will have 14 hours of daylight.

The light regime for quail chicks is presented in the table:

Ventilation

Rooms for quails must have effective ventilation so that air is exchanged at least 7 times per hour. The ventilation system must operate delicately so as not to cause excessive air turbulence and drafts.

A high concentration of oxygen is an indispensable element that guarantees the health of quails. Birds' body needs for oxygen are quite high. The respiratory system of quails is very sensitive to dust in the air, which causes diseases of the upper respiratory tract. That is why maintaining clean air in the rooms is very important when breeding this bird at home.

Humidity mode

The room where quails are kept should not have a humidity level below 55%.

Low humidity negatively affects egg production

Lower humidity in the room contributes to the consumption of large amounts of water by quails, while they eat less food, which affects their vital functions.

Low amounts of humidity cause changes in the body. The plumage becomes hard and brittle, the birds themselves look disheveled. In this case, you need to water the floor or place trays with water to evaporate.

A similar phenomenon is observed in summer during heat or in winter with strong heating.

High humidity above 75% is also undesirable. The optimal humidity level is 60 – 70%.

You can measure humidity with a hair hygrometer or an electronic hygrometer.

Feeding

An adult bird has high nutritional needs, feeding requires a lot of diligence and the use of high-quality feed.

Lack of knowledge about nutritional needs is a common cause of failure in quail breeding and reproduction.

Basic principles of quail nutrition

Metabolism in quails is much faster than in other poultry:

• a one-day-old chick becomes an adult bird after 7 weeks (for a chicken - after 22 weeks);
• The weight of a quail egg in relation to the weight of the laying hen is 2 times greater than that of a chicken.

Therefore, the use of chicken feed when breeding chickens or laying quails is inappropriate, since the content of nutrients and biologically active compounds in them is too low.

It is not advisable to enrich chicken mixtures with meat or fish meal. Although this procedure increases protein levels, it reduces the concentration of other nutrients - energy and vitamins. Birds should be fed complete quail formulas because only they can cover the nutritional requirements and therefore guarantee good growth and high egg production.

Due to the small number of quails, there are few ready-made special feeds for quails on the market. In this situation, you have to produce bird food yourself. This fact should be considered as periodic, since in general balanced feed mixtures must be produced by specialized factories.

Obviously, in amateur breeding all types of “homemade” diets for quail are acceptable. As a rule, they are much more labor-intensive, but daily preparation of food for pets is one of the most important elements of home growing and breeding quails in the country.

Features of feeding laying hens

Quail eggs, although they look inconspicuous, are very tasty. Quails have the highest nutritional requirements among poultry. Their unusually fast metabolism and high egg production require a special approach.

To keep laying quails at home, you need to provide them with a varied, balanced diet. Various types of grain and other feed are used for feed:

• millet,
• rice,
• soybean,
• corn grains,
• forages (dandelion, clover),
• sprouted wheat,
• fruits,
• vegetables.

Attention! Fishmeal, used in the diet as a raw material to increase protein content, greatly affects the smell of meat, making it unpleasant!

The best solution is feed. The feed mixture for meat quail should be richer than the food used to feed laying hens.

Feeding chickens

Boiled eggs and cottage cheese replace bugs and worms in the diet of small quails. Quail or chicken eggs are hard-boiled and crushed without removing the shell. The food is scattered over the feeders, the nimble minke whales quickly understand where the food is and find the food source themselves. To prevent the wet egg from turning into a sticky single mass, it is lightly sprinkled with fine corn grits.

Cottage cheese - food for chickens

From day 2, the chicks are given cottage cheese. It is better if it is dried and separated from the whey as much as possible.

Important! Eggs and cottage cheese, being in a brooder at high temperatures (at least 30°C), quickly deteriorate. To avoid stomach upset in babies, food is given in small portions 3 to 5 times a day.

Before each feeding, the feeders should be washed to remove any remaining old food.

It is much easier to use ready-made feed for quails. Starter food is suitable for babies from the first day of life. The proportion of protein in it should be at least 26 - 28%. It is enough to pour dry feed granules into feeders once a day, which is very convenient if you are raising a large number of livestock.

In the absence of feed, the quail are fed a mixture of corn and wheat grits in a ratio of 3:1. Be sure to add cottage cheese or boiled meat, 2 - 4 g per individual. A premix is ​​added to the grain mixture according to the instructions or a complex of vitamins is added to drinking water.

Is it possible to give small quails grass?

From the 3rd day of life, chicks should be offered finely chopped greens. Plants chosen are juicy and nutritious: quinoa, wood lice, clover, alfalfa, dandelion. From the 7th day, green onions are added to the menu, which is a good antiseptic and strengthens the bird’s immunity.

Alfalfa for quail

In winter, the birds are given grass meal. It can be purchased at feed stores (it is often sold in granules) or you can prepare it yourself. To do this, dried grass is crushed to dust and mixed with food.

Quail diseases, treatment and prevention

Quails are fully domesticated, dependent and habituated to humans, who must create the optimal environmental conditions necessary to maintain high levels of health and egg production. Inadequate environmental and hygienic conditions, and lack of nutrition negatively affect the health of birds and reduce productivity.

By raising quail indoors on slatted floors, they are less susceptible to infection than other types of poultry.

All quail diseases can be divided into the following types:

1. diseases caused by breeding in the wrong environment (humidity, drafts);
2. poor nutrition (mineral, vitamin, protein deficiencies);
3. poisoning;
4. invasive diseases (internal and external parasites);
5. infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa.

The most common diseases of quails: salmonellosis, poisoning, diarrhea, colicbacteriosis, rickets, quail pullorosis, aspergillosis, pseudoplague, cholera, helminth infection, prolapse and blockage of the oviduct, goiter catarrh.

Lack of nutrients and its consequences

Quails are sensitive to deficiencies of protein, minerals, and vitamins in the feed:

Why do quail peck each other?

Pterophagy is the mutual plucking of feathers by birds. Sometimes quails peck each other until they bleed. In some species of birds this is a behavioral norm; in quails, pterophagy is caused by various reasons:

1. power errors;
2. hereditary tendencies towards excessive aggressiveness;
3. too much crowding of birds per unit area;
4. insufficient lighting;
5. protein deficiencies.

Pterophagy is very dangerous because its frequent consequence is cannibalism.

The simplest and most effective solution that can be done if quail are pecking each other is to cut off a third of the upper beak. For this purpose, special guillotines are used to cut the quail's beak with a hot blade, which reduces bleeding and prolongs the period of regrowth of the cut beak.

There are also all kinds of beak covers that prevent pecking and cannibalization of quails.

Photo. Quail beak covers to prevent pterophagy

Colibacillosis

Quail disease is caused by pathogenic serotypes of E. coli. A dangerous disease of quails, causing significant mortality up to 80-90%.

Causes:

• lack of vitamins;
• bird feeding errors;
• poor ventilation;
• contaminated water.

Symptoms:

• in adults, the disease manifests itself as diarrhea;
• loss of appetite;
• difficulties in movement.

The disease can be prevented by:

1. proper feeding of quails;
2. proper breeding hygiene;
3. exclusion of weak birds.

Mycoplasmosis of chickens

The disease is caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Dangerous disease of poultry caused by poor environmental conditions:

• insufficient ventilation;
• high humidity;
• vitamin A deficiency.

Mycoplasmosis in quails spreads from sick birds to healthy ones.

Symptoms:

• quails become lethargic;
• decreased appetite;
• grow slowly;
• egg production decreases.

Aspergillosis

A disease caused by fungi.

Sources of infection:

• moldy mulch;
• musty food

Infection occurs through the respiratory system of birds and the digestive tract.

Symptoms:

• loss of appetite;
• weakness appears;
• anemia;
• poor coordination of movements;
• convulsions.

The mortality rate of young quails is 60%.

Disease prevention, isolation of sick individuals from the herd

Many quail diseases are accompanied by similar symptoms. Breeders do not always know that the low profitability of breeding quail is due precisely to the high incidence of disease. Diseases are more common in the following cases:

• in a herd kept in mud and cramped conditions;
• in poorly ventilated areas;
• with malnutrition.

Therefore, you should strictly follow all the rules for breeding, maintaining and feeding quails. It is necessary to constantly prevent the occurrence of diseases, primarily through hygiene procedures.

Hygiene rules

Basic hygiene measures when breeding domestic quails:

1. Birds' water bowls need to be washed under running water every day, especially since they usually run along the entire length of the cage, and the infection spreads through them like fire.
2. Feeders are washed 1-2 times a week.
3. The droppings are removed every day, and only in special cases, for example, keeping quails alone for breeding, can the cage be cleared of droppings every other day, that is, half the cages every day.
4. Heating radiators are decontaminated every month, and metal and plastic - every 3 months. For this purpose, the birds are removed from the cage, the batteries are washed with a brush dipped in a solution of laundry soap.
5. The cell walls are also washed with laundry soap and rinsed under running water.
6. Clean cracks and corners using a kitchen brush.
7. Wooden quail cages are scraped off droppings with a spatula and a wire brush, washed with a solution of freshly slaked lime with the addition of 3% formaldehyde, using a paint gun. Specialized disinfectants are also useful.

Processing and disinfection

Treatment of cells for various diseases

Rules for replacing bedding

The second stage of hygiene is replacing the bedding in the sparrowhawk. As the perches become dirty, it is necessary to replace the filler. Sawdust or straw should be covered with a burlap bedding. And do not forget to treat the filler and bedding with disinfectants.

The contents of the disinfection barrier box, which is installed at the entrance to the sparrowhawk, are also updated as they become dirty, but at least once a week. What are the functions of a disinfection barrier? This device prevents debris, dust and infectious agents from the yard from being brought into the structure.

Quail cage

Quails are often bred and kept in cages. Below are some guidelines for what the cage should look like.

Due to the lack of offers from manufacturers, most breeders decide to make the cage themselves. The shape and size of the frames depend on the ingenuity of the person making the cage.

When creating cages for keeping quail laying hens, you must follow some of the following rules:

1. The maximum number of adult quails per 1 square meter of floor is 40 birds.
2. It is important that bird cages are made of galvanized materials, this will extend the life of the cage, because bird droppings have a strong impact on metal elements.
3. The height of the quail cage should be 20-25 cm, this will provide air access, lighting, and prevent the birds from being maimed during high jumps.
4. Cage walls should be made of wire mesh with 1.0-1.3 cm mesh or rods spaced at a distance of 1.3 cm. Large holes can cause birds' heads to get stuck, causing birds to suffocate.
5. The floor must be open with cells no larger than 1 cm in size; larger holes can lead to injury to the quail’s legs.
6. The bars in hen cages should be angled slightly forward and end in such a way as to stop the egg. Place a litter tray under the grate.
7. It is better to make a litter tray from plastic because it does not corrode. In the case of metal trays, you need to make 2 trays in reserve per cell.
8. Quail feeders are placed outside the cage; the bird must be able to reach the feeder through the appropriate holes in the cage. Placing a feeder in a cage will result in food being constantly scattered. Quails love to scatter food with their beaks, burying themselves in them with their paws.
9. Feeders should have a height of 6-7 cm, made of galvanized steel, plastic pipe with holes. Calculation of the length of the feeder is 0.4 cm of feeder per 1 bird.
10. Drinkers can be placed inside the cage or outside, but on a raised surface so as not to contaminate the water with food that quail like to scatter.
11. Drinking bowls are made of stainless steel; you can use properly prepared flower pots. The water should always be clean.

General microclimate in the room

The microclimate in the room where the cages are installed is important for the cage keeping of quails.

Ventilation

The level of air pollution affects the keeping of birds and the general microclimate in the room. A prerequisite for a favorable microclimate: warmth, absence of dampness, ventilation, providing fresh air at the rate of 1.5 m3/h per 1 kg of live weight of the bird, this is in the cold season. In summer, the volume of fresh air should be 5m3/h.

Air quality:

1. O2 – above 20%
2. CO2 – below 0.30%
3. CO2 – below 40 ppm
4. NH3 – below 20 ppm
5. H2S – below 5 ppm

approx. ppm – one part per million

Drafts are strictly contraindicated for quails. The consequence of drafts is feather loss and subsequent illnesses.

Lighting

The presence of windows does not play a big role in the life of a quail. The light can be artificial, by setting a timer to turn on the light, it is easy to organize the lighting mode. For artificial light, incandescent lamps of 40 - 50 W are suitable, corresponding LED lamps of 5 - 8 W with a light flux of 400 - 600 Lm or fluorescent lamps of 40 W. The brightness or flow of light depends on the area of ​​the room.

To calculate illumination, we take the following indicators. One 50 W incandescent lamp emits a luminous flux of 600 Lumens (Lm). The resulting flow is divided into six surfaces (walls, floor, ceiling). For example, the total illuminated area is 30 m². There is one lamp on the ceiling. Accordingly, the average illumination will be: 600 * 1/30 = 20 Lux

Quail incubators

Incubation of quail eggs is not an easy process due to the small size of the chicks, but some breeders choose this type of breeding. For this purpose, it is necessary to equip professional incubators that provide the birds with the best conditions for growth.

It should be remembered that successful quail incubation consists of many factors:

1. weather conditions in which the incubated egg was laid;
2. period of proper egg storage;
3. appropriate temperature;
4. optimal humidity;
5. proper ventilation of eggs during incubation.

The value of quail meat

Quail meat contains optimally selected proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins. But at the same time, it contains practically no cholesterol. Juicy and tender, it is not for nothing that it is considered a delicacy. Dishes prepared from quail meat were served at the royal table. But meat is valued not only for its excellent taste. It is useful for feeding children weakened after illness or surgery. Because it helps restore the body, strengthen bone tissue, build muscles, and increase vitality.