Quail eggs breeding at home. Breeding quails at home for beginners (details)

The fact that farming is fraught with hassle is natural, since it requires control, some skills and takes a certain amount of time. Therefore, it is recommended, before breeding quails, to communicate with experts in this field, read books and visit a poultry farm to gain the necessary experience and knowledge. Since housekeeping should be a balanced decision.

When the decision is made, it will be necessary to decide on the presentation of the final plan, the purpose of why the bird needs to be bred - this affects the complexity of preparing for breeding.

There are 2 options here:

The first option is personal goals - in order to provide your loved ones and relatives with fresh quail meat and eggs, it is enough to have about 10-30 birds. This amount can fit into a regular quail cage and even be placed in an apartment.
the second option relates to business - when choosing this method, you need to be prepared for the fact that the initial number of birds should be approximately 1.5 dozen times greater than when breeding for individual use, and a separate room will be needed to house the birds.

Providing the necessary conditions only at first seems like a difficult task - in fact, this process is no more difficult than caring for any other pet. The most important and most difficult condition to fulfill is the installation and maintenance of the required light and temperature conditions in the poultry house, and the other requirements and features for the housing area are not so terrible.

Among them are:

Almost any quiet and free space in an apartment, cottage, or garage can become a room for birds. The main thing is that it should be comfortable for quails to live in - it should be windless, well ventilated with good lighting and plenty of heat.
To ensure the birds have fresh air, it is recommended, if necessary, to keep cages with them close to the windows or on the loggia.
Drafts can cause birds to lose feathers and stop laying eggs. Therefore, you need to take care of proper heating so that there is no trouble.
Quails need light, but it should not be bright. Even an ordinary light bulb will be too much for them; because of the bright light, they can attack their relatives. In order to avoid troubles, light with a 40 W bulb will be quite sufficient as a source. It is also worth considering that their daylight hours last 17 hours.
Another one of the most important indicators is humidity. It must be maintained around 60 -70%. If it is less than 55%, then the birds may lose feathers and reduce egg production; if it rises to more than 75%, the quail will also not feel the best.

Which breed should I buy?

The issue of choosing birds for breeding is distinguished by its diversity - about 6 main species of birds are officially registered, about 60 breeds were obtained as a result of selection. The vast majority of this quantity are quails of the egg-laying variety, and only a few of them are meat-bearing.

For beginners, when breeding birds from scratch in an apartment or on a country plot, various manuals and experts recommend choosing Japanese quail, because it is undemanding in maintenance and has good immunity to disease.

Growing quails at home from scratch

To raise quails at home, it is usually customary to use a so-called brooder, which is a special box with an optimal heating temperature for keeping chicks at the initial stage of life. They are moved into it immediately after drying in the incubator. The drying process of the chicks can take up to 12 hours. You also need to constantly remember that after birth they are extremely vulnerable to temperature changes. Therefore, in order to avoid their death, it is very important to observe the temperature regime.

From the moment of birth, chicks can feed themselves almost from the first minutes. In order for them to grow and develop correctly and quickly, their food must be very nutritious, so at first they are fed ground bran with the addition of egg yolk and fresh, finely chopped herbs.

At one month of age, they are transplanted from the brooder to adult birds. At the same time, there is a division by gender and sorting according to their purpose.

How to breed quails?

Since female quails do not have the instinct to hatch eggs, hatching quails is associated with some difficulties - you will need an incubator. It can be absolutely anything - the main thing is that it can maintain the temperature of 37-39 degrees, which is necessary for eggs and chicks to hatch.

To know for sure whether this is possible or not, you just need to read the manual, so it won't be a big problem. It will also be very convenient if the eggs are turned over automatically. The good news is that raising quails in a country house is no different from raising quails in an apartment.

To get an egg for the incubator, 2 - 4 females are placed with one male. When birds are kept separately by gender, females are allowed to see the male for a quarter of an hour. With this approach, the chance of insemination is approximately 80%. As statistics show, such separate fertilization has proven itself much better than free mating between individuals.

To survive the winter, in addition to additional insulation, quails will need:

keeping birds in cages with low ceilings to prevent injury to the birds;
compliance with their usual temperature regime;
complete removal of drafts;
normal lighting;
good ventilation.

In general, caring for quails in the cold season is indistinguishable from the summer; the main thing is to maintain the required air temperature and not allow it to drop critically. Caring for quails is easy, you just have to start, and questions about how to raise quails and many others will disappear over time, by themselves.

Quails do not live long - up to two years, with the main egg production occurring in the first year. Purchasing day-old quails is still not as affordable as purchasing young animals of other poultry - chickens, ducklings, goslings, turkeys, therefore, to breed quails at home, the eggs are incubated independently, 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 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 for 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 breeding using any method available at home, best of all, with plastic rings that are placed on the leg.

Preparing eggs and incubator

Successful quail breeding begins with proper 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 place eggs for incubation that are too small or too large, irregularly shaped, or with a hard coating.

The optimal weight of eggs for the Japanese breed, as well as similar marbled, 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 for no more than seven days before laying.

The shell of quail eggs is fragile, so it should be handled with great care; if collected in a timely manner, cleaning can be avoided. Spotted quail eggs are difficult to see through, so it is better to purchase a powerful ovoscope.

A dirty incubator is the main source of pollution and disease, as well as one of the main reasons for unsuccessful attempts to hatch quail. Wash and disinfect the device thoroughly after each use with a weak solution of alkali, chlorine-containing “White” or a special disinfectant.

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

Take 25 g of potassium permanganate and 35 ml of formalin (40%) per cubic meter of incubator space.
Place the permanganate in an earthenware or enamel bowl (the volume of which is ten times the volume of the ingredients) and lastly add formalin.
The vessel is placed inside the incubator. Inhalation of vapors should be avoided; it is better to wear an appropriate respirator.
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 and the drugs are removed.
Devices without ventilation are opened after 20 minutes and ventilated.
During fumigation, the humidity should be high and the temperature should be between 20-30 °C.
After fumigation, it is worth ventilating not only the incubator, but also the room, since chemical fumes are quite aggressive.

Only clean eggs are laid for incubation, since dirt and droppings will serve as sources of infection. It is undesirable to wash thin, porous shells, so they are cleaned dry using fine sandpaper.

Details about incubation

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

Successful hatching depends on how well the bird owner has studied the incubator and understands the requirements for the incubation process. Therefore, first of all, you should carefully study the recommendations of the equipment manufacturer. There are usually two types of household incubators available for sale: models with a built-in fan and the more common ones 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. These 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 their blunt ends facing up.

Ventilated incubators

In a forced-air incubator, the temperature should be 37.5° ± 0.3°C with 60% relative humidity 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, ovoscopy is performed and all unfertilized eggs, as well as specimens with frozen embryos, are removed. After this, the eggs are placed in the hatching incubator and rotation is stopped. The temperature during this period is 37.2 °C, relative humidity 70%.

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

The hatcher must not be opened during the hatching process. If all recommended incubation procedures are followed, the quail will hatch successfully and can be removed on the 17th or 18th day once the entire batch has hatched.

Incubators without ventilation

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

Humidity of the main period is at least 55-60% up to and including the 14th day of incubation and increased to 70-75% by the 16th day until hatching is completed on the 17-18th day.

At home, maintaining proper humidity and temperature in small, unventilated incubators can be a challenge. The incubator should not be opened frequently and should not be left open for long periods of time.

Eggs in these incubators must be turned at least five times a day. Marking the shell with a pencil can help ensure proper rotation. It may be necessary to move the eggs to different places in the machine if the temperature is not uniform.

Breeding quails with a hen

Do not forget about the natural method of breeding quails. This method will not allow you to quickly create a large population, but it can help breed birds for your own consumption.

Quails rarely, but still sit on eggs. How long this hen can sit until the end depends on her personality. It is much better to use small bantam hens or light cross turkeys, which are successfully hatched and pheasant and quail.

Breeding quails under a bantam

Place eggs under a well-hatched hen or turkey, using the same techniques as for hatching chicks or turkey poults under a brood hen. In the future, the caring bird is able to take care of the growing quail young.

Newly hatched quail 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 will provide adequate heating. The lamp is placed at a height of 30-46 cm from the floor.

Maintain the temperature at least 37 °C during the first week of keeping. These indicators are reduced by about 3.5 °C per week until the chickens are completely covered with feathers, then their normal temperature will be 19-20 °C.

The best indicator of temperature regulation is the behavior of the chicks. If the quail crowd under the lamp and appear frozen, this indicates that the temperature is too low. When the chicks want to move away from the heat source, the temperature is reduced by raising the lamp higher.

Failure to provide sufficient heat invariably leads to death. In addition, young animals must be protected from drafts and cold air, especially at night.

Care must be taken when watering quail to prevent them from drowning in water containers. Automatic small waterers are the best choice, but shallow bowls partially filled with pebbles or crushed stone can also be used.

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

Porous bedding is used to maintain cleanliness and absorb moisture. Wood shavings, sawdust or river sand are good materials. The litter 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 their balance.

Old newspapers are a good, but not ideal material; paper towels are the best. If chickens are kept in cages with slatted floors, cover the surface with paper for the first week to ten days to prevent leg injury.

Eating feathers and cannibalism of young animals are common problems when breeding quails at home. These disorders are especially common when kept in cells. A radical method of control is to trim the beak at the age of 2 weeks and is usually done using a special trimmer.

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

Other effective preventative measures for cannibalism are:

reducing the number of birds to avoid overcrowding;
reducing lighting intensity;
increasing the content of fiber and protein components in feed.

Quails are a territorial bird, and will defend their home from intruders, establish a hierarchy and sometimes fights are inevitable. Ways to avoid this are to have a looser fit and reduce lighting. If it is necessary to combine two groups of quails, they are simultaneously placed in an unfamiliar cage or enclosure.

Incubation at home

Dear readers, write your review about raising quails at home. Remember that you can send a full story about the peculiarities 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 stock or eggs, you can include this information, but do not forget to indicate your region of residence and contact information.

Kira Stoletova

Today, raising quails at home for beginners is becoming especially popular. Since this bird is ready to produce both meat and dietary eggs, it is the most popular among poultry farmers. Raising quails will not cause any inconvenience, and even a novice poultry farmer will be able to handle keeping a small and unpretentious bird in an apartment. Such breeding can be classified as a productive business; it requires virtually no costs or any special conditions.

Today, the Japanese variety of quail is the most popular among farmers. Moreover, in Japan this breeding tradition has existed for more than 100 years. Today, representatives of the descendants from the Japanese variant are safely raised and kept not only for meat, but also for the production of dietary eggs in a number of farms and agricultural farms.

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

the annual productivity of eggs weighing 10-12 g is 340 eggs;
at the age of 1.5 months, egg laying begins;
The weight of quails is usually 150 g for a laying hen 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 quails at home on the balcony or in the private sector in the fresh air. Breeding quails is not difficult, but you must follow all the rules for the care and maintenance of such birds. Beginning farmers can try raising quails in a garage, if it is large and heated.

Of course, outdoors, quails have a better chance of fully developing and bearing healthy offspring, but not everyone has the opportunity to build a separate poultry house on their garden plot. When choosing a breed, you 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;
male weight - about 130 g, female - 150 g;
egg production - 90%;
egg product weighing about 9-11 g.

Breed Changzhur quail

meat and egg direction;
yellow-brown plumage color;
individual weight - about 300 g;
egg production - 85%;
The weight of the egg product is usually about 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 approximately 13-15 g.

Breed Pharaoh

meat direction;
plumage color is yellow-brown with stripes;
the female’s weight is 320-360 g, the male weighs 280 g;
egg production of the breed - 85%;
The weight of the 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%;
egg product weighs about 12-18 g.

Texas White breed

meat orientation;
white with a black spot;
the weight of the individual is approximately 500 g;
85% egg production;
weight of egg product - 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 the Californian individual can be kept simply for beauty.

Productivity of quails of different breeds

Breeding and raising quails at home should begin with the acquisition of young animals of the desired breed. Any breed should be characterized by active productivity and a good metabolic rate. If we consider a quail weighing about 120 g, then during the 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 eggs are ready to surpass chicken eggs, since there is no cholesterol in a quail egg. They can be easily consumed raw, since quail does not suffer from salmonellosis. If we compare 5 quail eggs, which are equal in weight to one chicken egg, then quail eggs will be superior in the content of certain elements:

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

The color of a quail egg usually ranges from white to dark variegated. The shell is quite fragile and its weight is approximately 7.2% of the total product. Up to 10% of the total mass is the weight of the shell in common domestic bird species. It is also important to note that quail egg shells can be safely used in the treatment of certain diseases (these are diseases of internal organs and skin). With the help of such a complex shell, the effects of radiation can be easily removed. 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. This product is recommended for use for diseases of the cardiovascular system, for some gastrointestinal disorders, for diabetes mellitus and some other diseases.

Reproduction of quails at home

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

You should always inspect the livestock before purchasing. Here are the criteria that usually distinguish a healthy quail:

around the cloaca he will always have clean plumage;
the beak is dry and without deformation;
breath is pure in sound;
average weight (the pet is not overfed or malnourished);
feathers without fragments of dirt, clean and smooth, without excrement.

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

How to breed quails correctly if the females do not have a particularly developed brooding instinct? For breeding from scratch to be profitable, it is necessary to use special incubators.

Keeping them in incubators greatly simplifies quail breeding and increases its profitability. The farmer will not need to create a certain temperature and constant humidity for the egg. When choosing an incubator, it is better to pay attention to those models where the testicles are not turned over manually, but automatically by the system itself. When breeding, the eggs must be from hens 2-10 months old, they must be fertilized and no older than one week with a weight of approximately 9-11 g.

You can watch quail breeding in more detail in the video.

advice for beginning quail breeders

Quail breeding - where to start

The simplest sparrowhawk in an unheated room.

You can easily make an incubator yourself

in any cardboard box you need to build a soft bedding;
place everything the birds need in the 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 mesh on the bottom;
place no more than 20 eggs of equal size on the bottom along the litter and turn them 3-5 times a day;
It will take about 17 days for the young to hatch. Chicks usually appear at the same time within 5-6 hours.

Raising young animals

Usually the weight of the chick is 6-8 g and it is already active from the first hours of life. The body of the quail is covered with brown down and two stripes along the back. You need to constantly monitor the chicks, 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 netting - into a brooder. It is necessary to maintain the correct dimensions of the brooder, depending on the number of quails in it. The maintenance and feeding of young animals must be carried out in accordance with all the rules.

Small quails feed on their own, but it is better for the farmer to help completely weakened and helpless individuals. Where to start if the young animals have no appetite? In this case there must be care. You need to feed only the food that is needed now. You may need to change your drinking water to fresh water. If debris gets into the water, the young animals will not drink it, and therefore refuse to eat. It is also necessary to create 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 birds with such food should be done approximately 5 times a day. On the third day after birth, you can also add cottage cheese.

You can purchase a combination feed. This could be food 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, quails need to be fed like adults. The main thing is to start feeding correctly, and the young animals will reach for food on their own, and the necessary reflexes will appear. If the nutrition is intensive and balanced, quails increase in weight up to 20 times in 2 months after birth. You can water them using a nipple drinker or use only vacuum ones. Water must be poured warm and always boiled for the birds. For the purpose of prevention, you can feed quails with chloramphenicol in solution.

Lighting for quails

Breeding and keeping quail at home requires properly selected lighting. If this rule is not followed, the birds may not lay eggs and the hens will be aggressive. Males can get into fights with each other.

Lighting in the brooder should be 24 hours a day for the first 14 days, then it can be gradually reduced 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 these chicks get cold, they begin to huddle together and scream. In this case, farmers simply lower the illumination lamp a little lower. When the chicks stand around 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.

Gender of young animals

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

The male stops growing at the age of 8 weeks. After 1.5 months, males are ready to breed. Individuals not intended for reproduction should be kept separately for fattening. Females are ready for reproductive function a little later. This happens approximately at 9 weeks. In each individual, puberty occurs at different times, as this is influenced by many factors, for example, immunity, health, and weight of the hen.

Quail diet

Quails, their breeding and feeding at home must meet all standards. The health of the livestock and the immunity of the individuals depend on the quality of the diet. When periodically fed with vitamins and minerals, birds are less likely to suffer from common diseases. It is better to feed individuals with remote containers, since laying hens and males like to scatter food while eating.

For convenience, many farmers purchase special equipment, drinkers and feeders, from which it is inconvenient for birds to spill or scatter anything. Such feeders and drinkers significantly save feed and water, so it is worth considering purchasing such equipment. It is recommended to feed the birds 2-3 times a day. The volume of feed is 25-30 g per chick.

What to feed quails

fish fat;
ground egg shells, shells, crushed chalk;
boiled fish without bones and fish meal;
chopped egg, cottage cheese, sunflower seeds;
vegetable peelings (carrots, shredded cabbage, boiled potatoes);
greens (clover, lettuce, onions, wheat germ);
grains (millet, barley, oats);
special feed.

Health of young animals

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

A separate pen for quarantined individuals must be built next to the premises. After acquiring a new population of birds, they need to be quarantined for a period of 10 to 30 days, where they will be fed and kept separately. If the individual has not shown any changes during this time and its behavior remains active, then the new bird can be released to the rest of the population.

To fatten meat birds for slaughter, slightly different breeding and maintenance tactics should be used. For breeding for meat, the following conditions are required:

Lighting should be reduced.
Set the temperature to 24°C.
Create twilight, since in such conditions mobility decreases and the need for food increases.
Meals should be taken at least 3-4 times a day.

If you want to have several different breeds, it is important to ensure that sexual relations do not occur between related breeds or too different individuals. Crossing representatives of different breeds is also not recommended. Many individuals simply cannot get along with birds of a different breed. The best decision is to have females and males of the same breed and similar build.

A male or female that is too thin may not be suitable for each other based on purely physical parameters. Also, the male may not like a fat or thin laying hen. Individuals must be of average configuration.

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

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

In several places, quail singing is valued, and individuals are also used as fighting birds.
When a fight breaks out, you should definitely put the instigator of the conflict separately.
It is necessary to eliminate stressful situations in the team; to do this, you should take care of the absence of any negative situations.
To prevent the chicks' legs from moving apart, do not lay down paper.

Raising quail at home will be a profitable business if you take proper care and prepare the correct diet for adults and chicks. Even if the birds are not bothered and appear healthy, they should be taken to the veterinarian for a preventive examination.

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

They first learned about quails in the USSR in the 1970s, when they arrived at a number of poultry farms from Japan, but the trend did not become widespread until the 21st century. Then, in the early 2000s, rarely did anyone not see an advertisement about how profitable it was to breed these birds for eggs for sale. The people got down to business, but quickly realized that it was easy to grow them, but finding sales for the 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 “piecemeal” sales through word of mouth and through Avito, but too low to interest chain stores. Therefore, within the framework of this instruction, we will talk about how to keep quails at home for beginners’ own consumption, and with an eye to selling the surplus to neighbors and acquaintances.

Breed selection

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

Comparative characteristics

Name	Type productivity	Egg, gr.	Egg production, PC. in year	Carcass, gr.
	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 and egg	12-14	280-310	180
	meat and egg	11-12	260-300	130-150
	meat and egg	13-16	220-250	170-190
	decorative	9-10	90-110	-

Here we will 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. Egg-bearing quail breeds last 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 slightly less than other lines: up to 30 grams. quality food per day.

Japanese

Out of habit, they are positioned as excellent laying hens, but with the advent of new lines they are losing the sympathy of poultry farmers. Yes, it will produce about 310 eggs per year, but they will be small, and the resulting carcass will be quite modest: up to 100 grams.

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

English whites

If you are only interested in homemade quail eggs, we advise you to take a closer look at them. With slightly lower productivity (300 pcs.), English will produce a carcass of about 150 grams, while their feed consumption is equally low.

Meat and eggs

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

Estonian

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

Manchurian

Manchus are often used to obtain high-quality crosses by mixing with broiler quails. The birds themselves lay larger eggs than the Japanese, but fewer in quantity, and produce less meat than other Estonians.

Tuxedo

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

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

Meat

Broilers were the last of the breeds to appear and are now the most promising direction in quail breeding. This is especially true for home keeping in those families where many eggs are not consumed, and their excess is not sold.

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

Texans

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

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

The disadvantages are that they are more capricious in breeding for beginners, there is more infertility, and sometimes it may be necessary to remake the standard cage (due to its large size).

The main advantage is more meat yield and a large egg.

Pharaoh

This is a trade-off 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 negates almost everything: due to many years of unsystematic crossing, the pure breed line is actually lost. As a result, there may be discrepancies in expected productivity.

The necessary conditions

A huge advantage of keeping quails is that they are unpretentious and are content with home conditions, even in 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 on the ground in flocks in search of food. At the moment of danger, they escape from predators by sharply flying up 3-5 meters and flying up to 20 meters.

That is why the cage for them should be low, otherwise timid birds can break their necks by jumping up and hitting the ceiling. The 20-30 cm limit simply prevents them from developing enough speed to get injured.

A standard cage 1 m long, 50 cm deep and 30 cm high can comfortably accommodate 40-45 heads. For adult egg breeds, the floor is made at a slope so that the eggs roll into the egg tray. 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 litter tray into which you can pour sawdust or shavings - the filler will absorb unpleasant odors and excess moisture.

Drinking bowls

It is better to use nipple ones, 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. It is irrational to use vacuum drinkers in cages with adult quails, because... they take up usable space and require very frequent water changes.

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

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

Buying quails

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

No matter how much you want to care for the squeaking babies, grit your teeth and start with only grown-up young animals, and ideally, chickens at 45-60 days. And having gained experience and understood whether you need quails at home in principle, you can move on to more responsible and complex steps.

Often people have no idea what awaits them in reality. On websites on the Internet and in books, there are beautiful descriptions of the benefits and problem-free nature of singing. And the nuances of care, such as disposal of droppings, dust from feed, noise and the need for daily care, can ruin delicious eggs and healthy meat for some.

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

Hatching chicks

Breeding quails at home comes down to selecting or purchasing a high-quality fertilized egg and incubating it. The incubation instinct is almost completely lost, but it is much easier to hatch quails than chicks.

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, which is maintained at 37-38°C, and the heat is gradually reduced.

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

Manufacturers' choice

The quality of the hatching egg is critical to quail breeding. It is taken from large, healthy birds over 3 months old. The percentage of fertilization depends on the ratio of females to 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, active and healthy birds without defects in paws, etc. are left for breeding.

What to feed

This issue must be resolved before purchasing quails. In any case, you need high-quality ready-made feed at home. No amount of table waste, “grass, cottage cheese and bread crumbs” will allow you to raise a healthy, productive bird.

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

It is best to feed adult quails with special quail 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 will do for laying hens (in the case of Japanese and Estonians) or broilers (for meat quail breeds).

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

Quails are happy to eat zucchini, pumpkins, and cucumbers, but it is not advisable to give them potatoes in any form.

Light mode

This is one of the key points when keeping quail at home. The main problem that beginners face is excessively bright lighting, as a result of which the bird behaves excitedly and is nervous. This leads to injuries.

In the wild, quails live in constant twilight (by human standards). And 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. They can be illuminated economically using several LED bulbs.

Advice to arrange intermittent lighting (one o'clock in the afternoon/one o'clock at 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 hatch from such parents is weak and painful .

Once the babies reach 2-3 days of age, lighting is provided in the brooder based on 17 hours of daylight and 7 hours of daylight at night. Any timer plugged into an outlet will do to automatically turn the lamps on and off.

Slaughter and plucking

This sad moment comes sooner or later. Quails are slaughtered at home using scissors. It is advisable to find heavy ones and, of course, sharp ones. 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 easily.

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

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

By cutting the skin in the area of the cloaca to the chest, the internal organs are selected with a finger.
Using a special spoon with a slot in the middle, remove the insides, turning clockwise several times.

Any tablespoon will do to make a quail ripper. The main thing is to make a slot at the tip.

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

Common problems

Finally, let’s bring together the unpleasant moments that novice quail breeders face when they first brought quail into an apartment. Unfortunately, this is not written about in books on “Profitable Poultry Farming” and sellers of young animals do not talk about it.

If you started breeding yourself and incubated young animals, 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 begin to vocalize from the age of 30 days. And at dawn, at 5 am, you will wake up from the heartbreaking screams of males.
Moreover, this noise will be heard by neighbors above and below, and they are unlikely to like it. The only way out is to start a second cage to raise the livestock, which will then be used for meat. Only out of sight of the females can silence be achieved.
Cleaning up litter once a day does not sound burdensome until you are forced to dispose of several kilograms of sawdust every day. You will have to, firstly, buy or independently obtain filler that absorbs odors and store it somewhere, and secondly, get rid of it.
Otherwise, the smell will spread beyond your apartment, which will also not make you more popular with your neighbors.
Despite the spacious 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 become clogged, as a result, pets can simply die in your absence.
And again let's return to the problem of slaughter. Even if you decide to have 5 quails in an apartment for a child, very soon the moment will come when they actually stop laying eggs, and the question of replacing the stock will arise. At home, quails live up to 2-3 years, but their egg production decreases sharply after a year, and in fact they turn into a burden that requires daily care and gives nothing in return.

Therefore, before you get these cute and productive birds, weigh your options and approach the issue seriously, without being guided by momentary emotions.

Recently, the most actively developing branch of household farming is quail breeding. This is explained by the fact that with minimal costs for maintaining and feeding this type of bird, you can get a good profit. Quails are also valued for their eggs, which are a real storehouse of vitamins, minerals and other useful substances. A small number of birds can be raised even in apartment conditions.

Advantages of quail breeding

When breeding birds at home, you can get not only eggs, but also dietary meat. It is advised to include it in the diet of people suffering from tachycardia, pneumonia, tuberculosis, asthma, diabetes, arrhythmia, and cardiovascular dystonia. Since quail meat does not cause allergies, it is prescribed to small children at the beginning of complementary feeding.

In addition, poultry breeding has other advantages, which include:

Supermarkets willingly buy quail meat and eggs, so breeding this bird can become a profitable family business.

Keeping and caring for quails at home

Start off you can raise quails not only in the house, but also even in an apartment. It is very good if you have a summer house where you can keep birds in the summer. It is better to grow them in cages, the arrangement of which has several requirements:

The frame of the cage must be made of metal or galvanized mesh.
The gaps between the rods should be made such that when feeding the bird can freely stick its head into them. To maintain cleanliness and save space, feeders are placed outside the cage.
The home is equipped with two trays. One of them is for litter and the other is for eggs. This is one of the most important conditions, since if there is no litter tray, the eggs can become dirty and infected.
The height of the cage should be at least 20 cm, since quails can jump. In a lower cage, the bird may be injured.
The bottom of the cage should have a slight slope towards the back wall. In this case, the laid eggs will roll down and remain whole and clean.

When choosing a cage, you should take into account that for five individuals you need at least 0.1 square meters. m of its surface. However, birds will also lay eggs in dwellings with a smaller area.

To increase egg production, you can increase the daylight hours for quails. In this case the female will produce two eggs daily. But you shouldn’t get too carried away. The bird must rest, otherwise it will become aggressive. If breeding quails is not planned, then you can raise only females. They will still rush successfully. Many breeders sometimes keep males only because they really like to watch the courtship of a lekking quail with a quail.

To save space at home cells can be placed one on one. The optimal conditions for keeping birds are:

The temperature in the room where the birds will be kept should be between 16 C-25 C. The optimal temperature is 20 C-22 C.
The room should have good ventilation and air humidity at 60−70%.
The optimal daylight hours for laying hens are from 17 to 20 hours. In these conditions they breed well. Therefore, you can’t do without backlighting.
Cages should be cleaned regularly to completely remove waste products.
Feeding must be properly organized. It is not recommended to put too much food into the feeder. Birds do not know the norm, they will overeat and become fat. As a result, they will stop rushing.
Near the cells it is necessary to exclude irritating factors in the form of loud sounds and sudden movements.

fast-growing young animals require an increase in area for their full development and residence.

Features of keeping quails in winter

In the winter season at home may experience temperature fluctuations and humidity. You need to try to make them invisible to the birds. For birds living in an apartment or private house, this is quite easy to do. But you need to start taking care of keeping quails at your dacha in winter in the fall. To do this, the room must be insulated.

Cages for keeping birds in winter are chosen such that only their front part is lattice. If the side and back walls are made of plywood or wood, the heat will be retained better.

It should also be taken into account the fact that Young quails have denser plumage, so they tolerate cold better. In winter, many poultry farmers increase the planting density, thanks to which the quails warm each other.

To maintain humidity You can place a bucket of water next to the cage or hang a wet rag. This is especially true in apartments with central heating.

Birds in winter spend a lot of energy on heating, so their diet at this time of year should be more nutritious. To do this, they begin to be fed with protein-containing food, and vegetable oil is introduced into the grain or mixed feed.

What to feed quails?

Many breeders who have kept quails for quite a long time feed their pets with commercially produced feed. These are balanced feeds that include mineral supplements, protein, and vitamins. When using such feed, caring for poultry is much easier.

You can prepare a diet for quails yourself. Experienced poultry farmers have developed their own feed recipes and use them successfully. The main component in the poultry diet is grain crops. To prepare a complete feed you will need:

mix 100 g of barley with 400 g of corn;
add ½ teaspoon of unrefined oil and a teaspoon of flour;
add one teaspoon each of salt, chalk and shells to the mixture.

This amount of mixture is enough to support and feed one quail for one and a half months. The food can be diluted with water or used dry.

As source of microelements necessary for poultry, vegetables, fruits or their peelings are added to the diet. They should be given boiled and crushed into porridge. It is necessary to ensure that large particles do not get into the birds’ food, which could cause them to choke and die.

As a source of protein You can use fish and minced meat, cottage cheese. Mineral and vitamin supplements will include eggshells and greens. In summer, the quail diet is enriched with fresh cabbage, beet leaves, alfalfa and clover flowers, nettles, green salads, and spinach. Green food is given to birds only if it is thoroughly chopped. It promotes good functioning of the digestive tract and better absorption of nutrients.

In winter, sprouted grains in the form of millet, wheat and oats are added to the feed as additional sources of vitamins and minerals. You can also include green onions in your diet.

Features of feeding laying hens

Feeding of female quails must be balanced and contain sufficient amounts of vitamins and microelements, fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Their diet should include a large amount of crude protein (up to 26%), which affects the number of eggs laid. Also, crushed eggshells, which are a source of calcium, should be added to the feed. A laying hen eats 25-30 grams of complete feed per day.

Fattening poultry for meat

Selected for fattening for meat quails are housed in cages with solid walls. In this case, males are kept separately from females. Feeding is introduced gradually. The amount of fat and corn in the bird's diet increases. It can consist of broiler feed (80%) and peas boiled for half an hour (20%).

The transition to a new diet lasts four days. Gradually the amount of old food decreases, and it is replaced with a new one. Quails are fed for meat for four weeks. In the last week, the amount of feed increases by 8%. A bird ready for slaughter must have a breast with a good layer of subcutaneous fat and weigh at least 160 grams.

Breeding poultry at home you should start by purchasing an incubator, since domestic laying hens do not hatch eggs. The incubation period is 17 days, during which the eggs must be heated evenly on all sides. If the incubator does not provide this, then the eggs are turned over manually at least 4 times a day. Eggs should be laid fresh. No more than 6 days should pass from the date of demolition.

The quails hatch together within 4-6 hours. The latest hatched chicks It is not recommended to leave it. They rarely survive, often get sick, and cause a lot of trouble in the future. Although babies weigh only 6-8 g, they are active from the first days. They look like a yellow lump with two brown stripes on its back.

Raising young animals

Once the chicks in the incubator hatch and are completely dry, they are moved to a box with holes and high walls. The top is covered with gauze and put in a warm place with an air temperature of 36 C-38 C. Chicks should be kept in a box until they are 14 days old. During these days, the young animals should have access to food and water. And the box itself should be cleaned regularly. In addition, the chicks need lighting.

You should start releasing the chicks into the cage carefully. A sudden change in temperature can kill quails, so you need to reduce it gradually.

Feeding the chicks

In the first four days young animals are fed finely chopped eggs, which are poured into a wide flat bowl. On the fourth day, corn and cottage cheese are introduced into the diet. To make the task easier, you can use special mixtures for chickens, which are sold in specialized stores.

To full-fledged diet consisting of mixed feed for chickens, young birds are transferred from the eighth day of life. On the twenty-eighth day, quails begin to be fed with compound feed for adult birds. From birth, young animals should be provided with warm water. It is better to feed them from automatic drinkers, into which no debris can get in. It is recommended to boil the water first. You can watch the video for more information about bird breeding.

To make quails less susceptible to various diseases, in the first days of life they are given chloramphenicol. Birds fully grow by 8-9 weeks of life. Laying hens begin laying eggs on the 50th day of birth.

Breeding and keeping quails is a good alternative to chickens and ducks to provide the family with healthy natural products. And with proper placement and proper care of the poultry, you can get quite a lot of products, the surplus of which will be profitable to sell on the market.