Wild and domestic quail
The quail is a small bird from the pheasant family, the partridge subfamily and the chickens order. About a dozen species of these birds are known in the world. Unfortunately, 2 of them have already become extinct. Quails live throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. The most famous species is the common quail. It was domesticated about a hundred years ago and is now successfully bred on industrial farms and in households.
Quail
Common wild quail
Common quail inhabits vast areas. She lives in Europe, in Asia up to Lake Baikal, West Africa. This bird prefers to settle in fields and open spaces where there are tall grass and bushes. Quails almost do not fly, they lead a terrestrial life. But from the northern regions for the winter, this species flies south. When agriculture began to develop, quails moved closer to man and his crops.
The appearance of the quail is not remarkable at all. This is a small wild bird with camouflage plumage, which runs very fast, hiding from enemies. Here is a brief description of the common quail and its biological characteristics:
- The body length is 16-20 cm.
- Bird weight - 80-145 g.
- The wingspan is 32-35 cm.
- The body is compact, set at a slight angle to the surface of the earth.
- The head is small, without a comb.
- The beak is strong, slightly elongated.
- Quail feathers in ocher shade.
- A pattern in the form of dark brown transverse stripes and specks covers the back of the head, neck, back, covering feathers of the tail.
- The male has red cheeks and chin, a black neck.
- The female has a throat and cheeks of light ocher color, sometimes almost white, black and white specks (streaks) are present on the goiter and on the sides of the body.
- The male has a beautiful voice, he makes an original low sound.
You can take a closer look at the appearance of birds in the photo and video. The number of wild quails is constantly decreasing. The main reason now is not fishing and hunting, since the species is under protection. The fields and steppes, where quails are used to living, are intensively developed with the use of heavy equipment, and the area of land developed by man is growing. Crops are treated with mineral fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Birds die from poisoning wounds, falling under cars and for many other reasons.
Quail lifestyle and reproduction
This is a day bird, it lives and builds nests on the ground. Favorite habitats are steppes, wheat fields, where you can hide among tall grasses. Quails feed mainly on grain. Also, the diet includes buds and shoots of shrubs, seeds of various herbs. Occasionally, birds eat snails, worms and insects that they manage to catch.
The mating season for quails begins in early spring, as soon as the first green grasses appear. It is at this time that the males acquire their original deep voice.They arrange fights among themselves, females watch quail fights and choose a partner for themselves. After fertilization, nests are built right on the ground, in secluded places. The male does not take part in the further breeding of chicks.
Quail clutch contains 8-10 eggs. Incubation lasts about 2 weeks, hatching of chicks occurs simultaneously. After the quails hatch, the female immediately begins to feed them and teach them the simplest skills. After a couple of days, the quail chicks leave the nest and go in search of food with their mother. In the fall, quails fly south from the northern regions. By that time, they are well fed with ripe grain, gaining strength to endure a long flight. The life span of a quail in the wild is 3-4 years, birds are kept at home for no more than a year.
Keeping birds at home
For more than a century, quails have been grown at home. The bird perfectly tolerates captivity, can live quietly in a cramped cage, while giving a lot of healthy eggs, as well as tasty meat. In a year, one quail can lay from 180 to 360 eggs, depending on the breed. The carcass weight of quails ranges from 120 to 300 g, depending on the breed and type of feeding. In some countries, fighting quails are grown, arranging real competitions between them. There are domestic singing quails, as the males of this species are famous for their original voice.
Quail farming is a very promising, albeit relatively young, branch of agriculture. The advantage of this direction is that you can keep birds even in a very small room. To start a business, you do not need large investments, special equipment, even a beginner can start it on his own. If you grow quails exclusively for yourself, the bird house can be placed on the balcony or in the apartment, not to mention the poultry house in the country. It's easy to build cells with your own hands.
For normal growth and egg production, the temperature in the quail room should be maintained at 20-24 ° C; in winter, heating is needed in the barn. Lighting depends on the purpose of the cultivation. If you need to get meat from quails, they are kept in semi-darkness. In low light, the quail eats better, and the males do not fight. For egg production, daylight hours must last 16-17 hours, sometimes the light is turned on around the clock. Females in this light carry 2 testicles per day. The quail barn must be well ventilated so that the birds do not suffocate and do not get sick. In the summer, cages are often kept outdoors.
Quail feeding
It is not difficult to choose a diet for domestic quails. Many people use ready-made compound feed. It is important to note that there are no special grain mixtures for quails. Feed intended for broiler, turkey or laying hens should be used. Such a diet contains approximately 30-35% protein, 60% grains (corn, wheat, barley, bran), as well as mineral supplements and vitamins.
You can cook food for quails yourself, but there are some peculiarities here. The grain must be crushed, a small bird cannot eat large particles. They also add meat and bone or fish meal, minced fish, meal or soybean meal, sunflower oil, chalk, salt and other components to the mixture. The quail eats vegetables well (potatoes, beets, carrots, zucchini, etc.), green grass is useful for it
To quickly get quail meat, they are fed with mixtures, the calorie content of which is increased. They include grain or special feed mixed with boiled peas. Vegetables, minced fish, soybean and sunflower cake, meat and bone meal, meat or fish broth are also added to it. Laying hens should eat feed rich in calcium, vitamins and proteins. To increase productivity, they are given Premix and other nutritional supplements. Quail eats very little, 25-30 g of feed is needed per individual per day.
Breeding chicks
Domestic quails have completely lost their maternal instinct, therefore reproduction of chicks is possible only in an incubator. First, the best birds should be identified and the parent flock should be formed. Breeding birds are selected at the age of 6-7 weeks. Strong healthy individuals, without the slightest defects, are suitable for breeding. 4-5 females and one male are placed in a separate cage. You can form a herd of 9-10 females, and plant quails with them temporarily.
The hatching egg should not lie longer than 7 days. A regular incubator is suitable for hatching chicks. It is advisable to put in it a lattice designed for small eggs. Incubation temperature - 38-38.5 ° С, humidity is maintained at 60-70%. Small quails hatch from eggs 17 days after the start of incubation.
Raise chicks in a heated crate or brooder. The hatched quails love warmth, therefore the recommended temperature regime is 35 ° C, humidity is 65-70%. You cannot release quails from the box in the first three weeks. They are very tiny, the chick weighs only 8-10 g. Such babies are easily lost or become the prey of domestic animals. In the early days, young animals are fed with boiled eggs, then cottage cheese, herbs, corn grits, millet are added. From two weeks, the quilts eat compound feed for chickens, and from a month they switch to adult feed.
Quail breeds
To date, several quail breeds have been bred. The selection went in two directions: meat and egg, although both types of breeds can be obtained from both types of products. Laying hens after 11 months are sent for meat, and meat breeds can produce about 160-180 eggs per year. In addition, there are also decorative quails, which are bred for the sake of beauty. The main types of quail:
- English white and black;
- Virginia quail;
- California quail;
- Chinese painted quail;
- Manchurian golden quail;
- Pharaoh;
- Texas white pharaoh;
- Estonian home quail;
- Japanese quail;
- Marble quail;
- Tuxedo quail.
The most popular egg breed is Japanese. Among meat quails, Pharaohs are preferred. Chinese painted sia, tuxedo and marble are considered decorative.
Quail diseases
The immune system in quails is quite strong, so they rarely get sick. The cause of most pathologies is improper maintenance and nutrition. Sometimes infections flare up among birds, from which they massively get sick and die. But such situations often arise when sanitary standards are violated.
So, if the nutrition of quails is inadequate, they may develop symptoms of vitamin deficiency or a lack of certain microelements. The main signs are:
- The bird does not eat well.
- Feathers are ruffled, sometimes fall out, birds go bald.
- The head is thrown back.
- The wings are down.
- Blindness may appear.
- The activity is reduced.
If the birds are weakening, they experience feather loss outside the molt, you need to revise the diet. Add ready-made vitamins, fish and vegetable oil, salt, chalk to it. In summer, it is worth giving greens, fruits and vegetables. If kept too heap, quails may develop cannibalism. Birds should be resettled, the most aggressive individuals should be removed from the herd. Quails most often get injured when they jump up from fear, and the ceiling in the cage is too high and hard. If the mesh is large on the floor, the legs of birds can get stuck, leading to fractures and injuries.
Among the infectious pathologies in quails, the most common are:
- Newcastle disease;
- Pullorosis;
- Aspergillosis;
- Colibacillosis;
- Pasteurellosis;
- Infectious diarrhea.
Birds infected with infections are sent for slaughter, quail meat is burned, it is unsuitable for consumption. For prophylaxis, chicks are added to the drink with chloramphenicol, and they are also vaccinated. For adult birds, it also does not hurt to use antibiotics, mix them into feed and water.It is very important to keep the birds in normal conditions, keep the cages clean, clean the enclosure regularly, the temperature is normal, and the ventilation in the room must be adequate.
Quail productivity
As already mentioned, you can get meat and eggs from quails. Quail testicles are small, weighing 10-12 g. On top, the product is covered with a thin gray shell with dark specks. According to its characteristics and usefulness, a quail egg is superior to a chicken egg:
- It is very low in cholesterol.
- It contains a specific protein that has anti-allergic properties.
- Quail eggs contain more protein, iron and other trace elements.
In this regard, small testicles are recommended to be eaten by people with atherosclerosis, allergies, added to baby food. In Japan, they are even used for the manufacture of drugs for bronchial asthma. In addition, quails do not get sick with salmonellosis, therefore eggs can be safely drunk raw.
According to its dietary characteristics, quail meat is significantly superior to turkey and rabbit meat, not to mention chicken. It contains almost the entire table of useful trace elements and many vitamins. In addition, the meat has a wonderful smell and taste. Here is its main composition (per 100 g of product):
- Protein - 39.2 g.
- Fat - 33.3 g.
- Water - 11.7%.
- The number of calories is 242.
The beneficial properties of delicious quail meat have been known for a long time. It contains a lot of iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other trace elements. Fats are quickly absorbed, they are low in harmful cholesterol. The amino acid composition is balanced, the energy value is high, therefore, quail meat is recommended for dietary nutrition for children, patients with pathologies of the heart, supporting apparatus, and allergies.
Carcass cutting
Approximately at the age of 1.5-2 months before molting, quails are cut to obtain meat. In order to slaughter a bird and butcher a carcass, you need to have the following tools on hand:
- deck;
- a sharp knife or hatchet;
- mesh basket;
- container with boiling water for 30-50 liters.
The day before the slaughter, the birds are not fed, they are only given water. The head and legs of the quail are cut off with a knife or chopped off with an ax. All carcasses are put in a basket and dipped in boiling water for 20-30 seconds, then feathers are plucked. If there are few carcasses, it is easy to do it by hand. You should start from the hip, then move to the back and finish with the wings.
It is better to pluck a large batch of carcasses in a special drum-type feathering machine. It works on the principle of a centrifuge and in a short time, without much effort, removes all feathers from the quails. It is very important not to overdo the carcasses in boiling water. Birds have a thin skin; after strong scalding, it can come off along with the feather. Then the quail meat will lose its presentation. How to properly slaughter birds can be found in the video.
Quail cost
Domestic quail and the benefits from it are enormous. Even novice farmers can start their own business by breeding these birds. If your goal is not profit, but growing quails for yourself at home, you will also gain a lot, because at the slightest expense you can get delicious meat and eggs. Delicious domesticated quail grows as fast as broiler chickens, but require much less space, care and attention. To correctly carry out the breeding of birds, special literature will be useful.
How much does a house quail cost? A hatching egg for hatching chicks can be bought for 10-35 rubles, depending on the breed. Daily quails cost 30-60 rubles. Especially rare and expensive breeds - 300-500 rubles. The price of birds suitable for slaughter is from 50-60 rubles to 100-150 rubles. A finished quail carcass costs 400-800 rubles per 1 kilogram. Eggs for human consumption - 50-80 rubles for 20 pieces.