Correct breeding of quail at home for beginners

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Today, quail breeding at home for beginners is gaining particular popularity. Since this bird is ready to provide both meat and dietary eggs, it is the most popular among poultry farmers. Breeding quails will not cause any inconvenience, and even a novice poultry farmer will be quite capable of keeping a small and unpretentious bird in an apartment. Such breeding can be attributed to a productive business, it practically does not require costs and any special conditions.

Breeding quail at home

Today, the Japanese quail variety is most popular among farmers. Moreover, in Japan, this breeding tradition has existed for over 100 years. Today, representatives of the descendants from the Japanese version are boldly grown and kept not only for meat, but also for obtaining dietary eggs in a number of farms and agricultural farms.

Before purchasing quails for home breeding, you should study the description of the breed, read reviews, watch photos and videos. Birds should be purchased from breeders or trusted sellers. The quality and health of the entire livestock, as well as meat and eggs, depends on how healthy and developed young animals are acquired.

After lengthy work, breeders were able to breed representatives of both meat breeds and egg varieties. Here are the characteristics of this domesticated variety:

• the annual productivity of eggs weighing 10-12 g is 340 pieces;
• at the age of 1.5 months, egg-laying already begins;
• the weight of quails is usually 150 g for a layer, and 130 g for a male.

In order to obtain dietary and tasty quail meat, it has recently become popular to breed broilers. Only such representatives already weigh much more. The weight of a broiler can be from 250 to 500 g.

Quail breeds

Depending on what you want to get, you should choose the most suitable breed. It is best to breed quail at home on the balcony or in the private sector in the fresh air. It is not difficult to breed quails, but you should follow all the rules for the care and maintenance of such birds. Novice farmers can try to breed quail in the garage, if it is capital and heated.

Of course, on the street, quails have more chances to fully develop and bear healthy offspring, but not everyone has the opportunity to build a separate poultry house in the garden.When choosing a breed, one should take into account the fact where the individuals will live and pay attention to their characteristics and adaptability to these conditions.

Japanese quail breed

• egg direction;
• yellow-brown plumage;
• male weight - about 130 g, female - 150 g;
• egg production - 90%;
• egg product weighing about 9-11 g.

Chanchur quail breed

• meat and egg direction;
• yellow-brown plumage;
• individual weight - about 300 g;
• egg production - 85%;
• the weight of an egg product is usually around 13-16 g.

Breed English white quail

• meat and egg direction;
• plumage color is white;
• individual weight - 280-350 g;
• egg production of the breed - 85%;
• the egg product weighs about 13-15 g.

Pharaoh breed

• meat direction;
• plumage color yellow-brown with a stripe;
• the weight of the female is 320-360 g, the male weighs 280 g;
• egg production of the breed - 85%;
• the weight of an egg product is usually 12-16 g.

Phoenix breed

• meat-egg direction;
• yellow-golden plumage color;
• the weight of an individual is usually about 250 g;
• egg production - about 85%;
• the egg product weighs about 12-18 g.

Breed Texas white

• meat orientation;
• white with a black spot color;
• the weight of the individual is approximately 500 g;
• 85% egg production;
• egg product weight - 14-16 g.

California quail

• the bird is very beautiful due to its unusual and variegated color;
• used for decorative purposes: this is not a wild breed, so a Californian individual can be started just for beauty.

Productivity of quails of different breeds

Breeding and raising quails at home should begin with the acquisition of young stock of the desired breed. Any breed should be most characterized by active productivity and a good metabolic rate. If we consider a quail with a weight of about 120 g, then within a year it is capable of producing at least 300 eggs. It is also interesting that the egg mass itself will be 20-24 times the weight of the female.

In terms of nutritional value, such testicles are ready to surpass chicken ones, since there is no cholesterol in the quail testicle. They can be consumed easily and raw, since the quail does not suffer from salmonellosis. If we compare 5 quail eggs, which will be equal in weight to one chicken, then it is the quail eggs that will surpass some elements in content:

• potassium in them will be as much as 5 times more;
• iron will be 4.5 more;
• the presence of vitamins A, B2, B1;
• protein 60%, and in chicken it is only 55.8%;
• the presence of antioxidants.

A quail testicle is usually white to dark variegated in color. The shell is quite fragile and its weight is about 7.2% of the total product. Up to 10% of the total weight is the shell weight in common poultry species. It is also important to note that the quail egg shell can be safely used in the treatment of certain diseases (these are diseases of the internal organs and skin). With the help of such a difficult shell, you can easily remove the effects of radiation. Quail eggs are not capable of causing allergic reactions. On the contrary, allergic reactions are suppressed with the help of a product called ovomucoid, which is contained in the egg.

Quail meat contains many minerals, amino acids and even vitamin B. Such meat is characterized as dietary. When storing quail meat for a long time, it will not lose nutrients and will not deteriorate. Such a product is recommended for use in diseases of the cardiovascular system, in some disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, in diabetes mellitus and some other diseases.

Reproduction of quails at home

In order to breed quail, it is not necessary to have a male and a female at once. Laying hens are capable of laying without a male. But those who pursue the goal of breeding just such breeds need a male. In this case, you should buy young animals. Young quails are able to more easily transfer the stress of moving to another place.

Always inspect the livestock before purchasing.Here are the criteria for a healthy quail:

• around the cloaca he will always have clean plumage;
• beak dry and without deformation;
• breath is pure in sound;
• average weight (the pet is not overfed or exhausted);
• feathers without dirt fragments, clean and smooth, no excrement.

When breeding quail at home, you should avoid closely related crossbreeding. Females should be chosen at the age of 3-8 months, but the age for the quail should be from 3 to 6 months. It is better to crossbreed within the same breed.

How to breed quail correctly if the females do not have a particularly developed incubation instinct? For breeding from scratch, in order for this to be profitable, it is necessary to use special incubators.

Keeping in incubators greatly simplifies quail breeding and increases its profitability. The farmer will not need to create a specific temperature and constant humidity for the egg. When choosing an incubator, it is better to pay attention to those models where the testicles are turned over not manually, but automatically by the system itself. When breeding, the egg must be 2-10 months old from hens, they must be fertilized and not older than one week with a weight of about 9-11 g.

You can watch the breeding of quails in more detail on the video.

The incubator can be easily done by hand

• in any cardboard box you need to build a soft bedding;
• put everything the birds need in a box, as well as a special thermometer;
• fix a lamp with a power of about 40 watts on top;
• by adjusting the height of the lamp itself, you can achieve a constant temperature of 37.5-38.5 ° C;
• be sure to install a humidifier nearby to maintain a certain humidity;
• install a fine mesh on the bottom;
• place on the bottom on the litter no more than 20 eggs of equal size, and turn them 3-5 times a day;
• it takes about 17 days for the young to hatch. Chicks usually appear at the same time within 5-6 hours.

Growing young animals

Usually the chick weighs 6-8 g and it is already active from the first hours of life. The body of the quilt is covered with brown fluff and two stripes on the back. You need to monitor the chicks constantly, as they can easily drown in a saucer of water or hide in a corner and suffocate. It is extremely important to be vigilant. In time, you need to transplant the birds into a room covered with a net - into a brooder. The correct size of the brooder must be observed, depending on the number of quails in it. The maintenance and feeding of young animals should be carried out in accordance with all the rules.

Small quails feed themselves, but it is better for the farmer to help completely weakened and helpless individuals. Where to start if the young have no appetite? In this case, there must be care. You need to feed only the food you need right now. Perhaps you should change your drinking water to fresh one. If garbage gets into the water, then the young will not drink it, and therefore refuse to eat. It is also necessary to formulate a suitable diet using protein feed. Immediately after birth, it is better to give a finely chopped egg (white and yolk separately). The egg must be boiled. Feeding the birds with such food should be done about 5 times a day. On the third day after birth, you can also connect cottage cheese.

Combination feeds are available. It can be a feed called "start". It must first be processed in a coffee grinder.

On the seventh day, you can give more chopped greens.

Already from 21-28 days, the quails need to be fed as adults. The main thing is to start proper feeding, and the young will reach for food on their own, the necessary reflexes will appear. If the food is intensive and balanced, the quails increase in weight up to 20 times in 2 months after birth. You can drink them with a nipple drinker or use only vacuum ones. Water must be poured to the birds warm and always boiled. For the purpose of prevention, you can solder the quail with chloramphenicol in solution.

Lighting for quail

Breeding and keeping quail at home requires the right lighting. If you do not follow this rule, then the birds may not fly, the layers will be aggressive. Males can get into fights with each other.

Lighting for the first 14 days in the brooder should be provided 24 hours a day, then you can gradually reduce it to 17 hours. Young animals should have a dry and warm room and always have ventilation. The temperature should be 35-38 ° C. Breeding and keeping quails in winter also requires a responsible attitude to lighting, since if the rules are not followed, the livestock can either fry or freeze.

When such chicks get cold, they begin to huddle and scream. In this case, the farmers simply lower the lamp for lighting a little lower. When the chicks stand along the perimeter with raised beaks, it is worth raising the heat source: such a reaction means that the young are hot. After a week, heating will need to be reduced to 34 ° C, and after 4 weeks - to 22 ° C.

Sex of young animals

It is possible to determine the sexual characteristics of quails already 3 weeks after birth. For experienced poultry farmers, it will not be difficult to determine gender, but a novice poultry farmer will have to practice. In males, a reddish-brown color of the feather can be observed in the area near the neck and near the chest. In females, such places are painted in a light gray shade with a speck.

The male stops growing at the age of 8 weeks. After 1.5 months, males are ready to breed. Individuals not intended for breeding should be transplanted separately for fattening. Females are ready for reproductive function a little later. This happens approximately at 9 weeks. In each individual, puberty occurs at a different time, since many factors affect this, for example, immunity, health status, and weight of the laying hen.

Quail diet

Quails, their breeding and feeding at home must meet all standards. The health of the livestock and the immunity of individuals depends on how high-quality the diet is selected. With periodic feeding with vitamins and minerals, birds are less likely to suffer from common diseases. Feeding individuals is best done with remote containers, as layers and males love to scatter food during a meal.

For convenience, many farmers purchase special equipment, drinkers and feeders, from which it is inconvenient for birds to spill or sprinkle something. Such feeders and drinkers significantly save food and water, so you should think about purchasing such equipment. It is recommended to feed the birds 2-3 times a day. The feed volume is 25-30 g per chick.

How to feed quail

• fish fat;
• crushed egg shells, shells, crushed chalk;
• boiled boneless fish and fish meal;
• sliced ​​egg, cottage cheese, sunflower seeds;
• vegetable cleaning (carrots, shredded cabbage, boiled potatoes);
• greens (clover, lettuce, onion, wheat germ);
• cereals (millet, barley, oats);
• special compound feed.

Young stock health

Be sure to monitor the behavior of individuals. When the bird becomes passive and refuses food, it is worth separately replanting it and contacting the veterinarian. Birds are also placed separately after physical injury. When making a poultry house, it is recommended to make such a house for several tiers. In this case, the birds can be on any tier and there will be enough space for everyone.

A separate pen should be built near the premises for quarantined individuals. After purchasing a new livestock of birds, you need to settle for a period of 10 to 30 days in quarantine, where they will be fed and kept separately. If during this time no changes have been revealed in an individual and its behavior remains active, then a new bird can be released to the rest of the livestock.

Useful Tips

For fattening meat birds for slaughter, a slightly different breeding and keeping tactics should be used. For breeding for meat, the following conditions are necessary:

• Lighting should be lowered.
• Make the temperature 24 ° C.
• Create twilight, since in such conditions mobility decreases, the need for food increases.
• Food intake should be at least 3-4 times a day.

If you want to have several different breeds, it is important to ensure that sexual intercourse does not occur between related breeds or too different individuals. It is also not recommended to cross representatives of different breeds. Many individuals even simply cannot get along with birds of a different breed. The surest solution is to have females and males of the same breed and similar build.

Too thin male or female may not fit each other purely in terms of physical parameters. Also, the male may not like a fat or thin layer. Individuals should be of medium completeness.

When breeding quails on the balcony, soundproofing should be done and the feeder, drinkers and perches should be cleaned every day. If this is not done, the unpleasant smell of droppings and noise will annoy neighbors. You can keep quails in cages. It is worth choosing special sizes with the calculation: 30 x 30 cm for one male and 3-4 females. If the area turns out to be slightly larger, the productivity of the family sharply decreases. It is necessary to equip nests and perches. Be sure to make ventilation. Air humidity should be 60-70%.

Many farmers, when breeding and keeping quails, highlight the following features

• Quail singing is appreciated in several places, and individuals are also used as fighting.
• When a fight appears, it is imperative to jail the instigator of the conflict separately.
• It is necessary to exclude stressful situations in the team, for this it is worth taking care of the absence of any negative situations.
• To prevent the chicks' paws from moving apart, paper should not be laid.

Growing quail at home will be profitable if you follow proper care and formulate the correct diet for adults and chicks. Even if the birds are not worried and they look healthy, they should be shown to the veterinarian for a routine check-up.