Quail breeding as a business. Growing quails at home from scratch: where to start Breeds of quails for breeding at home

The quail is perhaps the only farm bird that can be kept in an apartment. With proper care, you will get not only meat and eggs, but pleasure and benefits. Problems such as unpleasant odor and noise are easy to avoid: our today's story is about how to properly keep quails at home.

For the first time, they learned about quails in the USSR in the 1970s, when they came to a number of poultry farms from Japan, but the direction did not become widespread until the 21st century. Then, in the early 2000s, rarely anyone saw an advertisement on how to profitably breed these birds for eggs for sale. The people set to work, but the understanding quickly came that it was easy to grow them, but finding a market for their products was a difficult task.

In terms of business, the most unprofitable format is a mini-farm for 2000-5000 heads. The productivity of such a farm is too high to be able to engage in "piece" sales by word of mouth and through Avito, but too low to be of interest to chain stores. Therefore, within the framework of this instruction, we will talk about how to keep quails at home for beginners' own use, and with an eye to selling surplus to neighbors and acquaintances.

Breed selection

The first thing to decide is the direction of the economy. There are egg and meat quails, there are also meat and egg quails, they occupy an intermediate position in terms of productivity.

Comparative characteristics

Name	Type productivity	Egg, gr.	egg production, PC. in year	Carcass, c.
	egg	10-12	300-320	90-100
English white	egg	11-13	290-310	140-170
Pharaoh	meat	12-17	250-300	200-220
	meat	15-18	220-260	250-350
	meat-egg	12-14	280-310	180
	meat-egg	11-12	260-300	130-150
	meat-egg	13-16	220-250	170-190
	decorative	9-10	90-110	-

Here we briefly describe the main pros and cons of the breeds, under each description there is a link to a detailed article about them.

egg

This direction is characterized by high egg production and a small carcass. Quail egg breeds work up to 6-8 months, and at this age their meat is quite tough, and is not in demand. On the other hand, they eat a little less than other lines: up to 30 gr. quality food per day.

Japanese

Out of habit, they are positioned as excellent laying hens, but with the advent of new lines they lose the sympathy of poultry farmers. Yes, it will bring about 310 eggs per year, but they will be small, and the carcass that will turn out in the end will be quite modest: up to 100 gr.

The advantage of the Japanese is that this is the most unpretentious breed that does not require special conditions, and on a square meter of area they can be placed 30% more than broilers, which will be discussed below.

English whites

If you are only interested in a homemade quail egg, we advise you to take a closer look at them. With a slightly lower productivity (300 pieces), the English will give a carcass of about 150 gr., while their feed intake is just as low.

Meat and egg

From them at home you will receive not only testicles, but also a noticeable amount of meat.

Estonian

In the universal category, according to farmers, they are in the lead in terms of maintenance costs and overall profit. Egg production up to 310 per year, meat output - 170-190 gr. from an individual. Perhaps, for beginners, this is the best choice for growing.

Manchurian

Manchus are more often used to obtain high-quality crosses, mixing with broiler quails. By themselves, the birds lay eggs larger than the Japanese, but fewer in number, and they give less meat than other Estonians.

tuxedo

It makes sense to consider them for those who appreciate the unusual color. In other respects, Tuxedo quails are inferior to those described above.

This photo allows you to compare the size of the meat and egg breed (Estonian on the left) and broiler breed (Texan on the right).

Meat

Broilers appeared the last of the breeds and now this is the most promising direction in quail breeding. This is especially true for home maintenance in those families where a lot of eggs are not consumed, and their excess is not sold.

From such a quail you can get up to 350 gr. meat with a slightly higher feed intake.

Texans

The largest quails: live weight often exceeds 400 grams, while egg productivity is kept at the level of 260 pieces. in year. A beautiful bird with snow-white plumage, similar to a ball.

The nature of the Texas breed is more balanced, they are calm and unhurried, which creates additional advantages in the apartment.

Of the minuses - more capricious in breeding for beginners, more infertile, and sometimes it may be necessary to alter the standard cage (due to large sizes).

The main plus is more meat output and a large egg.

Pharaoh

This is a compromise between weight and testicles (see the table at the beginning of the article for more details). They are more unpretentious than the previous ones, but there is a minus that crosses out almost everything: due to many years of unsystematic crossing, the pure pedigree line is actually lost. As a result, inconsistencies in expected productivity are possible.

The necessary conditions

A huge plus of keeping quails is that they are unpretentious and are content with the home conditions of even a city apartment. But there are several vital features in growing them.

Cell

In nature, quails live in tall, dense grass, in constant twilight. They do not fly, but move in search of food on the ground in flocks. At the moment of danger, they escape from predators, sharply fluttering up 3-5 meters and flying up to 20 meters.

That is why the cage for them should be low, otherwise shy birds can break their necks by jumping up and hitting the ceiling. The 20-30 cm limit simply does not allow them to develop enough speed to get injured.

A standard cage 1 m long, 50 cm deep and 30 cm high can accommodate 40-45 heads comfortably. For adult egg breeds, the floor is made at a slope so that the eggs roll into the egg case. A feeder is placed along the entire front side, and nipple drinkers are placed behind or on the sides. At the bottom there is a manure tray, into which you can pour sawdust or shavings - the filler will absorb unpleasant odors and excess moisture.

drinkers

It is better to use nipple, as in the photo below.

A drip catcher is required, otherwise there will be constant puddles on the floor mixed with pieces of food washed off the beak. Vacuum drinkers in cages with adult quails are not rational to use, because. they occupy a usable area and require very frequent water changes.

The best option is to buy a drinker on Aliexpress, it will cost 2-3 times cheaper than in Russia. Most quail breeders use this:

In such a simple design from improvised materials, you can successfully keep up to 5-7 Japanese quails in the kitchen of your apartment.

Buying quails

Beginners are almost always tempted to buy day old chicks or even hatching eggs. Still, I would like to warn against this: yes, it is interesting to raise babies, and even more so to observe the hatching process, but there are too many difficulties for an inexperienced poultry farmer!

No matter how much you want to take care of the squeaky crumbs, hold your teeth together and start only grown young animals, and ideally, chickens at 45-60 days old. And having gained experience and having understood whether you need quails at home in principle, you can move on to more responsible and difficult steps.

Often people have no idea what is waiting for them in reality. On sites on the Internet and in books, he beautifully signs about the benefits and trouble-free pelok. And the nuances of care, such as the disposal of litter, dust from feed, noise and the need for daily care, can cross out tasty testicles and healthy meat for someone.

If you are not expecting a hatching egg, it is better to keep same-sex pets. Quails do not need males to properly lay eggs.

Hatching chickens

Breeding quails at home comes down to the selection or purchase of high-quality fertilized eggs and incubation. The incubation instinct has been lost almost completely, but breeding quails is much easier than chickens.

Babies are born together, within 2, maximum - 3 days. Immediately after birth, they are ready to drink and eat. They are transplanted into a brooder, in which 37-38 ° C is maintained, the heat is gradually reduced.

The first two days, lighting should be turned on around the clock. Then they switch to the "adult" scheme (see the corresponding section below).

Manufacturers' Choice

Critical to quail breeding is the quality of the hatching egg. It is taken from large, healthy birds older than 3 months. The percentage of fertility depends on the ratio of females and males. For large meat breeds, it is better to leave 1 male for 2 females, and for egg breeds - 1 for 3-4.

Only large, mobile and healthy birds without paw defects, etc. are left for the tribe.

What to feed

This issue must be resolved before purchasing quails. In any case, at home, high-quality ready-made feed is needed. No waste from the table, "grass, cottage cheese and bread crumbs" will not allow you to grow a healthy productive bird.

An unbalanced diet leads to low egg production (or no egg production at all) and to zero weight gain, pets simply stop growing.

Adult quails are best fed with special quail compound feed, it is marked "P" at the end: for example, PK-5 (p). If you can’t find it in your area, or it’s too expensive, regular chicken for laying hens (in the case of the Japanese and Estonians) or broilers (for quail meat breeds) will do.

Young animals up to 14 days old should be given starter feed for chickens ground to a state of flour. Any additional complementary foods (greens, vegetables) can only be introduced after 2 weeks and solely for variety, and not as the basis of the diet! and are assigned in the same way as chickens.

With pleasure, quails eat zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, but it is undesirable to give them potatoes in any form.

Light mode

This is one of the key points in keeping quails at home. The main problem that beginners face is excessively bright lighting, as a result of which the bird behaves excitedly and nervously. This leads to injury.

In the wild, quails live in constant twilight (by human standards). And the bright light for them is accompanied by stress, because they see it only in moments of danger, fleeing persecution. Therefore, in most cases, the cage will need to be darkened. It is quite enough if only the feeding and drinking areas are well lit. You can economically illuminate them with a few LED bulbs.

Advice to arrange intermittent lighting (one in the afternoon / one in the night, 3/3, etc.. Such modes came from the industrial keeping of chickens and quickly wear out quails, as a result, egg production decreases after 4-5 months, the output from such parents is weak and painful .

Upon reaching 2-3 days, the babies in the brooder organize lighting at the rate of daylight hours 17 hours, night - 7. To automatically turn on and off the lamps, any timer in the outlet is suitable.

Slaughter and plucking

This sad moment comes sooner or later. Quail slaughter at home is carried out with the help of scissors. It is desirable to find heavy and, of course, sharp. The bird is held in one hand, and the head is cut off with the other. In this process, the main thing is a good tool and confident movement, in this case everything will go smoothly.

After slaughter, the carcass is dipped several times in hot water (60-80°C) for a few seconds, checking the ease of feather discharge. At the right temperature, feathers and down easily come off the body, there is no need to pull them out. Plucking one quail by hand takes 3-5 minutes.

The next step is to remove the insides. There are 2 ways:

1. Having cut the skin in the area of ​​​​the cloaca to the chest, the internal organs are selected with a finger.
2. With the help of a special spoon with a slot in the middle, the insides are taken out by scrolling clockwise several times.

Any tablespoon is suitable for making a quail ripper. The main thing is to make a slit at the tip.

The last stage - the carcass is washed under running water and allowed to drain.

Frequent problems

Finally, let's bring together the unpleasant moments that beginner quail growers face, who first brought quails in an apartment. This, unfortunately, is not written in books on "Profitable Poultry Breeding" and sellers of young animals do not talk about it.

1. If you have been breeding on your own and incubated the young, be prepared for the fact that more than half of the birds will be males. In addition to the fact that in any case they will have to be slaughtered for meat, cockerels from the age of 30 days begin to give voice. And at dawn, at 5 am, you will wake up from the heartbreaking cries of males.
   Moreover, this noise will be heard by the neighbors above and below, and they are unlikely to like it. The only way out is to start a second cage for growing livestock, which will then be put on meat. Only out of sight of the females can silence be achieved.
2. Cleaning the litter once a day - sounds easy only as long as you are not forced to dispose of a few kilograms of sawdust every day. You will have to, firstly, buy or independently obtain a filler that absorbs odors and store it somewhere, and get rid of it - secondly.
   Otherwise, the smell will spread outside your apartment, which will also not add popularity to your neighbors.
3. Despite the capacious feeders and drinkers, keeping quails at home will not allow you to leave them alone for more than a day. All devices tend to fail, nipples leak and feeders get clogged, as a result, pets can simply die in your absence.
4. And again we return to the problem of slaughter. Even if you decide to start 5 quails in an apartment for a child, very soon the moment will come when they will actually stop laying, and the question of replacing the livestock will arise. At home, quails live up to 2-3 years, but their egg production drops sharply after a year, and in fact they turn into a burden that requires daily care and gives nothing in return.

Therefore, before you start this cute and productive bird, weigh your options and approach the issue seriously, not guided by momentary emotions.

Raising this bird for meat can be somewhat difficult. It is not easy to create a large herd for the permanent production of young animals of the meat direction, for every 3-4 females they plant one male and keep these families separately, constantly collecting, incubating the egg and raising small quails, which are demanding on care and conditions of detention.

It is more profitable to keep an egg herd - quail productivity lasts for several years, in the first year egg production is up to 280-300 eggs and in the second or third years up to 150-170 eggs. Eggs contain many useful substances - vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids, and other biologically active and useful substances. Quail eggs are in demand in children's and sports nutrition, and are also part of the diet menu.

The obvious benefit of keeping quails comes from the price of egg products - quail eggs are more expensive than chicken eggs, and this little bird requires much less feed and space.

Another advantage is the long shelf life of the eggs, which can be stored for up to 60 days in a cold place. This means that you can collect a large batch at a time, and do not worry that a marketable egg can quickly become unusable.

Another significant plus is that the owners always have the opportunity to take advantage of the beneficial properties of quail eggs themselves - an excellent prophylactic that helps to restore the body after an illness, beriberi, anemia, diseases of the lungs or gastrointestinal tract.

With a cellular content, a small bird needs quite a bit of space. Some practical poultry farmers manage to install a battery of several quail cages on their loggia or in a specially equipped pantry, supplying the whole family and relatives with a useful natural product.

What do beginner quail breeders need to know?

1. Quails are kept for 2-3 years, their total life span is short and is no more than 3-4 years.
2. An adult bird weighs from 150 to 200 grams.
3. Clutch starts at 6 to 7 weeks of age and each egg weighs 7 to 15 grams.
4. The best egg breeds carry up to 280-300 eggs per year. For excellent egg production, complete feeding and subdued lighting are necessary for at least 16 hours a day.
5. Quails lay their eggs during daylight hours, usually early in the morning.
6. For incubation at home, eggs weighing from 9 to 11 grams with a smooth and hard shell are selected.
7. The egg incubation period is about 17 days.
8. A newborn quail weighs about 6-7 grams.
9. Quails at home do not incubate their eggs.
10. For successful breeding, they contain one quail for every 3-4 females.
11. Small quails are very sensitive and require careful care during the first two weeks to become strong enough.

Quail hatched in an incubator are transplanted into a special heated cage, or boxes made of plywood or cardboard. Quails need warmth - this is the main requirement for their successful keeping, which means they will need an electric heater, an infrared lamp, or, with a small number of chicks, a simple 40-60 W incandescent lamp.

It is not difficult to equip a cage with your own hands to keep young animals at home. Such a cage is suitable for 60 quails, aged from a day to three weeks.

The width of the cage is 150 cm, the depth is 60 cm, and the height is up to 40 cm. The front wall is made removable from a mesh with a cell of 5x5 mm, the mesh floor is made of a mesh with a cell of 1x1 cm, a litter collection tray is equipped under it. All other walls are made of available material - boards, plywood, chipboard, in such a box it is easier to maintain a stable temperature and shy quails will feel protected.

A lamp is placed in one part of the cage - there the young will be able to bask, near the other wall - feeders and an automatic drinker on a jar. It is undesirable for the lamp to heat the water - the quail will not drink hot liquid. In the first week, the floor is covered with newspapers.

Young animals at the age of a day need a temperature of + 37 ° C, then the heating is gradually reduced. The temperature of keeping adult quails should be at least + 19-20 ° C. Air humidity - 60-70%.

The table below shows temperature and lighting duration.

Temperature and lighting indicators

A cage with quails is not taken out into the street, even in good weather. Quail is a strong and stable bird, but in adulthood. In young animals, even a light wind or a slight drop in temperature can lead to colds and death.

In the first two weeks, round-the-clock lighting is installed for quails, then the light period is gradually reduced. By the age of a month, quails are left with light for 12 hours a day. Then, for a productive herd kept per egg, daylight hours are increased, starting from the fifth week, leading up to 16 hours by the eighth week.

In the first days, the diet consists of a feed mixture, which includes sifted cereals, more often millet, or compound feed with chopped eggs, all finely grated. Some breeders from the first day give babies special feed, and in this case, the eggs are not fed.

With floor maintenance, heating is carried out using infrared lamps, the floor is covered with sawdust or straw bedding, automatic bunker-type feeders and drinkers are placed.

In such conditions, quails will feel comfortable, but require more painstaking care. In a large herd, fights are possible when establishing hierarchical relationships, in addition, such a landing of a bird is irrational in terms of using the area.

A typical adult cage is constructed with dense mesh and a sloping floor to collect eggs in a sloping chute. The most successful angle of inclination is 7 °, a light pallet made of galvanized metal sheet is fitted below.

It is not difficult to make a sloping floor if you plant the floor on two corners, which will serve as the base of the walls and guides. A feeder is attached to the front wall, a drinking bowl is attached to the side. The dimensions of such a cage, based on 20 heads, are 45 cm long, 45 cm deep, and 25 cm high.

The side walls and ceiling can be made of a rigid grid, consisting only of vertical bars without transverse lintels, or a large-mesh dense grid. If the cage is single, the door is made from above, but if the cage is supposed to be placed in a battery, the doors for planting birds are provided on the side.

Tips for beginner quail breeders

The comfortable living of quails largely depends on the lighting. Laying hens need daylight hours, the duration of which is at least 16 hours and no more than 17 hours. Quails do not need bright light - excessive lighting leads to manifestations of aggression.

To avoid this, the lighting is dimmed to 30-35 lux, and the cells are placed as far as possible from a natural light source, in a room without windows, or the windows are closed with blinds.

The optimal temperature regime for adults is kept in the range from +18 to +22 ° С. Higher or lower values ​​significantly reduce egg production and contribute to diseases.

Quail planting density - up to 80 heads per 1 sq. m. of cage area, but not more than 25 heads in one cage. With floor maintenance, up to 50 heads per 1 sq. m., but it should be remembered that egg production with this method is much lower.

Dear readers, write your review about the content of quail in various ways. Remember that you can send a full story about the features of keeping and breeding poultry using our contact form, and your article will be published in one of these sections. If you are a breeder and sell young animals or eggs, you can put this information as well, but do not forget to indicate the region of residence and contact details.

Quails do not live long - up to two years, and the main egg productivity falls on the first year. The purchase of daily quails is still not as affordable as the purchase of young other poultry - chickens, ducklings, goslings, turkey poults, therefore, to breed quails at home, the eggs are incubated on their own, which can be a difficult task for a novice breeder.

breeding stock

Practice shows that the best result in terms of the quality of the hatching egg is obtained by planting a quail with two or three females in separate cages. If the bird is kept in large groups, one male is placed for three females, which will be quite sufficient.

The ability to reproduce noticeably decreases in older birds, so the breeding stock is kept up to 1-1.5 years. Inbreeding should be avoided whenever possible, as inbreeding increases the incidence of abnormalities and can significantly reduce the reproductive efficiency of the stock.

For this reason, it is advisable to mark the eggs, incubate them in groups and mark the quails intended for the tribe in any way available at home, best of all, with plastic rings that are worn on the leg.

Egg preparation and incubator

Successful quail breeding begins with the correct collection and storage of eggs. Hatching eggs should be collected several times a day and stored at a stable temperature of 15-16 °C, never in the heat or in the refrigerator!

Cracked eggs show poor hatchability and are therefore discarded. Do not incubate too small or too large eggs, irregularly shaped or with a hard coating.

The optimal weight of eggs for the Japanese breed, as well as similar marble, Estonian and other breeds, is 9-11 g, for meat pharaohs, a weight of 12-18 g is acceptable.

The best incubation results are obtained from eggs stored no more than seven days before laying.

The shell of quail eggs is fragile, so it should be handled with great care, with timely collection, cleaning can be avoided. Spotted quail eggs are poorly translucent, so it is better to purchase a powerful ovoscope.

A dirty incubator is a major source of pollution and disease, and one of the main causes of failed hatching attempts. Thoroughly wash and disinfect the device after each use with a weak solution of alkali, chlorine-containing "Whiteness" or a special disinfectant.

Experts suggest subjecting the incubator to fumigation - disinfectant fumigation. The fumigation procedure is as follows:

1. Take 25 g of potassium permanganate and 35 ml of formalin (40%) per cubic meter of incubator space.
2. Place the permanganate in an earthenware or enamelware dish (ten times the volume of the ingredients) and formalin is added last.
3. The vessel is placed inside the incubator. Inhalation of vapors should be avoided, it is better to wear an appropriate respirator.
4. In forced draft incubators, the fan is left on and the vents are closed during fumigation. Then, after 20 minutes, the ventilation holes are opened, the preparations are removed.
5. Devices without ventilation are opened after 20 minutes and ventilated.
6. During fumigation, the humidity should be high and the temperature should be between 20-30°C.
7. After fumigation, it is worth ventilating not only the incubator, but also the room, since chemical vapors are quite aggressive.

Only clean eggs are laid for incubation, as dirt and droppings will serve as sources of infection. It is undesirable to wash a thin porous shell, so it is cleaned in a dry way - with fine sandpaper.

More about incubation

The incubation period for quails lasts 17-18 days, depending on the breed and type of incubation. It is believed that for Japanese quail eggs, the average incubation period is 17.5 days, for painted eggs - 16 days, and for virgin eggs - 23 days.

Successful hatching depends on how well the bird owner has become familiar with the incubator and understands the requirements of the incubation process. Therefore, first of all, you should carefully study the recommendations of the manufacturer of the equipment. Two types of domestic incubators are commonly available on the market: models with a built-in fan and more commonly found devices without a fan.

A forced air incubator is preferred, but a still air model will work well. There are also models designed specifically for quail breeding. Such incubators are definitely a great option.

In general, typical Japanese quail eggs can be incubated in any chicken egg incubator by purchasing special trays. Place the eggs in the tray with the blunt ends up.

Vented incubators

In a forced ventilation incubator, the temperature should be 37.5° ± 0.3°C with a relative humidity of 60% until the 14th day of incubation. The eggs are turned every 2-4 hours to prevent the embryos from sticking to the shell. It is better to use automatic rotation for these purposes.

On the 14th day, candling is carried out and all unfertilized eggs are removed, as well as specimens with frozen embryos. After that, the eggs are placed in the hatcher and the rotation is stopped. The temperature of this period is 37.2 °C, relative humidity is 70%.

If the incubator is combined, with hatcher and setter trays in the same housing, it can continue to operate at 37.5 °C, but the relative humidity should also be increased to 70%.

The hatcher must not be opened during the pipping process. If all recommended incubation procedures are followed, the quails will hatch successfully and can be removed on the 17-18th day, as soon as the entire batch is hatched.

Incubators without ventilation

If a non-ventilated incubator is used, set the temperature to 38.3°C during the first week, 38.8°C during the second week, and no more than 39.5°C until the end of hatching. The temperature is measured at the top of the eggs.

The humidity of the main period is at least 55-60% until the 14th day of incubation inclusive and increased to 70-75% by the 16th day, until the hatch is completed on the 17th-18th day.

At home, maintaining proper humidity and temperature in small, unventilated incubators can be a challenge. Do not open the incubator often and do not leave it open for a long time.

Eggs in such incubators must be turned at least five times a day. Pencil marking on the shell can help ensure proper rotation. It may be necessary to move the eggs to different locations in the machine if the temperature is not uniform.

Breeding quails with a mother hen

Do not forget about the natural way of breeding quails. This method will not quickly create a large stock, but it can help to breed a bird for your consumption.

Quails rarely, but still sit on eggs. How much this hen can sit to the end depends on her personality. It is much better to use small bantam hens or turkeys of light crosses that successfully breed and pheasant and quail.

Breeding quails under bantam

Eggs are poured under a well-sitting chicken or turkey, using the same techniques as for hatching chickens or turkeys under a hen. In the future, a caring bird is able to take care of the growing young quail.

Newly hatched quails are small and vulnerable, and the most important thing for them is warmth. They need additional high-quality heating during the first 3-4 weeks. At home, you can use a commercial brooder, an infrared lamp, or any other heat source that provides sufficient warmth. The lamp is placed at a height of 30-46 cm from the floor.

Maintain a temperature of at least 37°C during the first week of keeping. These figures are lowered by about 3.5°C per week until the chicks are completely covered in feathers, at which time their normal temperature will be 19-20°C.

The best indicator of temperature regulation is the behavior of the chicks. If the quails crowd under the lamp and seem to be cold, this indicates that the temperature is too low. When the chicks tend to move away from the heat source, the temperature is reduced by raising the lamp higher.

Failure to provide adequate heat levels invariably results in death. In addition, the young must be protected from drafts and cold air, especially at night.

Care must be taken when watering quails to prevent them from drowning in water tanks. Automatic small drinkers are the best choice, but shallow bowls partially filled with pebbles or gravel can also be used.

Once the babies are a week old, the drain can be removed. For grown-up quails, it is important to ensure constant access to clean water and the best option for this is nipple drinkers. Stationary water containers or gutters are cleaned and washed daily.

Porous bedding is used to maintain cleanliness and moisture absorption. Wood shavings, sawdust, or river sand are good materials. The bedding is placed on the floor 5-10 cm thick and covered with several layers of paper during the first week. It is better to use soft sheets, hard smooth paper is undesirable, as the chickens will slip and constantly lose balance.

Old newspapers are not bad, but not ideal material, paper towels are best. If chicks are kept in cages with slatted floors, the surface is covered with paper for the first week or ten days to prevent injury to the legs.

Feather eating and young cannibalism are common problems when breeding quails at home. Especially these violations are common in cellular content. A radical way to fight is trimming the beak at the age of 2 weeks and is usually done with a special trimmer.

The end of the top of the beak can also be trimmed with nail clippers. After the procedure, the level of feed in the feeders and water in the gutters must be increased.

Other effective preventive measures for cannibalism are:

• reducing the number of birds to avoid crowding;
• decrease in light intensity;
• increase in the content of fiber and protein components in feed.

Quails are territorial birds and will defend their home from intruders, establish hierarchies and sometimes fights are inevitable. Ways to avoid this are a looser fit and reduced lighting. If you need to combine two groups of quails, they are simultaneously planted in an unfamiliar cage or aviary.

Incubation at home

Dear readers, write your review about breeding quails at home. Remember that you can send a full story about the features of keeping and breeding poultry using our contact form, and your article will be published in one of these sections. If you are a breeder and sell young animals or eggs, you can put this information as well, but do not forget to indicate your region of residence and contact details.

Quails are loved by many birds. Everyone has heard about the benefits of quail eggs. Birds grow very quickly, carry a lot of eggs, give tasty, healthy meat.

Care and breeding of quails at home is not an easy task for beginners. It is necessary to prepare the premises, maintain proper conditions, purchase cages, calculate the diet. We will tell you where to start and how to keep quails in the country for meat and eggs.

Quails are very tasty and interesting!

Breeding quails is very interesting. In addition to the traditional birds kept at home, birds of prey - quails, pheasants, 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 meat, it has a dark, almost brown color, which gives it a similarity to venison. Quail meat is different from other types of poultry. The milk and thigh muscles are practically defatted, 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 diet food.

It is advantageous to breed a bird on your own at home. Young quails gain weight very quickly, on the second day of life they double it. Chicks eat food immediately after hatching. You can teach them to eat by bending their heads to the feeder and drinker with your fingers. Birds have a fast metabolism, so they have some breeding features:

1. careful care for 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. quails are sensitive to the length of daylight hours;
3. the bird does not like drafts;
4. hard to tolerate oxygen deficiency and dust in the room.

breeds

Below are the popular quail breeds for breeding.

Laying breeds:

Meat and egg breeds:

Meat breeds:

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

Temperature regime

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 of the content:

• quail breeding requires an ambient temperature of 18-24 degrees Celsius;
• the optimum temperature in the room 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; Japanese quails can be kept without heating all year round. In such conditions, quails rush only in summer and early autumn.

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

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

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

For chickens

High temperature requirements for quail chicks are obvious.

Table. Required temperatures in the incubator for growing quail

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

When raising chickens, as with other types of poultry, one should not be guided only by the recommended temperatures, it is important to observe the behavior of the kids:

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

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

Photo. Brooder for growing quail chickens.

Air humidity

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

Quail breeding conditions are as follows:

• the recommended humidity is 65-75 percent;
• when humidity is too low, quails consume more water, thereby compensating for increased losses from the body;
• high humidity (e.g. 85%) is not recommended as 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 than other bird species susceptible to drafts. Quails in a room with drafts first lose their feathers, then their productivity decreases, as a result they get sick and die. Before breeding quails, you need to provide a proper draft-free growing room.

The problem of poor plumage, or even the appearance of hairless shafts without a fan in old quails, often has other causes. "Baldness", especially in females, is often due to the following reasons:

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

Lighting

Quails love to be in well-lit rooms. The rooms 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, during the lengthening of daylight hours. After June 24, when the daylight hours begin to decrease, the laying of 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. day lengthening process.

This dependence is important when breeding egg-laying quails. Mature laying hens (about 7 weeks old) should have 14 hours of daylight. Stimulates egg production effect of "spring", 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.

An increase in the daylight hours of an 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 be continuously illuminated without night breaks, and from the third week of life, the lighting time should be reduced by 2 hours every week, so that at 7 weeks of age young quails will have 14 hours of daylight.

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

Ventilation

Premises for quails must have effective ventilation so that air exchange is carried out at least 7 times per hour. The ventilation system must work 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' oxygen requirements 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.

Feeding

Adult birds have high nutritional requirements, 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 breeding and breeding quails.

Basic principles of quail nutrition

Quail metabolism is much faster than other poultry:

• a one-day-old chick becomes an adult bird after 7 weeks (in 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 compound feed for chickens when breeding chickens or quail layers 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 fishmeal. Although this procedure increases protein levels, it reduces the concentration of other nutrients - energy and vitamins. Birds should be fed complete quail mixes, because only they can cover the nutritional needs 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 food for the birds yourself. This fact should be considered as periodic, since in general, balanced feed mixtures should be produced by specialized factories.

Obviously, in amateur breeding, all types of “homemade” quail diets are acceptable. As a rule, they are much more labor-intensive, but daily food preparation 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. Quail among domestic birds have the highest nutritional requirements. Their unusually fast metabolism and high egg production require a special approach.

• millet,
• corn grains,
• fodder (dandelion, clover),
• germinated wheat,
• fruits,
• vegetables.

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

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

1 kilogram of the mixture must contain 3050 kcal (12.7 MJ/kg), including:

• 22% total protein,
• 1.1% lysine,
• 0.48% methionine,
• 0.45% phosphorus,
• 0.9% calcium,
• 0.16% sodium,
• 0.15% chlorine.

Chicken diet

Compound feed for chickens - nutritional value by growing period

Content of batteries, %	First week of life (daily energy requirement - 3000 Kcal / kg)	8-28 days (daily energy requirement - 2900 Kcal / kg)	29-45 days (daily energy requirement - 2800 Kcal / kg)
linoleic acid	1,3	1,25	1,2
protein	28	24	20
lysine	1,5	1,20	1,0
methionine	0,62	0,53	0,44
bioavailable phosphorus	0,5	0,40	0,40
calcium	1,0	0,8	0,80
sodium	0,17	0,16	0,15
chlorine	0,16	0,15%	0,14

When young quails finish 4 weeks of age, the third and final rearing period begins. They consume more and more food, so the concentration of individual ingredients may be lower.

Compared to other poultry, quail reacts worse to synthetic food components, so replacing natural vitamins with synthetic ones significantly reduces the viability and productivity of birds. Throughout the year, you should try to provide green grass and hay.

Fattening for meat

Quail are slaughtered at the age of 6 weeks. In the case of slaughter birds, the nutrition in the first 2 rearing periods is identical to that of laying hens. In the last, third period, the diet of slaughter birds changes. In the fourth week, the sex of the quail can be easily distinguished. Females are heavier, their carcass has better culinary qualities. However, for economic reasons, male quails are usually used for slaughter. If birds are fattened for meat, it is recommended to keep females and males separately. So the quails become calmer, grow quickly.

The goal of fattening is to increase body weight by increasing adipose tissue. Fattening, increasing fat mass, quails should eat only grain feed - grain corn and wheat are used. A set of adipose tissue lasts 2 - 3 weeks.

Quail diseases, treatment and prevention

Quails are fully domesticated, dependent and accustomed to people who must create the optimal environmental conditions necessary to maintain a high level of health and egg production. Inadequate environmental, hygienic conditions, lack of nutrition adversely affect the health of birds, reduce productivity.

By rearing quails indoors on slatted floors, they are less prone to infection than other types of poultry.

All quail diseases can be divided into the following types:

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

Deficiency of batteries and its consequences

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

Lack of battery	Consequences
too little protein	delay in the breeding season of quails, decrease in egg production, deterioration of health
low content of phosphorus and calcium	decrease in egg production rickets, slowdown
lack of manganese	reduces the hatching of quail chicks, chicks have bent fingers
lack of manganese	A quail disease called perosis or chondrodystrophy (Perosis), manifested in thickening of the ankle joint, twisting the leg to the side
excess fat	Quail liver degeneration
vitamin A deficiency	Reduces the health of quails, increasing susceptibility to disease
lack of vitamin E	fertilization of birds decreases, reduced egg hatching
low vitamin D3	the quality of the egg shell deteriorates, the hatching of quail chicks decreases

Why do quails 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 to 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 to what can be done if the quails are pecking each other is to cut a third of the upper beak. For this purpose, special guillotines are used that cut the quail beak with a hot blade, which reduces bleeding and prolongs the period of growth of the cut beak.

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

Photo. Quail beak pads to prevent pterophagy

colibacillosis

Quail disease is caused by pathogenic E. coli serotypes. A dangerous quail disease that causes significant mortality up to 80-90%.

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

Symptoms:

• in adults, the disease is manifested by diarrhea;
• loss of appetite;
• movement difficulties.

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 poultry disease 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 drops.

Aspergillosis

Disease caused by fungi.

Sources of infection:

• moldy mulch;
• musty food.

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

Symptoms:

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

The mortality rate of young quails is 60%.

Prevention of diseases, isolation from the herd of sick individuals

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

• in a herd kept in mud, cramped quarters;
• in poorly ventilated rooms;
• 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, first of all, with the help of hygiene procedures.

hygiene rules

The main hygiene measures when breeding domestic quails:

1. Bird drinkers need to be rinsed under running water every day, especially since they usually run the length of the cage and the infection spreads through them like fire.
2. Feeders are washed 1-2 times a week.
3. The litter is removed every day, and only in special cases, for example, keeping quails one by one for breeding, can the cage be cleaned of litter every other day, that is, every day half of the cells.
4. Heating batteries are deactivated 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. Cell walls are also washed with laundry soap, rinsed under running water.
6. Cracks, corners are cleaned with a kitchen brush.
7. Wooden cages of quails are scraped off the manure with a spatula and a wire brush, washed with a solution of freshly slaked lime with the addition of 3% formalin, using a paint gun. Specialized disinfectants are also useful.

Treatment and disinfection

Treatment of cells in various diseases

Quail cage

Often breeding and keeping of quails is carried out in cages. Below are a few guidelines for how the cage should look.

Due to the lack of offers from manufacturers, most breeders decide to make a cage on their own. 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, some of the following rules must be observed:

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 strongly affect metal elements.
3. The height of the quail cage should be 20-25 cm, this will provide air access, lighting, and prevent birds from being maimed during high jumps.
4. The walls of the cage should be made of wire mesh with 1.0-1.3 cm mesh or rods spaced 1.3 cm apart. Large holes can cause birds' heads to get stuck, resulting in suffocation.
5. The floor needs to be open with cells no larger than 1 cm, larger holes can lead to injury to the quail's legs.
6. The rack in the laying cages should be slightly tilted forward and ended in such a way as to stop the egg. Place a litter tray under the grate.
7. The litter tray is best made of plastic because it does not corrode. In the case of metal trays, you need to make 2 trays in reserve for one cell.
8. Quail feeders are placed outside the cage, the bird must be able to get to the feeder through the appropriate holes in the cage. Placing a feeder in a cage will cause the feed to be constantly scattered. Quails love to scatter food with their beaks, burrowing into them with their paws.
9. Feeders should have a height of 6-7 cm, made of galvanized steel, a plastic pipe with holes. The calculation of the length of the feeder is 0.4 cm of the feeder for 1 bird.
10. Drinkers can be placed in the cage and outside, but on a raised surface so as not to pollute the water with food that quails like to scatter.
11. Drinking bowls are made of stainless steel, you can use properly prepared flower pots. Water must always be clean.

Quail incubators

Incubation of quail eggs is not easy 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 the successful incubation of a quail consists of many factors:

1. the 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.

Breeding quails at home is a simple process that allows you to get healthy eggs and delicious meat. Even in ancient times, various dishes for noble people were prepared from quail meat, these birds were hunted, traps were set, and then sold. After some time, wild birds lost their former popularity, instead of them they began to grow poultry everywhere.

Quails are ideal for growing at home - they are quiet, miniature, which means that you do not have to build a large house for them. Some poultry farmers even breed them in an apartment, and today we will talk in more detail about such a type of poultry farming as home breeding of quails.

Probably the only drawback of these birds is their small size, but only if we consider their breeding in order to obtain meat. Of course, in this case they are significantly inferior to chickens, ducks and other poultry. But with small sizes, quails give tasty, high-quality meat, in addition, individuals rarely suffer from various diseases and often rush.

I would like to separately note the features of the eggs of these birds, which are significantly superior to chicken ones. Their main advantages:

• the product contains not only protein, but also microelements useful for the human body, contributing to the improvement of protective functions;
• this small egg contains twice as many useful components as chicken;
• despite the fact that this is a dietary product, eggs have excellent taste;
• the constant use of quail eggs is best reflected in the standing of the bones, heart, liver, kidneys and pancreas;
• this product allows you to normalize the work of the gastrointestinal tract, which is why it is recommended to feed allergic children with quail eggs;
• eggs can be consumed without heat treatment, because quails never have salmonellosis.

Video - How to start breeding quails

Choosing a breed for a home farm

At first glance, it is difficult to distinguish quails from each other. However, there are more than thirty breed lines of these birds. Among themselves, they differ in the color of feathers and productivity indicators. In our country, no more than a dozen breeds are popular.

Of course, for many beginner poultry farmers, the breed does not matter much, especially if you do not plan to breed birds on an industrial scale. But we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with some of the breed characteristics of individuals.

Table 1. Quail breeds.

Breed, photo	Description
	These are quite large birds, giving a large amount of meat. The chicks are fast growing. The average weight of a male is 250 grams, and that of a female is 300 grams. Females are able to lay up to 220 eggs per year, the weight of each of them is 13-15 grams. Among the shortcomings of this breed, it should be noted that it can be difficult to distinguish a female from a male at the time of purchase, and this is very important. After all, males are immediately fed for meat, and females only from the second year of life. A distinctive feature of males is a massive beak. In females, of the characteristic features, only a light sternum can be noted.
Japanese	It is more profitable to breed these birds in order to obtain eggs, because quails begin to lay as early as 2 months old, they give about three hundred eggs a year, the weight of each of them reaches 10 grams. As a result of selection, Japanese quails have lost their incubation instinct, so chicks are bred more often in incubators. For meat, such individuals are bred less often, because they have a small weight: the female - 140 grams, the male - 120 grams.
texas	This is the most meaty quail breed of all that is grown in our country. It was obtained by crossing other birds with the Pharaoh breed. Texas quails have beautiful snow-white feathers, there is a black spot on the head. Individuals of this pod are friendly, they can safely be near other poultry. Their egg production is average, up to 190 eggs per year. At the same time, their eggs are large - about 16 grams each. Texans are rapidly gaining body weight - already closer to 3 months of life, females weigh about 450 grams, and males up to 350 grams.
Estonian	the breed was bred on the basis of other breeds - Pharaoh and Japanese quail. These are very active individuals, so they should not be kept in an apartment if noise interferes with you. Females are distinguished by good egg production; up to 280 eggs per year can be obtained from them. Each egg has a mass of about 12 grams. The weight of such birds is small, females grow up to 160 grams, and males reach a mass of about 125 grams.
English white	Mostly these birds have a white feather color, but the appearance of dark spots is acceptable. English individuals have a good level of egg production - females are able to lay about 280 eggs per year. In addition, they have an impressive body weight for quails - females grow up to 370 grams, and males up to 270 grams, so this breed can be called universal.

What should be taken into account when buying?

It is recommended to purchase young animals on large agricultural farms, where you will definitely not be able to face deception. In addition, experienced poultry farmers will be able to give useful recommendations on growing individuals at home.

First of all, it is important to get information about what kind of food the quails have been fed recently. You should not abruptly replace the feathered diet, otherwise it will provoke nervous stress for their body, which is fraught with a deterioration in egg production.

Beginners need to purchase only a few individuals, because you should not forget that females can carry the “appropriate” number of eggs without the participation of males. However, at least one male will be required if you plan to breed birds.

It is advisable to acquire females about one and a half months old - it is during this period that they reach puberty. The season of purchase in this case is not of fundamental importance, because you still need to maintain the optimum temperature for the birds artificially.

Important point! When buying, you must carefully consider the bird. Lack of mobility, a dirty beak, ruffled feathers are clear symptoms of the disease. An alarming sign is the presence of hoarseness in the voice, so it is better to refuse to purchase such individuals.

Due to the fact that the birds are light in weight, they can be kept almost anywhere, even in an apartment. However, they will still need cages. In addition, the optimal air temperature should be provided for birds, because at temperatures below 4 degrees, quails can already get sick.

Too high air temperature (above 26 degrees) is also dangerous for individuals, because it contributes to the deterioration of feather quality and poor egg production.

Many poultry farmers prefer to grow birds in a country house or an extension to it, but it is important to ensure that this room is warm. If there is no heating there, then heaters will need to be installed.

In addition, the room with cages should have good ventilation and optimal air humidity (more than 60%). If there is not enough humidity in the room, then in the immediate vicinity of the cells you can put water tanks or use a sprayer.

In the summer, you can take cages with birds outside for a day - they should be placed only in places protected from the wind. In addition, quails must be protected from contact with any wild birds, otherwise they can get an infection from them.

bird cages

You can purchase ready-made cage options for quails or make them yourself. When choosing the second option, it will be possible to save the budget, but it should be borne in mind that no more than 5-6 individuals should be settled per square meter.

As a result of keeping quails in too tight cages, their egg production is significantly reduced. Spacious enclosures are also not suitable for these miniature birds, because if the ceiling is too high, the bird can fly up and fall, and this is fraught with injuries.

Quail housing must meet the following requirements:

1. The optimal size according to the age of the birds.
2. The cage must be closed, which will achieve good egg production.
3. A container for collecting litter and an egg collector are placed under the structure.
4. It is necessary to choose a material for the cage that will allow maintaining the temperature necessary for the birds.

Table 2. Approximate calculations of cage dimensions.

It is worth noting that quails are very shy birds, they can stop rushing even from a single loud sound or from a bright flash of light.

Prices for cages for quails

Quail cage

Video - DIY quail cages

Feeding adults

On average, four quails eat the same amount of feed per day as one average chicken. The difference is that these miniature birds will have to be fed three times a day. Moreover, their food is much better absorbed if it enters the body at the same time. At one time, each quail eats about 28 grams of feed.

The main advantage of feeding quails is that the birds do not require any unusual foods. When feeding them, use the following:

• ready-made factory feed, which already contains all the nutrients;
• crushed;
• beans, sunflower seeds, boiled vegetables and onions;
• fresh herbs;
• insects.

Making a simple quail feeder: step by step instructions

Step one: first you need to take a regular plastic bottle, with a volume of 1.5-2 liters.

Step three: now you need to pour food into a homemade feeder.

Breeding chicks

As we said earlier, puberty in birds occurs at the age of 45 days. You can recognize the beginning of this process by the characteristic squeak of the female, which she begins to publish. Nevertheless, the first eggs will be small, and only after a month or even two this process will normalize.

Important point! Domestic individuals do not incubate eggs, this instinct is only found in birds living in the wild. Therefore, if you plan to breed them, then you should consider purchasing an incubator.

For such small eggs, an oversized incubator is not required. If desired, you can use a chicken egg incubator for such purposes, in which you will need to install partitions so that small testicles do not roll to the side. Otherwise, the incubation of quail eggs is not difficult - they warm up perfectly even in the absence of coups.

Important point! It is necessary to study how eggs of a certain breed should look, and only then use them for incubation. Most often, the presence of a greenish hue of the shell indicates defects.

In order to breed strong offspring, you will need to maintain the optimum temperature in the incubator. Usually a thermometer is installed in the incubator. For the first time, a temperature of 38.5 degrees is needed, and only one day before the expected hatching date, it is reduced by 1 degree.

In the same incubator, special containers with liquid are installed - this is required for optimal humidity.

Prices for egg incubators

egg incubators

Chick care

You can make a cage for adult birds with your own hands, and for chicks it is recommended to purchase a special brooder. It provides comfortable conditions for the life of young animals, and the presence of a slatted floor and a pallet simplifies the process of cleaning the brooder from litter.

Brooders suggest the possibility of heating and lighting to the extent required by the young. If you are engaged in independent control of this mode, then you need to consider that you will have to gradually reduce the temperature from 34 to 24 degrees. Thus, the chicks will begin to adapt to adulthood.

Prices for a ready-made brooder for chicks

Brooder for chickens

For the first days of life after hatching, it is necessary to provide round-the-clock lighting for the chicks. After the set time, daylight hours are reduced to 16 hours. However, you should not turn off the light too often or for a long time - this is bad for the sexual functions of birds.

In a month it will be possible to settle the young in cages. Some poultry farmers prefer to separate individuals by gender, while some keep quails in droves.

Summing up

Breeding quails is not only an opportunity to provide yourself and your loved ones with quality products, but it is also a good idea for a business. Dietary meat and healthy feathered eggs are always in demand, and keeping these birds is so simple and inexpensive that income in the first month can exceed expenses.