Quail: keeping, feeding, breeding

• General information
• Quail in nature
• Breeds of domestic quail
• Content options and care
• Quail feeding
• Stern
• fattening
• Quail slaughter
• Pairing
• Incubation
• Rearing of young animals
• Feeding the young
• Typical Content Errors
• A bit of cooking
• Other helpful tips
• We advise you to read

From the author
Undoubtedly, animal protein is an important component in human nutrition. Quail meat and eggs, as you know, contain not only valuable nutritious protein, but also a well-balanced set of nutrients for human nutrition. Many have heard about the healing properties of quail eggs. However, despite the abundance of various meat and eggs on the market, not every city in Russia can buy quail carcasses and their healing eggs.

Quail, having only one minor drawback - a miniature size, have a number of advantages over large poultry. In various types of poultry, approximately with an increase in its size, inversely - proportionally decrease: the taste of meat and eggs, egg production, resistance to diseases, the percentage of hatchability and viability of young animals.

This book tells about the content of quails, both Japanese and many other breeds and varieties. This book is especially useful for beginner quail growers - lovers. Professional quail breeders will find new useful information in the pages of this book.

Serebryakov Andrey Ivanovich
Quail: keeping, feeding, breeding

Proofreader M.A. Kirillov
Layout A.I. Serebryakov
Drawings, sketches by A.I. Serebryakov, D.A. Serebryakov,
I.V. Garshin, V.F. Gerasimov

Russia Penza region 2009.

We express our gratitude to the author of this brochure, Serebryakov Andrey Ivanovich

Content options and care

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No matter how well people manage to tame quails to life next to humans, these birds still remain semi-wild, therefore quails are everywhere kept only in cages. The room for keeping quails should be well heated, have ventilation and artificial lighting. It is very good to have a backup power source. It is possible to keep adult birds in unheated rooms, in specially equipped, insulated areas. There is evidence that in foggy Albion, quails are kept all year round in unheated rooms. With such a content of quail, they do not lay eggs in the cold winter months, but due to winter rest, they can be carried for several years.

It is not necessary to illuminate quails with direct sunlight for a long time, as they are very excitable in bright light. Quails should not be kept in noisy places: near roads, airfields, establishments with loud music, and the like. According to the current sanitary standards, a poultry house intended for the industrial keeping of quails should be located no closer than 300 meters from residential buildings.

The number of quails in a cage can be almost any. However, it is important to observe the norm of floor area per bird. The ratio of the number of Japanese quail to the size of the cells depends on the purpose of their cultivation. If you want to get food eggs, it is recommended to place about 120 heads per 1 m². If your task is to hatch young, then the stocking density should be less, since with an increase in stocking density, the likelihood of fertilization of eggs decreases.

If you decide to keep quails in a house or apartment, then ordinary cages for songbirds can be adapted for their dwelling. Pour sand on the floor or put thick paper, which must be cleaned daily, otherwise the room will have an unpleasant, and most importantly, harmful smell of quail droppings. Quail nests should not be installed; quails will lay eggs right on the floor. Perches and perches are installed only for California quails. Place the cage in a quiet place at room temperature. Do not keep quails on the windowsill, under the sun, otherwise the birds will become excited, become restless, and begin to peck at each other and the laid eggs. Bird cages should not be installed on loggias subject to strong fluctuations in daily air temperature.

For better egg production, quails are kept in compact cages with a mesh floor (cells 15 × 15 mm). For decorative purposes, these birds are kept in spacious enclosures.

The conditions for keeping egg-laying, meat and virgin quails are similar. The conditions for keeping painted quails and quails of the genus Lophortyx are somewhat different, but also similar to each other.

Possible content options for obtaining food and hatching eggs:
a) 1 male for 3-5 females. 18 hour daylight hours. Temperature +(17-25)ºC. Cages 15-17 cm high (for Japanese), in higher cages, birds can get hurt trying to take off when frightened. The cage floor size is 50×25 cm.
b) A young 20-30 day old female is placed in a cage with a floor size of 15×15 cm, 5 floors with nesting cells. In such a “conclusion”, the female will lay food eggs every 16-24 hours. In such a cage, the female remains longer.
c) Cage for 30-50 birds. The size of the cage floor is 60×60 cm. The height of the front part is 13 cm, the back part is 11 cm. The door is in the upper part of the cage. On the front side of the cage, the floor grate protrudes outward and is bent to collect eggs. Floor slope for rolling eggs (7-12) º.
On fig. 1 shows a cage for a family of up to 20 birds. Its floor area is 70×30 cm, height is 20 cm. The floor is made of a metal grid with a mesh size of 15×15 mm. Walls made of bars with a diameter of 2-3 mm. The distance between the bars is 25 mm, it is necessary for the birds to stick their heads out during feeding. It is even better to use a metal grill with a perchlorovinyl coating. Such a cage can be made independently. If there is no floor grate at hand, it can be replaced with a mesh from an old metal bed. Walls and covers can be made from grills for a refrigerator or gas stove, dish dryers, etc. Trays are placed under the cage to collect the litter.
If you keep quails of different ages together, then it is recommended to mark them by age. This can be done by ringing the birds, for example, with aluminum wire, or by marking them with paint.


Rice. 1. Cage for quail egg breeds.

Relative air humidity in a room where quails are kept should be 50 - 70%. If quails have disheveled and brittle plumage, breathe rapidly with their beak open, rarely lay eggs, then the air in the room has low humidity. Place cups or buckets of water near bird cages. You can simply wash the floor more often in the room, which also increases the humidity of the air. However, in damp rooms, quails should not be kept and grown.

Japanese quails are most suitable for 17-18 hours daylight hours. It is possible to have round-the-clock coverage, in which you will get more eggs, only then the females will wear out faster. Birds should not be brightly illuminated; in low light conditions, these birds see well and behave more calmly towards each other. When kept in cages in direct sunlight, quails can peck at each other and laid eggs. One 40 watt incandescent lamp is sufficient to illuminate a room with birds with an area of ​​​​4 × 4 meters. Lighting is best turned on at 6 o'clock and off at 23 o'clock.

For the convenience of lighting control, this process can be automated. Attach the light switch to the side of the mechanical alarm clock (Fig. 2) with an M4 screw. Choose a switch with a key that has low resistance to pressing. On the crank of the chime, screw another, longer M4 screw, which will actuate the switch. This device will turn on or off the lighting at the time you set the alarm. Such a simple device can work successfully for many years. Of course, there are other, more modern devices for automatic lighting control (for example, household timers), but they are not sold everywhere.

The change in lighting regime associated with the transition to summer or winter time should be carried out gradually. In central Russia, in poultry houses with windows, from mid-May to early August, you can do without additional electric lighting in the room. In windowless poultry houses (without sunlight), quails should be periodically illuminated with ultraviolet lamps.

With an increase in the length of daylight hours, the consumption of feed increases and the aging of birds accelerates. With a reduction in the length of daylight hours, egg production worsens, the birds are very hungry during long nights.

It is possible, and even desirable, to keep Japanese quails using an intermittent lighting regime: - alternating 1 hour of light and 2 hours of darkness. This mode of keeping and lighting has a positive effect on the growth, puberty and productivity of quails. The intermittent lighting regime serves as a regulator of bird nutrition: during the light period, the bird takes food, and during darkness, it digests it.


Rice. 2. Automated lighting switch.

Cages containing quails must be thoroughly cleaned at least once a quarter, for example, in the following way. Transplant the birds to another place, wash the cage thoroughly with a brush with hot water and washing powder, then pour boiling water over the cage and dry it. Vapors of quail droppings are harmful to the breath of humans and birds. A particularly strong smell, quails create if they are fed with boiled peas. But still, peas are useful to them, birds peck at them with great pleasure, periodically feed them to them.

Rearing of young animals

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Quaillings emerge from the egg almost independently: covered with fluff, sighted, able to move around, independently peck food and drink water. A newly hatched quail exceeds the size of its own egg, in it it was located compactly, curled up in a ball. The weight of a daily chick is 6-8 g (for most breeds). Quail quickly gain weight. According to the statistics of females and male quails, an approximately equal number is born. Quails of both sexes are grown together.

The dried quail from the incubator, gently taking it in a fist, is moved to a box or box equipped with electric heaters. An important condition for growing young animals is to maintain the required temperature in the room, and especially in boxes with quails. The temperature during the first 10 days of rearing in a cage with chicks is +(35-38)ºC, indoors +(27-28)ºC. From 10 to 17 days of age, the temperature is gradually reduced to +30 ºC in cages, +25 ºC indoors. Chicks 17-25 days old are kept at +25 ºC in cages, +22 ºC indoors. The air in the room where the quail is grown should not be dry. Otherwise, place a bucket or basin of water near the boxes with the chicks.

It is better to have two cages for rearing young animals. In one, grow healthy chicks, in the other, weakened, with leg defects, underweight, and late born. Young animals of the first week of life are not recommended to be transported over long distances. Chicks with significant leg defects should be euthanized.

On fig. 7 shows a box-cage for rearing 20 chicks. The walls are made of birch boards (25 mm), the floor is made of metal grating with a mesh of 10 × 10 mm. The size of the cage-box is 75×30×20 cm. Electric heaters are made of photo-lanterns (view a). Light bulbs for a voltage of 220 volts are connected in series in a circuit, this protects them from burnout, lights from overheating, and, finally, power consumption is reduced. Possible combinations of lamps: 40 watts and 60 watts; 25 watts and 40 watts. It is better to install one lantern with transparent glass and the other with red. The red light from the lanterns is very useful for the chicks. Instead of flashlights, you can use infrared lamps by connecting them in the usual way.

Rice. 7. Box-cage for rearing young animals.

But what other electrical circuit (Fig. 8.) Is it good to use for round-the-clock heating of quail. Step-down transformer 220/24 volts, incandescent lamps 36 volts. Such lamps will not overheat the chicks, they will not burn out for a long time, they will not create unnecessary illumination, they save energy, the voltage of 24 volts is safe for humans. The total power of the lamps should not exceed the power of the step-down transformer.

You can warm the quail in the event of a power outage by placing a pot of hot water in the drawer. You can illuminate the chicks in such extreme conditions, for example, with a flashlight or even a paraffin candle. If you have to leave the quail unattended for several hours, and your electricity is systematically cut off, put a pot (with a lid) with hot water in a box (cage) for them.

To observe the quails on the side of the cage, drill a hole of sufficient diameter. In the first days of growing, cover the box-cage with a greenhouse film or a towel. In this cage, I installed a vacuum drinker (view b), and a thermometer. Such a box-cage can be, and even desirable, installed above a radiator for water heating of a room. From above, the box-cage is covered with a film, towel, etc., to regulate and maintain the required temperature. If such a box, equipped with a mesh floor, is placed above the bathroom, it will be convenient to wash off the litter, the bathroom is usually warm and there is no excess light.

Rice. 8. The electrical circuit for heating the quail.

In other types of cages, a mesh door is installed in front, and the lower part of the front wall should be as stationary as possible, 7-10 cm high. Such a barrier protects the quail from falling out of the cage when distributing food, water, and replacing paper. The height of the cages for young animals is approximately 14 cm. All types of cages for rearing quails must be equipped with electric heaters. Young growth can also be grown in a homemade incubator.

C, for the first three to four days of rearing the quail, cover the floor in the cage with a cloth such as tarpaulin or burlap. Reuse this fabric after washing. Then, when the legs of the chicks get stronger, during the first week of growing, the floor is covered with thick paper (preferably corrugated), newspapers can be used. A floor covered with cloth or paper is always warmer than a metal grill. It is very important to lay the fabric or paper evenly so that the chicks do not penetrate the folds and die in them. Soiled bedding should be changed daily. Make sure that the legs of the quail do not slip on the slippery bedding, otherwise some chicks will later be lame, with twisted limbs in the hip joint.

In very warm rooms, floor keeping of quails is possible, in which the floor is covered with a very clean peat bedding with a layer thickness of about 20 mm. Pour peat at the rate of 3.2 kg. per 1 m². Peat is sprinkled as it becomes contaminated with droppings and scattered feed.

For the first week of growing quails, a pan feeder should be used. The feeder can be covered with a soft cloth so that clumsy chicks do not hurt their beaks. The feeder can be covered with a sparse mesh, then the chicks will scatter food less, and, therefore, pollute the floor of the cage. The depth of the tray feeders should not exceed 2 cm. In the future, with the growth of the chicks, replace the tray feeder with a grooved feeder.

The best design for a quail drinker is a Petri dish, painted red, no more than 5 mm deep. Commercially available vacuum drinkers for songbirds are also suitable for quails. In ordinary deep cups, quails sometimes drown.

Table 1. Growing conditions for quail.

Growing Features
Like a human cub, chicks squeak loudly in the first days of life if they are hungry. With their squeak, they instinctively call their mother - a hen. Over time, they behave calmer, sleep a lot and wake up only to peck food and drink water.

Quails should be provided with constant access to water and feed. During the rearing of quails, especially in the first 2 weeks of life, it is necessary to constantly monitor the freshness and purity of food and water. In conditions of high temperature, food and water quickly deteriorate, which can lead to poisoning of young animals. Water in vacuum drinkers is changed twice a day, the drinkers are thoroughly washed. It is better to use boiled water for drinking.

Perhaps one of the most important conditions for growing quails is the observance of lighting and illumination regimes. Young quails should not be too brightly illuminated. With increased illumination, the expansiveness of quails increases, pecking may begin. Quail females reared in bright light ≤100 lux subsequently lay small eggs. Quail of the Japanese breed, in the first 2 weeks of life, they illuminate around the clock. Then reduce the duration of lighting by 2 hours, and smoothly bring it up to 17 hours a day.

Quails at the age of three weeks are transplanted into cages for adult birds. Later transplantation of young females is not desirable, as it causes a delay in the start of oviposition in them (by two weeks). The safety of Japanese quail in the process of rearing under normal conditions reaches 98%, which exceeds the safety of young birds of other species.

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***
You should not unnecessarily take quails in your hands, it is rather painful for them due to the displacement of the plumage. No matter how well quails are tamed, they have little trust in a person and are very worried when they are picked up. It is no coincidence that in English the word quail, and the word to chicken out are written the same way - quail. It is difficult to hold a Japanese quail in your hand; the quail usually persistently breaks free. Only specially trained fighting quail behave calmly in the hand, sleeve or bosom of the owner.

***
In the absence of compound feed, quails eat a lot of carrots, cabbage, greens and protein feed. You need to be prepared for this, and stock up on such feed in advance.

In the spring, as soon as the first greens appear (usually young nettles and dandelions), pick and chop it for quails, they really need it! However, you should not collect grass near roads, airfields and other polluted places. There should be no droppings from flying birds on the grass. Beware of burning your hands on nettles, wear gloves, although it is believed that a nettle burn is good for health.

***
Minced fish or fish waste intended for feeding quails is best stored at a temperature of - (1-3) º C. Do not freeze minced fish too much because it will be difficult to cut. The shelf life of fresh fish, minced fish and fresh fish waste in the freezer of a conventional household refrigerator is 6 months. Scrolling the fish in a meat grinder, you can add other quail food to it. If possible, use an electric meat grinder.

***
Folk omens. To see a white quail is for good luck. Catch a white quail - you will be lucky all your life. If on Methodius the Sparrowhawk (July 3), midges and cobwebs fly over the winter, there will be a good catch of quails. Catch at least one quail on this day, to the fact that all year there will be a successful quail fishing

***
In a cage with Japanese quails, birds of other species cannot be kept together. Japanese quails will be stressed if pigeons or other larger birds are placed in their cage. In aviaries with "ground" painted quails, you can keep birds together - inhabitants of the "upper tier" of the forest, and birds living in the bushes (warblers and warblers). Moreover, there will be less fights between birds if there are fewer birds of the same species in the aviary, and, on the contrary, more different types of birds.

***
When a young female is placed in a cage with an adult bird, make sure that the male does not harm her. When transplanting a young, fragile female to an adult bird, the male, who is "bored" by his girlfriends, will immediately begin to pursue the young female for mating. A young bird may suffer from persistent "harassment" of a mature male.

You can transport quails from the age of two weeks. Quails are planted in low cardboard boxes, in the walls of which, small holes are pre-cut for air flow. Quails quickly heat the air in the box, which must be monitored and, if necessary, watered the quails with water.

If you accidentally acquired or raised a lame female, do not rush to get rid of her. If a bird limps a little on one leg, then it will carry eggs just as well as healthy females. Such females live for a long time, you just need to provide them with good access to food, as healthy quails will push them away from the feeders.

***
If you decide to have quails or other poultry, get ready for a serious fight against rodents: mice and rats. As you know, mice are distributors of a dangerous disease - hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (hemorrhagic nephrosonephritis). Mice easily enter the premises in which birds are kept and food is stored. Quails can be frightened of rats and mice, and will run and rush around their cages. In poultry houses with an increased risk of rodent penetration, special feeders should be used to prevent quails from scattering food. Mousetraps of the old design are ineffective in the fight against mice; for obvious reasons, cats cannot be kept in the house. To combat mice, it is most advisable to use commercially available poisoned grain. More cunning rats are well repelled by ultrasonic generators AB-101 and others. A special glue against rats and mice has recently been invented.
Do not store in open containers, bran in the living room. Moths often start up in them.

***
You should always approach a cage with Japanese quails carefully, slowly, without sudden movements (especially in bright light), otherwise you may scare the birds. The nature of quails is different, some birds are shy, others are less afraid of humans. However, shy individuals often create panic among neighbors. Especially often quails are frightened if they block the light, they quickly approach them in light clothes. Frightened quails will bounce as they try to fly. From this, they often hit and injure their heads on the top of the cage, which is recommended to be made of soft materials (for example, a fishing net). With a slight fright, quails make sounds similar to a displeased growl. Quite often, panic in quails occurs during cleaning of the litter, therefore, when cleaning the litter, it is recommended to cover the cages with birds with some kind of cloth. It is easier to catch an accidentally fluttering quail indoors if the room is darkened first.

***
Follow the rules of personal hygiene when keeping both quails and any other poultry. Ornithosis is an infectious disease transmitted from birds to humans through close contact (airborne droplets). Quails are not very susceptible to this disease; pigeons, ducks and petrels are more likely to get sick. Symptoms: chills, rapid fever, malaise, dull pain in the chest, cough.

Another danger in itself may be fraught with grain feed. Ears of cereals (wheat, barley, etc.) can be affected by the so-called radiant fungus, which, when it enters the human body, causes chronic inflammation - actinomycosis. Human infection with ray fungus occurs mainly through the digestive organs. Hands should be thoroughly washed after each contact with grain feed.

***
Quail manure is a good concentrated organic fertilizer for the garden, kitchen garden and indoor plants. There is evidence that quail manure is particularly well suited for fertilizing cabbage, fruit and citrus crops.

Ground egg shells mixed with (and without) powdered sugar are also good calcined fertilizers. In small quantities, egg shells can be ground with an electric coffee grinder. The shell should be dried first.

Cleaning up the litter is good to combine with bathing the birds. While swimming in the sand, in simple baths, quails often scatter sand in different directions. If a layer of sand has fallen on the baking sheets, then it will be easier to clean them from the droppings. Also, you can put an oilcloth on the baking sheets, on top of which you should put paper (with which you can clean the droppings daily). It is good to sprinkle the litter against the smell with wood chips and sawdust, or treat it with special preparations of industrial production.

Incubation

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For incubation, select eggs of medium weight. The mass of eggs for Japanese, marble and Estonian breeds should be 9-12 grams. For the pharaoh breed, use eggs weighing 12-18 grams. Eggs should be of normal shape, with a clean and undamaged shell, as dark as possible. Of course, two-yolk eggs are not suitable for incubation. The hatchability and viability of young animals depend on how high-quality and complete feeding of quails was. The nutritional value of feed fed to quail females affects the composition of eggs, the formation and growth of embryos, and the viability of young animals.

In captivity, domesticated Japanese and many other quails are completely unwilling to incubate laid eggs. Only in very large enclosures, sometimes, do California quails incubate their eggs. It is allowed to lay quail eggs under brood hens and even under domestic doves, but it is better to use an incubator. The shell of quail eggs is thinner than chicken shells, and the hen may crush them unintentionally.

The quail should be born on the same day. Chicks of different ages cannot be raised together, as these striped mischief-makers can offend chicks that hatch even one day later than them. Eggs in a well-heated incubator should be laid at the same time or during the day. Before incubation, for one-day laying of eggs, they can be stored in a cool place with a temperature of + (10-12) ºC, at a relative humidity of 70-75%, for 3 days.

Simultaneous incubation of eggs laid at different times is allowed. In this case, make marks on the eggshell with a pencil, and grow the chicks that have appeared in different cages, dividing them into age groups.

The duration of egg incubation is 17 days for Japanese and common (16 days for painted, 22 Californian, 23 for Virginian) quails. In order not to accidentally forget the date of the start of incubation, it should be written down. After laying the eggs in the incubator, for two hours, they maintain a temperature of +38.2 ° C. Further incubation temperature +37.5 ºC at 60% relative humidity. The first time the eggs are viewed on the ovoscope on the 5th day. On the 13th-15th day, the temperature is reduced to +37.2 ºC and humidity - up to 55%. For hatching, the eggs are transferred to the hatcher on the 16th day of incubation, at the same time they are again viewed. Hatching should take place at a temperature of +37 ºC and a relative humidity of about 75%. Under normal incubation conditions, viewing eggs is not necessary, since quails have a very high percentage of hatchability of young.

If after 17 days the quail did not hatch, it means that incubation errors were made. Wait another week before turning off the incubator, quails may still be born!

Homemade incubator
For incubation, you can use both industrial and homemade incubators. The quail embryo is less susceptible to temperature fluctuations than other bird species, so quails hatch well in homemade incubators. Figure 5 shows a homemade incubator. Its dimensions are: floor area 55×55 cm, height 60 cm, egg rack at a height of 18 cm. The frame is made of a wooden bar 40×40 mm. The walls are made according to the principle of a thermos from fiberboard. To do this, the walls of fiberboard are knocked together in half, leaving air space between them. Instead of fiberboard, you can use boards, plywood and even cardboard. Single walls are allowed. The front door is held by metal corners, so it can slide up. A retractable glass is installed on top for observation (top view b.), temperature control and egg flipping. It is not necessary to make the bottom, it is even better without it, since fresh air passes through the cracks, which is necessary for the breathing of the embryos. If the temperature in the incubator does not reach +39 ºC, cover the gaps with something. The best temperature in such an incubator is at the level of the eggs: +39 ºC in the first two hours after laying, then +38 ºC at the beginning and +37 ºC in the last days of incubation. The quail embryo is less susceptible to interruptions in the supply of electricity to the incubator than other birds, the main condition is to withstand a stable temperature for the first 5 days. Relative humidity not less than 50%. The egg rack should be plastic if possible, metal is too cold. 4 light bulbs with a power of 25 watts each are suspended in the corners. In cool rooms, it is better to install some or all of the 40-watt lamps. In the summer heat, it is possible to use three, or even sometimes two, 25-watt light bulbs.

Rice. 5. Homemade incubator.

By changing the height of the lamps, regulate the temperature in the incubator. The higher the lamps are, the more evenly the temperature is distributed among the eggs. Before the next laying of eggs, I recommend screwing in new light bulbs and monitoring their work. Lamp burnout is easily detected by a drop in temperature in the incubator. In the last days of incubation, there are cases of burnout of electric lamps, they are immediately replaced. If you have low voltage in your electrical network, the lamps can last two incubation periods.

Put the thermometer in the middle of the grate, it should be at the level of the eggs. Use accurate mercury or alcohol thermometers! On the last day of incubation, so that the legs of the quail do not fall into the grate, transfer the eggs to wooden or plastic trays. Just keep in mind that the temperature on the trays will be much higher, and it must be adjusted immediately so as not to damage the chicks by overheating! Temperatures of +40 ºC and above are very dangerous for eggs and chicks. To prevent the chicks from getting out of the trays, the height of their walls should be 5 cm. One or more bricks can be placed on the bottom of the incubator. In the event of a power outage, the bricks will help keep the incubator warm.

To maintain the required humidity in the incubator, it is better to place two cups of boiled water under the grate, approximately 12 cm in diameter each.

During the incubation process, the water will evaporate, keep an eye on this, and add it in a timely manner. The quail will not hatch without water. If the water evaporates in the last days of incubation, and you forget to add it, then the chicks will not be able to peck through the dried shell membrane and get out of their eggs on their own.

Quail eggs during incubation, during the first 15 days, should be rotated at an angle of (90 -180)º every 1 - 2 hours. This should be done so that the yolk does not stick to the shell. In industrial incubators, turns occur automatically. In homemade incubators, the eggs are turned by hand every two hours during the daytime. Nothing bad will happen if you make a little mistake in this schedule.

In homemade incubators, it is necessary to monitor the air temperature at the level of the eggs. From the experience of incubation in homemade incubators, it is known that most often the temperature rises somewhat at night. This happens because, as a rule, on the street at night the wind subsides and there are fewer drafts in the room. The second main reason for the dangerous increase in temperature is the nightly increase in voltage in the electrical network of 220 volts. Therefore, at night, light bulbs in the electrical network with increased voltage often burn out. To control the voltage in the electrical network, it is desirable to use a voltmeter. And for a stable voltage in the lamps, it is good to use a booster or voltage stabilizer (not a television one).


Fig.6. A variant of the scheme of a simple incubator.

In such an incubator, young animals can be grown. To do this, in the first days of cultivation, the mesh floor is covered with a thick cloth, towel, corrugated paper or newspapers. The thermometer is best placed on the floor.
The best material for a homemade incubator is fiberboard, as it is little affected by high humidity. We should not just forget that fiberboard, like many others, is a combustible material, and, therefore, a fire hazard.

Incubator care
When breeding young animals, both in a homemade and in an industrial incubator, it is very important to keep it clean. Eggs broken and with dead embryos should be promptly removed from the incubator and destroyed. After hatching, the incubator and all its equipment should be cleaned of incubation waste, washed with warm water, dried and then disinfected with a wet treatment with a 1% chloramine solution or 3% formalin. During the operation of the incubator, it is necessary to observe the rules of electrical safety, safety regulations and fire safety regulations.

Quail food

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Quail feed should consist of several components given in the previous chapter. Quail feeding. This chapter lists the possible individual components of quail feed.

Cereals and leguminous feeds, cereals and seeds
- Beans contain up to 25% protein, they are rich in carbohydrates and vitamins. Before feeding to quails, they must be carefully crushed.
- Vika contains 24.1% protein. Often used in a mixture with oats.
- Peas contain 21.5% protein with a satisfactory combination of essential amino acids, a lot of magnesium. When feeding with peas, the feed must be enriched with methionine, vitamin B12, feed fat. Quail peas are crushed and boiled.
- Some quail breeders do not give buckwheat with everything, others claim that they are fed boiled.
- Hemp seed in small quantities, useful to feed to adult quails.
- Maize contributes to high productivity and intensive growth of young animals, but it is poor in some essential amino acids. It is fed in crushed form as part of feed mixtures. Corn should not be fed after 6 months of storage.
- Mac. Poppy seeds are fed to painted quails.
- Oats contain many trace elements. Feeding crushed oats stimulates feather growth and reduces the symptoms of cannibalism.
- Barley can be temporarily fed in exceptional cases, in the absence of other feeds for adult quails.
- Millet contains a large amount of fiber. Millet quails can be fed daily, millet does not require crushing before feeding, however, it is an inferior grain feed.
- Wheat. Usually, fodder, crushed wheat is used in the diet of quails. Wet mashes made from wheat flour can form a sticky mass that sticks to the beak and the inside of the bird's mouth, so wheat is best fed in the form of semolina.
- Wheat groats are fed to young quails.
- Millet can be temporarily fed to young and adult quails.
- Rice is superior in calories to corn. It is used for indigestion as a fixing agent, as well as for poor egg production of females. Egg-laying birds are sometimes fed exclusively with rice to give the egg yolks a white color.
- Weed seeds are readily eaten by many varieties of quail.
- Sorghum and chumizu are fed to quails in the absence of millet.
- Soy contains a large amount of protein - (37-45)%, and vegetable fat. Before feeding, soybeans must be subjected to moisture heat treatment at a temperature of + (116-120) ºC. Soybean flour, which has undergone heat treatment, has a positive effect on the growth of young animals.
- Lentils are close in properties to peas.
- Barley serves as a source of fiber. It is usually included in mixed fodders in the form of ground flour.

Feed of animal origin
- Feed fat of animal origin must be fed to quails mixed with vegetable fats. Feed fat has a high energy nutritional value. Its content in the diet of quails should not exceed 5%.
- Blood of slaughtered quail is often used as a protein supplement when feeding quails.
-Blood meal can be used as an additive to grain mixtures.
- Milk should be given to young animals in a fermented state. Fresh milk glues the plumage of chicks, quickly turns sour and can cause indigestion. In the diet of birds, cottage cheese and yogurt are often used. On average, cottage cheese contains about 16% of digestible protein.
- Bloodworms are sometimes fed to quails in the first days of life.
- Flour worm - the larva of the flour beetle. A favorite delicacy of many birds. Before feeding the bird, it is advisable to feed the worms for several days with fresh dandelion greens, cabbage, and carrots.
- Meat and bone meal contains a lot of calcium and phosphorus. Meat and bone meal has a specific smell, because of which, quails do not eat it willingly.
- Garden (earthen, earth) worms are readily eaten by quails. Positively affect the increase in body weight of quails.
- Maggot (bloat fly larva) is suitable for protein enrichment of quail feed.
- The fish is pre-crushed. It is rich in proteins, vitamins and mineral salts. The fat content is different in different types of fish. Fish contributes to the strengthening of egg laying, it is also useful during the molting of birds. Fish giblets are good, especially those containing caviar. Fish affected by helminthic diseases should be boiled. You can put boiled fish in the feeders whole.
- Fish oil is available in its pure form or with the addition of various amounts of fat-soluble vitamins. Do not feed to poultry intended for slaughter, as this will give the meat a fishy smell. For feeding, fish oil should be mixed well with warm water or heated skimmed milk and, on their basis, prepare a wet mash immediately before feeding. Feed in strictly limited quantities.
- Fishmeal is stored in the refrigerator and used for feeding only fresh. Two weeks before slaughter, the birds are excluded from the diet, as the fishy flavor is preserved in the meat of the bird.
- Eggs of chickens and quails, hard-boiled and chopped, are given to young animals in the first days of life as protein feed. Quail eggs are crushed together with the shell.

Vitamin feed
- Boiled potatoes with periodic feeding of quail are eaten willingly, but bird droppings become liquid.
- Green juicy food. Alfalfa, clover, quinoa, dandelions, cabbage, nettle, carrot leaf and beetroot. Green fodder is used for feeding fresh quails, immediately after mowing and chopping. Quails should have constant access to green fodder, which can be temporarily replaced with grated carrots. Quails are especially useful rich in vegetable protein, chopped leaves of young nettles.
- Cabbage. Some quails peck a whole cabbage leaf, other quails have to chop cabbage. It is especially useful to feed fresh chopped cabbage to quails in winter. To do this, cabbage, along with the leaves, can be frozen in the freezer, and with the onset of stable frosts, stored indoors or under snow at sub-zero temperatures. It is not necessary to repeatedly defrost and freeze cabbage.
- Onion - feather is attractive to quails with its taste. Quail willingly peck chopped (chopped) onion - a feather, which has a characteristic smell that enhances the bird's appetite. Onions - a feather can add flavor to laid eggs and quail meat.
- Carrots are given in grated form, in the absence of greenery to quails of any age, it contains a lot of carotene. Carrots give bird carcasses an attractive color. Sometimes, instead of carrots, the bird is given grated turnips, turnips, beets and rutabaga. Grind carrots on a medium or fine grater, you can use a meat grinder. Quail prefer sweet, grated carrots over chopped greens, and yet carrots are fed to the bird in smaller quantities than juicy chopped greens.
- Beet. Raw and boiled fodder, semi-sugar, sugar and table beets in grated form are fed to the bird.
- Grass meal can be used as a temporary replacement for green succulent fodder.
- Pumpkin contain a large amount of water, they have few useful substances, but yellow pumpkin has an antihelminthic property.
- Needles and coniferous flour are used as a vitamin supplement to feed. Pine needles are used fresh, finely chopped.
- Garlic somewhat reduces the egg production of quails. On the mass of eggs laid, garlic does not adversely affect. Garlic is useful in that it lowers the cholesterol content in the blood serum of quails. It can be used in finely chopped form, in an amount of ~ 3% of the feed volume.

Production waste
- Cakes and meals contain a large amount of proteins, vegetable fats, phosphorus and potassium. Cakes and meal are formed as waste products in the production of vegetable oils. Long-term storage degrades the quality of the cake. Fresh cake has a light yellow color. In the diet of quails, you can use hemp, flaxseed, sunflower and soy cakes and meals.
- Bran is very useful for quails and they are eaten with pleasure. Compared to grain, bran is richer in minerals and fiber. Bran is obtained by grinding grain.

Mineral feed
- Gravel (finely crushed minerals) is very necessary for quails. Coarse quartz sand is suitable for replacement.
- Bone meal can be used as an additional supplement to the diet of birds.
- Chalk is used only special; building or chemically precipitated chalk is not used for poultry nutrition. Chalk can be with quails both temporarily and permanently.
- Table salt serves as a source of sodium and chlorine for birds. It is included in the compound feed in the amount of 0.2-0.3%.
- Shredded sea and river shells are the main mineral food for quails. Shells should be in separate feeders at all times. Better, perhaps, a seashell.
- Egg shells are used as a temporary mineral supplement.

Protein, vitamin and mineral supplements. Premixes and yeast
- A protein-vitamin supplement (BVD) may be included in the quail feed.
- Vitamin supplements are used only in the absence of succulent feed (greens and carrots). Trivit and tetravit are usually used.
- Yeast is rich in vitamins of group B. Baker's, fodder, beer, domestic and hydrocarbon yeasts are used as an additive to grain mixtures.
- Premixes - concentrated mixtures of vitamins and mineral salts with the addition of antioxidants. Quails should be fed with mineral and vitamin premixes only according to the instructions of the premix manufacturer. Premixes are rich in protein, but have a short shelf life.
- Chiktonik is a veterinary drug. A complex mixture of vitamins, mineral salts, amino acids, growth factors, appetite stimulants, tonic and aromatic additives.

Feeding the young

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Feeding the young
There are several ways to feed quail, slightly different from each other. With any of them, on the first day of life, the chicks need access to drinkers filled with water, with potassium permanganate crystals dissolved in it to a barely noticeable pink color. Drinkers should be no deeper than 5 mm, otherwise the chicks may drown in them. Nylon lids for glass jars are well suited as drinkers. From 3-5 days of age, it is better to switch to vacuum drinkers. It is better to use boiled water, as raw water quickly deteriorates at high temperatures. Dissolve potassium permanganate crystals in water and give to chicks periodically, after several days. Adult quails also need an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate. Usually daily quails find food and water themselves, but sometimes they need help to do this. Tap on the feeder or near the drinker, for example with a bicycle knitting needle. Curious quails, seeing a moving object, will take it for a brood hen (or an insect), clumsily run up, and peck at the food. The second time, the chicks will find food on their own.

The amount of food for chicks in the first 3 weeks of life should not be limited. Remove excess feed after 2 hours of each feeding. The feed temperature should be close to the air temperature in the quail box.

Possible feeding options
a) For the first two days, quails are fed with hard-boiled eggs, ground together with the shell. They add to them: small wheat or oat groats (groats should be ¼ of the mass of eggs), yogurt, hard boiled millet porridge. It is better to use quail eggs, but chicken ones without shells are also suitable. One quail egg can feed 10 chicks.

b) Day-old quails are fed with a mixture: bran, egg yolks or ant pupae, chopped fresh herbs and grated carrots. The feed mixture is rubbed through a mesh with 3×3 mm cells.

c) Feed the weakened quail according to the following scheme. On the first day, quails are fed with hard-boiled chicken or quail eggs, mashed together with the shell. On the second day of life, cottage cheese is added to the egg at the rate of 2 g per head per day. On the third day, they include fresh chopped greens in the diet, on the fourth day they reduce the amount of boiled eggs in the feed and increase the amount of cottage cheese. Then the quail is fed with millet, wheat groats, small flour worms, grated hard-boiled egg, chopped greens. Or they make a mixture of quail eggs (or chicken without shells), millet, fine wheat groats and boiled fish, carefully rubbed together with the shell, on top of which chopped greens from nettle, dandelion, yarrow and other herbs are poured, excluding cereals. Fresh portions of the mash must be applied at least 6 times a day, removing the remnants. From the fourth day, eggs are gradually excluded from the diet, and the amount of end feed is increased. In the diet of quails, you can include compound feed intended for broiler chickens.

d) In the first 10 days of growing quails, they are fed with a mixture consisting of compound feed, hard-boiled eggs and milk or yogurt. The mixture must be rubbed through a mesh with a mesh of 3 × 3 mm. From the third day, fish oil, chopped nettles or grated carrots, cottage cheese, baker's yeast are added to this mixture.

e) Virginian daily quails are fed crushed egg yolks mixed with sifted bran, finely chopped greens and grated carrots. On the third - fourth day, compound feed is added to the mixture, and then millet. Starting from the 10th day, grain mixtures are gradually introduced into the diet of virgin quails.

From the 8th to the 29th day of life, compound feed for chickens is considered the best feed for quail. The main components of such compound feed are: finely crushed corn and wheat; protein, vitamin and mineral supplements. You can feed the full-feed "Solnyshko", "Golden Cockerel" and other feed for young agricultural animals. birds. Coarsely ground compound feed can be passed through a colander.

From the age of two weeks, the chicks begin to give gravel and ground shells. Up to 29 days of age, feed should contain a high protein content. During this period, the feed of the chicks should contain a lot of cottage cheese or boiled and chopped fish. From 30 to 42 days, quails should be taught to feed on the diet of an adult bird. Increase the content of crushed. At the same time, it is desirable to reduce the protein content to 16-18%, since quails may experience premature sexual development, which will adversely affect the future egg productivity of female egg breeds.

The first week of life, the chicks are fed at least 5 times a day, then - 4 times, and from four weeks - 3 times a day. Sand, quails under the age of 3 weeks, are taken for food, and sometimes they are poisoned. However, if two-week-old quails grow well and swarm in the litter, then they may already want to bathe. In this case, put a bowl of sand in their cage and watch that the nosy quails peck a lot of sand, but bathe in it. Put sand only on fed quails.

Ordinary wild quail chicks raised for release into the wild are kept and fed in the same way as chicks of domestic breeds. For reference: about 10 g of dry compound feed is placed in a matchbox.

Quail feeding

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As you know, Japanese quails are excellent laying hens, their eggs are unique in their composition, they contain these birds only in cages, and they do not have the opportunity to find additional food on their own, and therefore they must receive full feeding. The feed of quails of egg and meat breeds should consist of three main components: protein, grain, vitamin, plus shells, gravel and water. A deficiency or excess of at least one of the listed components can adversely affect the egg production and health of quails.

Feeding virginian and Japanese quails is about the same.
It is better to feed quails 3 or 4 times a day at the same time, distributing the feeding time evenly throughout the daylight hours.

Adult female quails need to get 21-25% crude protein in their feed. You should monitor the amount of protein almost daily. The lack or excess of protein is immediately displayed on the number and weight of eggs laid. With a lack of protein, females rarely rush, laid eggs are small, pecking often occurs. With an excess of protein in the feed, these birds often lay two-yolk eggs that are not suitable for incubation. A long-term violation of protein metabolism is harmful to the health of quails. Conventional poultry feeds tend to be deficient in protein. Therefore, to complete bird feed, for example PC-1, you should add 2 g of a protein source (cottage cheese, fish, minced meat, etc.) per day per bird. If you do not have compound feed, add 12 grams of protein feed per day for each adult female (Japanese breed) to the crushed grain mixture. For females who stop laying eggs due to age, the amount of protein in the diet is reduced. The need for protein in domestic, egg-laying breeds is higher than that of ordinary wild quails kept in captivity.

Vitamin feed for quails should be given in quantities that do not limit the needs of this type of bird.
The largest portion of food (≈ 40%), especially grain, is given to quails in the evening. Grain feed is digested more slowly than others by the bird, so the quail will not get very hungry overnight.

It is not recommended to overfeed laying hens; for better egg production, birds should experience slight hunger and peck food with appetite. However, some quail breeders argue that birds should always have food. Over-caring for your pets can cause the bird to become lethargic and possibly fat. Egg production, with this method of feeding, is somewhat reduced, feed consumption is overestimated. However, in large farms, quails, when properly maintained and cared for, are often fed from bunker feeders. Combined feed is poured into the bunker feeders, based on the daily intake.

The best food is special complete feed for quails, which can be replaced with compound feed for laying hens. The main difference between feed for Japanese quail and most other feed for poultry is the increased content of crude protein in it. The compound feed for quails contains 21-23% of crude protein. When fed with wet mash, quail can do without drinking water. When feeding with compound feed, each female should eat 22-27 g of compound feed per day. Feeding birds with compound feed is the most economical. To obtain 1 kg of egg mass, it is required to spend 5-7 kg of dry compound feed. For a year, 1 female eats about 9 kg of feed. Feed consumption increases with increasing daylight hours, lowering room temperature, improperly formulated diet, and for some other reasons, described below. If you are not familiar with the grams of food, imagine the size of the bird's crop, which she needs to fill 2-3 times a day.

Under natural conditions, quails feed on seeds of weeds and cereals, and while feeding young animals, they eat insects and their larvae. The young of these birds prefer food of animal origin - various insects, larvae and invertebrates.

It is known from many sources that in Japan quails are fed a mixture consisting of 50% rice and 50% fish waste. Such quail food is pecked with great appetite. However, due to the high cost of rice and fish in our conditions, it is expensive to feed birds with such feed.

In a household setting, the best feeds are considered from grain: millet, sorghum and all types of crushed grain (except rye), canary seed. The granulometric composition of crushed grain and feed should correspond to the age of the bird. Temporary feeding of an adult bird with not crushed grain is allowed: wheat, barley and rice groats. The composition of grain mixtures includes crushed grain: wheat, corn, barley, oats and chumiza. Painted quails are recommended to introduce poppy into the grain diet, and already from an early age. Males painted quails need 5-7 grams of grain feed per day. All quails benefit from various grain bran. From legumes, it is useful for birds to give crushed and steamed: peas, lentils, lupins, beans and soybeans. Vika is given in crushed form mixed with crushed oats, as it has a bitter taste that is unpleasant for birds.

From root crops you can give boiled potatoes and peel them, especially grated carrots can often be given to the bird. Temporarily grated carrots can be replaced with grated turnips and beets. Quails eat beets of any variety, which must first be boiled and grated. In winter, in the absence of greenery, quails eat grated carrots in fairly large quantities, so it is advisable to stock them up in advance.

Further, quails must be given chopped daily greenery in unlimited quantities, which can temporarily be replaced with grated carrots or various vitamin supplements. Of the greens, quails prefer cabbage leaves, beets, dandelions, carrots, clover, nettles, alfalfa and green onions. Greens must first be chopped by chopping with a knife or scrolling in a meat grinder. In extreme cases, you can temporarily feed whole leaves. Quails do well on their own with hanging tops of turnips, carrots, and beets. It is especially useful to feed fresh chopped cabbage to quails in winter. To do this, cabbage, along with the leaves, can be frozen in the freezer, and with the onset of stable frosts, stored indoors or under snow at sub-zero temperatures. Cabbage should not be defrosted repeatedly. Quails can be fed grated and soaked apples, pumpkin, sauerkraut and lightly salted cabbage, chopped needles and coniferous flour. Herbal flour is very useful for birds.

In addition, quail need protein feed, of which they are well suited: fish and meat and bone meal, waste or minced meat from fresh or boiled fish of almost any kind, cottage cheese, minced meat, milk powder, earth and flour worms, slaughtered bird blood, ant pupae, various premixes and other protein supplements . Cakes and meals, crushed sunflowers and beans, boiled peas, flax and hemp seeds are also suitable for enriching feed with protein.

Quail prefer foods containing animal protein. However, it is believed that when feeding soybeans, alfalfa flour and corn to quails, this type of poultry can do without animal protein. Feed enriched with animal protein is fed 2 times a day. In the heat of summer, quails use less energy to maintain body temperature, so the protein content of the feed can be reduced. Bony fish waste should be given to birds with caution. Do not give bony food to very hungry quails.

No less important to quails and minerals. Mineral feeds provide the content of calcium and other trace elements necessary for the bird. Calcium is essential for egg shell formation. Birds should always have sea or river ground shells, fine gravel is very desirable. Quail quickly peck out a small shell, leaving large, not crushed particles, so you should constantly monitor the presence of finely ground shells in birds, otherwise the quails will lay eggs in a bag, without a shell. Chalk and eggshells are suitable for temporary replacements for shells. With a lack of gravel, quails peck at the sand in which they bathe, which in itself is not dangerous, unless, of course, the sand has harmful impurities. Gravel and sand grind food in the muscular stomach, so quails better absorb the nutrients in the feed. Before feeding, the gravel should be thoroughly washed and placed in separate feeders.

Water should be with the birds at all times. Quails like to rinse their beaks in water, thereby polluting it, so the drinker must be washed 1-2 times a day. Periodically, for the prevention of gastrointestinal diseases, dissolve potassium permanganate crystals in water until a barely noticeable pink color is obtained. However, despite the benefits, birds do not like to drink such water.

To feed additives include various vitamin supplements, premixes, hydrocarbon and fodder yeasts. Feed additives are fed to quails in strictly limited quantities. It is necessary to monitor the quality of the premix and other feeds that have a short shelf life.

poisonous substance, as for all birds, is salt (in large quantities). Salty foods (such as cabbage) should be given in small portions, rinsed to remove salt, with caution and only in extreme cases. It is dangerous to feed quails with compound feed for cattle and pigs, as it contains large particles of salt, which can lead to bird poisoning. Sour and sweet foods are not harmful to quails.

If you don't sell feed for quails, it may be suitable for feeding quails and commercially available parrot food. When feeding with grain mixtures, each female must eat daily 12 g of protein feed, greens and shells without restrictions. Protein feeds are recommended to be mixed with cereals. If you have a familiar angler or you are fishing yourself, then you will not have problems with protein feeds. You can provide quails with protein feed, for example, as follows. Japanese quails peck well any, even the smallest and low-grade fish. Fresh fish should not be infested with worms. Boil fish of unknown quality in boiling water. Boiled fish can be placed whole in the feeders, but it is better to scroll boiled or fresh fish in a meat grinder. The resulting minced meat, place in the freezer. Cut off pieces of minced meat with a knife, and after letting it thaw, give it to the birds, and they will thank you by laying large eggs.

shells you can buy it in the market, in pet stores, or you can collect it yourself near water bodies. Pour boiling water over the shells brought from the shore and chop. The shells that you buy can also be ground further to save money.

Favorite delicacies of quails are minced fresh fish, garden worms, cottage cheese, rice, hemp seeds, boiled crushed peas, grated carrots. The quails, who have never seen hemp seed, willingly eat it at the first feeding. However, hemp seed should not be given to young quails, due to the presence of narcotic substances in it. Hemp seeds can be given to adult birds only in small quantities, since this food contributes to bird obesity, is quite expensive and scarce. There is an opinion that when feeding a large amount of hemp seed, the bird can become blind. Quails are almost indifferent to flax seeds.

In winter, Japanese and other quails of egg breeds are desirable green top dressing- lettuce, spinach. It is also good to feed the birds with green onions and germinated millet. Germination of grain allows you to increase the content of some vitamins, the starch of the grain is sugared, and its taste improves. For germination, use grain that has preserved good germination. Grain at the rate of daily consumption is soaked in a waterproof container and left for one day, after which it is scattered in boxes. The temperature in the grain layer is maintained within +(22-25)ºС. Germination of grain occurs on the second day. When sprouts 2-5 mm long appear, the grain is fed. Moist heat treatment and grain yeast are also recommended. In the spring, as soon as the first greens appear (usually young nettles and dandelions), pick and chop it for quails, they really need it! During stress and with certain diseases, the need for quails in vitamin feed increases dramatically.

Rice. 3. An ordinary feeder.

feeders can be made of galvanized roofing iron or other suitable materials. The depth of the feeder is 5 or 7 cm, the height is 15 cm. During feeding, quails scatter food heavily, so the feeders should be deep enough, with edges bent inward, and located away from the drinkers. Feeders should be filled with food no more than ⅔ of the volume. It is inconvenient to weigh bird feed every time, therefore, when distributing dry compound feed, grain mixtures and bran, it is convenient to use measuring dosing cups. It is also convenient to use scoops for cereals and bulk substances, which are not difficult to make on your own. The feeding front (width of the feeder in cm per 1 bird) of adult Japanese quails is 3-5 cm.

When feeding with dry compound feed, it is possible to use an automatic feeder - a hopper. The hopper feeder is filled with food once a day, or even once every few days.

When feeding quails with worms, a tray should be installed in the cage. The fact is that quails eat worms willingly, but swallow them with difficulty, and therefore often drop them on the mesh floor. Worms fall from the mesh floor and spread around the house.

It is necessary to clean the feeders as they become dirty. Keep manure out of feeders and drinkers.

Quail fit drinkers almost any design. Many poultry books say that vacuum drinkers are most suitable for quails. However, in practice, quails quickly pollute these ingenious devices (vacuum drinkers), which are not very convenient to wash. Therefore, it is better to use simple cups or used cans as drinking bowls, which are easier to wash and boil against bacteria. Vacuum drinkers are good to use only for watering young animals. Drinkers are installed in front of the cage so that the birds drink water by sticking their heads through the bars of the cage. When keeping a large number of quails, it is advisable to install nipple drinkers, or drinkers with running water. The best drinkers for quails are currently considered nipple drinkers. Do not make drinking bowls from galvanized iron.

Be careful with salt, medicines and cement, do not let them get into the feed! Quail, like many birds, do not distinguish the taste of feed well enough, and can be poisoned by unfamiliar toxic substances. Bitter foods are not recommended. Do not give your bird ice cream or hot food. The temperature of the feed should be close to the temperature of the room where the quail is kept. Do not drastically change the composition of the feed and the feeding time of the birds. Accustom quails to new food gradually, adding new food in small doses. Quails may be less likely to lay with some poorly formulated diets.

If you do not have compound feed, feed the quails various grain mixtures with the addition of protein and vitamin feeds. Gradually changing the set of feed components, select the most successful diet, based on the availability of your local feed, achieve the best egg production of females. Japanese quails, for example, can be fed with such feeds:
morning: millet, boiled fish, chopped greens
for lunch: wheat bran, crushed grain mixture, grated carrots
in the evening: millet, wheat, corn, boiled fish, chopped greens. Do not forget that the ground shell should be in the feeder all the time.

A bit of cooking

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The same dishes are prepared from quail eggs as from chicken ones. Fried eggs and omelettes are fried from them, boiled, baked, made sauces, mayonnaise, added to the dough (with the exception of dough for thin pancakes).

It is very useful to drink raw quail eggs, as they lose most of their beneficial properties during heat treatment. Boiled quail eggs “under mayonnaise” are also tasty. Here is the method of cleaning boiled quail eggs that Pigareva M.D. describes in her book “Quail Breeding”. Put hard-boiled eggs in a solution of table vinegar (2/3 vinegar and 1/3 water). After a few hours, the shell should completely dissolve. There is an opinion among some quail breeders, with which I also fully agree, that quail eggs that have more dark spots in the shell color are the most tasty and healthy. Pay attention to the safety of the shell shell of eggs intended for human consumption, it should not have gaps. Break a raw quail egg, placing it comfortably in the palm of your hand, and “chopping” it with a heavy, not very sharp knife, trying not to cut the yolk. In this way, small shells do not break off, often annoying hostesses. Not very sharp knife you will not hurt the palm of your hand. However, sometimes, in some quails, it is not possible to cut an egg in this way due to the too thin shell and strong shell membrane.

Quail meat has valuable dietary properties, and in terms of taste it surpasses the meat of most other types of poultry. This meat is also valued for the fact that quails do not need to be vaccinated, and therefore it is an environmentally friendly product that has retained the real taste of game. You can cook ordinary chicken noodles and other dishes from quail meat. Cooking time for young quail meat is 20 minutes, for old poultry 1 hour. The most delicious are young 1.5-month-old quails of meat breeds. Quail meat is part of the famous salad Olivet (restaurant "Capital"), the true recipe of which, like the secret of making Damascus steel, is not known to many. It is only known that the Olive salad contains: quail meat, crayfish neck, black caviar, potatoes, tomatoes, and some other ingredients.

homemade mayonnaise does not contain preservatives that prolong its shelf life, and often harmful to health. Separate the yolks of quail eggs (6 pcs.) From proteins (this is the only difficult cooking operation). Prepare the sauce by adding 2 teaspoons of mustard, 0.5 teaspoon, to the raw yolks. l. salt, 1 tsp. l. Sahara. Gradually add 1 teaspoon to the sauce thus obtained. l. olive oil. Beat the sauce thoroughly until a thick, homogeneous mass is obtained. Add 3% vinegar and sour cream. The taste of mayonnaise depends mainly on the properties of mustard. Soft mayonnaise is made using sweet mustard. With the use of burning mustard, the taste of mayonnaise becomes spicy.

Quail with cherries. The sirloin of quail carcasses is covered with a thin slice of bacon and tied with a thread. Then, the carcasses are placed on a hot frying pan with butter or animal fat and fried on all sides. 3-5 minutes before readiness, the fat is poured into the juice, the fat is separated from the juice, cherries (pitted) and cognac are added. Stew in a sealed container for 5-10 minutes. The dish is served with cherries and juice in which quails were stewed. Ingredients: quail 8 pcs., pitted cherries 200 g, broth 80 g, cognac 20 g, animal fat 20 g.

Japanese quail females in captivity begin egg-laying from one and a half months of age, while chickens first need to grow to six months, ostriches to 2-3 years of age. In terms of resistance to diseases, the percentage of hatching of young animals, the taste of meat and many other indicators, quails are superior to most types of other poultry. Quails are less susceptible to bird flu, as they are usually kept indoors. Female quails are usually larger in size than males. The few shortcomings of these birds include underdeveloped intelligence (compared, for example, with the intelligence of pigeons).

There is an opinion that supposedly quail eggs do not contain cholesterol. However, this is an erroneous, untrue judgment. Cholesterol is involved in the creation of cell membranes in the eggs of all types and breeds of birds, and it is also present in quail eggs. But compared, for example, with fish caviar, quail eggs contain a very small amount of cholesterol.

It is interesting to observe the change in the behavior of quails depending on their number in the aviary. Common quails are well developed physically. For example, a pheasant, a chicken and a sparrow will not fly over the Black or Mediterranean Sea, while ordinary European quails make annual seasonal migratory flights over these seas. Of all chickens, wild quails caught in nature are better accustomed to artificial feed. Likewise, the young of an ordinary quail, bred under artificial conditions, adapts well in the wild.

The development of poultry farming in our country is partly hampered by the cold, sometimes harsh climate of the middle and northern latitudes of Russia. Quail - birds are quite thermophilic. Quails in nature are unique migratory "mini-hens". The quail house should be well heated. Of course, science does not stand still, scientists are developing new types of cheap energy sources, used in particular for heating poultry farms. As you know, the climate on our planet is changing. The clearly inevitable, upcoming global warming of the climate on Earth is to the benefit of quail breeders in Russia.

By getting quails in the backyard, and using the droppings of these birds, you will solve the problem of a shortage of organic fertilizers for the garden, kitchen garden and indoor plants.

The legislation of the Russian Federation in city apartments is not allowed to keep chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and other large poultry. You can keep quails in reasonable quantities and in compliance with sanitary standards in an apartment building.

Features of the behavior of quails
Hungry quails are looking forward to the owner, joyfully pounce on food. In a flock of growing young, a hierarchy often arises. Dominance is usually captured by the largest and healthiest female. Such a female lays her first egg first, repels weaker quails from the feeder, and sometimes pecks at other birds. The eggs from the dominant females are the largest, their egg-laying continues much longer than that of ordinary quails.

Quails are quite shy. Frightened birds run and rush around the cage, trying to take off, hitting their heads on the cage. Sometimes they manage to escape from a loosely closed cage. Quails, fearful for a long time, stretch their bodies and especially their heads, their plumage becomes unusually smooth. With prolonged stress, the birds tilt their necks, press their goiter to the floor of the cage, as if preparing to take off at any moment. Well-fed and calm birds sit still and doze. Calm birds are in no hurry to leave even an open cage. After laying another egg, the male of the Japanese breed usually screams. The male also calls often at dawn and dusk, in natural light. Males, when caring for females, often call them to feed, clucking and holding food in their beak, just like ordinary roosters take care of their chickens. When approaching a human cage and when the light is turned on in the morning, the male starts chasing females for mating, thereby showing his importance in the flock. Alone quail feel bad. Japanese quails, who have lived together for a long time and are seated in different cages, loudly shout to each other. Males in such cases long, persistently and loudly shout out their own, almost cock-like: “u-a-a”. Often, males raise their voices, and for some time they only wheeze softly, their beaks wide open. Lonely females anxiously sing: "fchyu-fi, fchyu-fi." When keeping a family of one male and 3-10 females in a cage, it was noticed that, on average, females lay 2-9 eggs per day. According to an “arrangement” incomprehensible to a person, one of the females will not lay eggs, taking, as it were, a day off. For greater egg production, quails are kept in large herds. Unlike chickens that prefer to lay before dinner, Japanese quails usually lay their eggs on quiet, calm evenings. It often happens that they rush immediately after feeding, as if expressing gratitude to the owner. With the frequent presence of a person near a cage with a bird, quails rush worse. Before laying another egg, the female squeaks excitedly, and at the moment of laying she throws her head back. Not slaughtered in time for meat, aging females gradually stop laying eggs. A young male may peck such females to death.

If you notice that the male is chasing old females and pinching them, put these females in another cage, feed them and slaughter them for meat. Sometimes some, more often young quails can upset their owner by lying with their eyes closed, stretching their legs and head. It looks like the bird is dying, in fact, the birds are thus just sleeping.

fattening

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It is recommended to fatten excess males and females of Japanese quails that are not suitable for oviposition before slaughter.

It is advisable to keep females and males for fattening separately. Birds are placed in a darkened and well-heated room, the air temperature should be + (20-24) ºC. In a darkened room, quails spend little energy, as they move little and gain weight well. Light day is reduced to 10-12 hours. Quails are fed for a month. Quail should be fed three or four times a day. Feed your birds a variety of grain mixes. At this time, it is recommended to give quails millet and corn. During the day, give the same feed as with normal feeding. If possible, give the bird boiled peas mixed with broiler feed. Boil crushed peas for 30 minutes before feeding. To increase the calorie content of feed, be sure to add 5% feed fat to the diet.

Transfer quails to fattening mode gradually, smoothly changing the diet. Fattening quails are recommended to feed grated carrots, which gives the meat a pleasant shade of color. At this time, fish, fish oil and fish meal, onions, garlic and pine needles should not be fed to the bird, from which quail meat acquires an unpleasant taste and smell. Before slaughter, it is advisable to give quails salted water.

Quail in nature

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In the wild nature of our continent, Eurasia, the genus of quail Coturnix Bonnaterr, belonging to the chicken order, pheasant family, has been well studied. Here are its main subspecies.

common quail distributed in Europe, Africa, Western Asia. Subspecies of the genus Coturnix Bonnaterr. In central Russia, it lives everywhere, up to Eastern Baikal. The body length is not more than 19 cm. The common quail belongs to migratory birds. A lot of birds die from poachers during the flight in the Crimea, the Caucasus, and some Asian countries. The common quail winters in Africa and Southwest Asia. Separate, not quite healthy individuals remain for the winter in Russia, of which rarely survive until spring. Common quails arrive in Russia from the south in April - May. The flight takes place at night, and during the day, the quail sits in grassy fields and damp meadows. It nests exclusively on the ground, in a clutch of up to 18 eggs. The main hatching of chicks occurs in June (in the middle Volga region). The female raises the young alone. The male does not take part in rearing the quail. The number of common quail is sharply reduced due to its poisoning with mineral fertilizers and pesticides applied to the fields. Many birds die under the wheels of agricultural vehicles and when flying over the Black and Mediterranean Seas during strong winds. July 3 is the day of Methodius the Sparrowhawk. On this day, in the old days, hunters went out into the fields - the hunt for quail began. At the beginning of the last century, the common quail was a worthy trophy of hunters during the autumn flight in the Crimea and the Caucasus. In different countries of Eurasia, there are several different types of hunting and trapping of common quail. Since ancient times, there has been rifle and hawk hunting for quail. To catch quails, various nets, a special bait pipe or a live female, a dog, and even a net are used. Currently, in Russia, hunting for wild quails begins on August 4th.

Common quail in the countries of Central Asia is kept in cages as a fighting bird, and sometimes as a songbird. In the warm summer months, starting from mid-May, in the fields, steppes and meadows, in country cottages, you can often hear its characteristic whistle: "fut-futyu". Many people interpret this phrase as: "it's time to sleep." However, in my opinion, there are more whistling sounds in this melody, and therefore, I tend to the first option. At a close distance, you can hear a soft humming "waa - waa ...". Eats insects, invertebrates, seeds of cereals, oilseeds and weeds. A fat quail that has fattened over the summer, meeting a person by chance, as a rule, freezes motionlessly, or runs away and hides in tall grass. Due to the weight gained, it takes off reluctantly and noisily. The flight is fast, straight, often at low altitudes. In pre-revolutionary Russia, common quail was often kept in cages as a kind of songbird.

quail mute distributed in the southeast of Siberia (in Transbaikalia), very similar to the common quail, domesticated in Japan and India. The ancestor of domestic egg-laying breeds. Silent quail and common quail are considered subspecies of the same species. Silent quail is distinguished by a reddish tint of plumage, deaf, not very pleasant singing. Its numbers are declining due to heavy rains. Serious work on the selection of domesticated dumb quails was first carried out by poultry farmers in Japan in the first half of the 20th century. This interesting business was greatly hindered by the Second World War, most of the birds then died. Japanese quail were brought to our country from Yugoslavia in 1964. In the wild, it begins to breed at the age of one. Female mute quail in their natural habitat lay fewer eggs compared to domesticated females of the same breed. However, domesticated quails completely refuse to equip their nests, incubate eggs and care for offspring.

Painted, or Chinese quail is the smallest of the genus Coturnix Bonnaterr. It is about half the size of an ordinary quail, its voice is quiet. The birthplace of these birds is Indochina, East India and the island of Sri Lanka. In Europe, they have been kept and bred as ornamentals since 1881. They were brought to our country by the Zoo Association in the early 70s of the 20th century. Painted quails are kept in spacious enclosures with grass and natural soil. The painted quail is the most interesting representative of its kind, from the point of view of animal lovers. Often used as a laboratory animal. Unlike other quails - polygamous (chaotic mating), in the content of which it is recommended to keep one male with three to four females, painted quails are monogamous (monogamous). The male helps in the construction of the nest, protects the female from enemies, cares for the chicks.

Here are some more varieties of the genus Coturnix: Indian quail, black-breasted quail, harlequin quail describes A.I. Rakhmanov in his book Breeding domestic and exotic quails.

In Africa, especially in its southeastern part, it is common African blue quail. lives in India and the Himalayas Asian bush quail. Settled in Southeast India rocky bush quail. brown quail inhabits Australia and the islands of New Guinea.

On the Pacific coast of North America, in Colombia and New Zealand lives California quail. This quail belongs to the genus Lophortyx. California quails have a crest on their heads. These birds spend the night in the crowns of trees. Also lives in the USA virginian quail from the genus Colinus. It nests on the ground and is a common hunting item for the Americans.

Breeds of domestic quail

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Quails of various breeds, crossbreeds and mutant forms differ from each other in exterior, plumage color, body weight, hatchability of young animals, egg production, and some other characteristic features.

Japanese quails are distinguished by high rates of egg production, resistance to diseases, and hatchability of young animals (about 90%). quail breed pharaoh bred for their valuable meat. These are real broiler quails. Their live weight is 40% higher than the live weight of Japanese quails. Estonian quails have excellent egg production - up to 310 eggs per year, as well as excellent taste of meat. French and Estonian quail at 45 days of age reach a live weight of 280-300 g. british black breed characterized by individual plumage color. Their females reach a mass of 210 g. There are other breeds, numerous mutant forms and crossbreeds of quail breeds. The most widely known are: American broiler albinos, white English, tuxedo, Manchurian golden, marbled, Australian tan. Tuxedo (tuxedo) quail weighing about 140 g, lay 280 eggs per year. Marbled mutant quails have similar characteristics to Japanese quails. Marble quails are more attractive in plumage color. All egg and meat-egg breeds, their mutant forms, are bred (originated) from wild dumb (Japanese) quails.

Painted or Chinese quails are kept, as a rule, only as ornamental birds.

There are also decorative california, brown-crested and virgin quail, which are kept as decorative birds. Sometimes virginian quail is grown for meat.

• 3141 views

• Abakumov V. Poultry in the household.
• Avramenko V.I. Handbook of the poultry breeder: feeding, care, breeding, diseases. M., 2003
• Alekseeva L., Menshov M. Machine for removing plumage from quails - "Poultry", 1971
• Bogomolova N., Mercilina T. The use of Japanese quail embryos for the production of biological products - "Veterinary", 1975
• Bondarenko S. Keeping quails. Publisher: AST, Stalker, 2003
• Bratskikh V. G., Sobol A. Z., Nefedova V. N. Ostriches and quails. Breeding, keeping, business. Publisher: Phoenix, 2004
• Gusev V. Animals at our house. - Moscow, Ecology, 1992
• Dmitriev Yu., Pozharitskaya I., Vladimirov A., Porudominsky V. The Book of Nature. - Moscow, Children's Literature Publishing House, 1990
• Domanska B. Breeding of quails (in Polish) - Warsaw, 1973
• Zadorozhnaya L.A. Quail breeding. Publisher: Stalker, AST, 2004
• Zakharova T.I. Poultry dishes. - Moscow, Economics, 1991
• Ziper A. Care of young poultry. Publisher: AST, Stalker, 2002
• Iglin S., Lukovkin V., Kartashov Yu., Building a quail farm - "Poultry", 1968
• Ignatov V., Skitsky V. Industrial quail farm - "Poultry", 1971
• Kadenkova N.V., Kornilova O.A. Japanese quail
• Morozova O. Poultry: chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowls, quails and pigeons. – 2000
• Pigareva M.D. Quail breeding.
• Pigareva M., Korotkikh A., Razorenov E., Conditions for keeping and breeding quails - "Poultry", 1968
• Ponomarenko Y. Quail farm - "Poultry".
• Rakhmanov A.I. Breeding domestic and exotic quail publisher: Aquarium-Print, 2004
• Rakhmanov A.I. Tips for a summer resident - a poultry farmer. 2004
• Sergeev V. How to breed quails - "Poultry".
• Utenkova T.A. Domestic bird. Breeding and care. M.: Veche, 2008
• Khlebnikov V. Culinary products and canned food from quail meat - "Poultry Farming", 1968
• Guinea fowl, pheasants, quails, pigeons. Breeding, cultivation publishing house: Prof-Press, 2002
• Kharchuk Yu. Breeding and keeping quails, Phoenix 2005

• 2557 views

Abakumov V. Poultry in the household.

Avramenko V.I.
Handbook of the poultry breeder: feeding, care, breeding, diseases. M., 2003

Alekseeva L.,
Menshov M. Machine for removing plumage from quails - "Poultry", 1971

Bogomolova N.,
Mercilina T. Use of Japanese quail embryos for production
biological products - Veterinary Medicine, 1975

Bondarenko S.
Content of quails. Publisher: AST, Stalker, 2003

Bratskikh V. G.,
Sobol A. 3., Nefedova V. N. Strauses and
quail. Breeding, keeping, business. Publisher: Phoenix, 2004

Gusev V. Animals
at our home. - Moscow, Ecology, 1992

Dmitriev Yu.,
Pozharitskaya I., Vladimirov A., Porudominsky V. The Book of Nature. - Moscow,
publishing house Children's literature, 1990

Domanskaya B.
Breeding of quails (in Polish) - Warsaw, 1973

Zadorozhnaya L.A. Quail breeding. Publisher: Stalker,
AST, 2004

Zakharova T.I.
Poultry dishes. - Moscow, Economics, 1991

Ziper A. Care
young poultry. Publisher: AST, Stalker, 2002

Iglin S., Lukovkin
V., Kartashov Yu., Building a quail
farm - "Poultry", 1968

Ignatov V.,
Skitsky V. Industrial quail farm - "Poultry", 1971

Kadenkova N.V.,
Kornilova O.A. Japanese quail

Morozova O.
Poultry: chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowls, quails and pigeons. –2000

Pigareva M.D.
Quail breeding.

Pigareva M.,
Korotkikh A., Razorenov E., Conditions for keeping and breeding quails -
"Poultry", 1968

Ponomarenko Ya.
Quail farm - "Poultry".

Rakhmanov A.I.
Breeding domestic and exotic quail publishing house: Aquarium-Print, 2004
G.

Rakhmanov A.I.
Tips for a summer resident - a poultry farmer. 2004

Sergeev V. How
to breed quails - "Poultry".

Utenkova T.A.
Domestic bird. Breeding and care. M.: Veche, 2008

Khlebnikov V.
Culinary products and canned food from quail meat - "Poultry Farming", 1968

Guinea fowl, pheasants,
quail, pigeons. Breeding, cultivation publishing house: Prof-Press, 2002

Harchuk Yu.
Quail breeding and keeping, Phoenix 2005

Pairing

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In general, quails are not specifically required to mate, they themselves mate well. However, there are cases when the male prefers to mate with low-grade females, and avoids thoroughbred and productive laying hens. Such absurdities occur in other types of poultry. In such cases, cull females with poorer egg production.

For breeding purposes, females from 3 to 8 months of age, and males from 3 to 6 months of age should be used. You should not mate quails of different breeds, as well as birds that are closely related. Do not mate males and females born from the same sire.

In a flock of quails prepared for hatching eggs, one male should have from two to four, maximum five females. The hatchability of young animals will increase if the females mate (be in the same cage with the male) less often. Painted and Californian quails are kept in pairs for this period.

Female quails of the Japanese breed are so accustomed to males that when they change, they can not let a new producer approach them for a long time. Females often chase an unfamiliar male around the cage, pinching him and pulling out the feathers on his neck. If he sits down somewhere to rest, then the females can peck him to death. In this case, put the "unwanted" male into the next cage and try to plant him with the females in one or two days. Watch the behavior of the females until they get used to the young male. Usually, after a few days, the females get used to the new male. When changing the male, egg production is noticeably reduced, which is fully restored after about a week.

It is much more difficult to try on militant males with some females that do not sympathize with them. Such cases are less common, but if this happens, put the male in a cage with an "unloved" female (and not vice versa).
Observe the behavior of the birds, the presence of blood, especially on the head of the female. In case of aggressive behavior of the male, drop him again and try again in a few days. This reconciliation may take several weeks. For more information on the reconciliation of quails, see the chapter Content errors.

During mating in the diet of birds, it is recommended to slightly increase the content of protein and vitamin feeds. It is useful to feed wheat bran. Let the males and females live together for one week before you start collecting eggs for incubation.

In case of short-term mating, in order to obtain hatching eggs, the male is placed in a cage with the female in the morning for 15-20 minutes every 2-3 days.

Determine gender Japanese quails can be, starting from the 20th day of age in terms of plumage. In males, the neck and chest have a darker, brown plumage. In females, the shade of the feather is lighter, light gray, with large black specks. If the plumage color of some Japanese quails is not pronounced, then it is better not to leave them for the tribe. Other quail breeds can have different plumage colors, so their sex, by the age of 2 months, is distinguished by the following features: males have pink skin in the cloaca area, females have a bluish-gray skin. Also, females and males are easy to distinguish by live body weight - quails are 15% heavier than quails. Males usually outnumber females in back and neck length. And, of course, a young male differs from his girlfriends with a loud cry. The California quail has a white stripe above the eye, which appears at 1.5 months of age. The male white English quail is distinguished from the female by the presence of black spots on the head. As with most bird species, in many quail breeds, males look more elegant than females.

Determine age Japanese quail is quite difficult. Young quails, at the age of one month, have elegant plumage. The color of the plumage of young individuals is always lighter than that of adults and old birds. Baldness is common in old and middle-aged birds. However, even an old female who has stopped laying eggs can be completely feathered. A middle-aged laying hen has bald patches. Older females are usually darker in feather color. In adult birds, down and feathers are defective. The skin of the legs of old birds is rough, darker, often with long claws.

The meat of two-month-old quails is very tasty. The carcasses of older individuals are darker, the skin is torn more easily, the meat is cooked longer.

Quail slaughter

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Domestic quails should not be released into the wild. Accustomed to living in captivity, quails will be unsuitable for life in the wild. By releasing them to freedom, you will leave them to their fate, and subject them to excruciating suffering. In most cases, poultry will not find their food in nature and, with the onset of cold weather, will not be able to fly to wintering grounds. Ornamental birds are kept in cages until the end of their lives. Egg and meat breeds are usually slaughtered for meat.
It is best to slaughter quails in the morning, before feeding, while the goiter of the bird is empty and there is time for painstaking work - plucking the plumage. A special bird guillotine is not always available for sale. Therefore, quails are most often slaughtered with large scissors or garden shears. For slaughtering quails, you can turn to familiar pigeon breeders, many of whom are good at slaughtering defective birds.

Hang a freshly slaughtered bird by its paw and let the blood drain for several minutes (previously substituting a container so as not to stain the floor with blood). Then, with scissors, cut off the wings (carefully so as not to damage the skin of the carcass) and pluck the feathers and down. The plumage should be pulled out in the direction of its growth, which prevents a possible tearing of the skin. As a rule, quails are well plucked from the feather. Only sometimes it is necessary to lower the carcasses of some individuals into pre-prepared boiling water for 10 seconds to facilitate pulling out fluff and feathers. For plucking, sometimes slaughtered birds are dipped in molten paraffin. They give the paraffin to harden, and without much difficulty, and most importantly, qualitatively, they remove fluff and feathers. In large farms, it makes sense to acquire a special semi-automatic machine for removing plumage. After plucking the carcass, it is advisable to gently singe on fire. Then you should cut off the paws, cut the breast (lengthwise), remove the gastrointestinal tract along with the skin around the cloaca. You can rinse the carcass in cold water, but not for a very long time, otherwise the taste of the quail will be lost. The carcass is ready to cook or freeze. Without freezing, carcasses are stored for up to three days at +(0-4)ºC and relative humidity of 80%. Dried carcasses should be frozen, on which there are no traces of water. Carcasses should be thawed at room temperature or in the microwave.

Rice. 4. Common quail

Typical Content Errors

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Quails have a fairly high body temperature, and partly because of this, they rarely get sick. Quails almost never suffer from ornithosis and salmonellosis. This happens because pathogenic microorganisms die at elevated body temperatures in birds. Healthy quails are usually mobile, often scavenge for food, only having eaten a hearty meal, they sit down for a while - to rest. A sick bird can sit for a long time in one place, possibly with its eyes closed.

Quails have an excellent appetite, the possible deterioration of which should alert the quail breeder. A healthy bird should have a body weight characteristic of its breed. These birds are often fed dry grain mixtures and fish, and therefore, quails love to drink fresh water. Refusal to drink or vice versa, excessive water consumption may indicate certain diseases of birds. Healthy birds have a clear coordination of movements, a confident gait. The eyes should have a shine, should not be cloudy. The plumage of a healthy bird is clean, smooth, not disheveled. Healthy quails do not peck insects on feathers, do not scratch the skin with their beak. The beak should not be too soft, long or short. Legs should not have congenital or acquired defects. Under the tail there should be no sticky droppings.

Quail droppings are also a typical indicator of bird health. Quail droppings should have a familiar shape and color.

Eggs should have the usual shape and mass characteristic of the breed. The egg shell must be strong enough and have a characteristic coloring. Eggs with a green tint on the shell should alert the quail breeder (possibly infection).

Disease prevention quail consists in observing the elementary rules of keeping and feeding. Let me briefly recall the basic conditions for keeping quails. The room in which adult quails are kept should not have drafts, the air temperature in it should not fall below +10ºC (+50ºF) for a long time. The rearing room must be heated even better, with a minimum temperature of +22ºC (+70ºF).

It is necessary to monitor daily the permissible norms of harmful gases in the air of the room, formed from bird droppings. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight is not recommended for this bird species. All feed must be of good quality and not expired. You can not grossly violate the mode of feeding and lighting quails. Quails should not be allowed to come into contact with wild and non-sanitary checks (quarantine) poultry. Don't forget - one way bird flu is transmitted is through bird droppings. When collecting juicy, green fodder for quails - various plant leaves, pay attention to the presence of wild bird droppings that accidentally fell on them. You discard contaminated greens. At least once a month, add potassium permanganate, brovaf, or other antibiotics for birds to the water.

In the event of dangerous and unknown diseases, you should immediately contact your veterinarian and the sanitary and epidemiological supervision service. In addition, the mass death of birds should be reported to the local administration. Only in exceptional cases, burn a bird that has fallen for an unknown reason and bury it deep. It is possible to disinfect the house on your own only in extreme cases, by whitewashing the walls, partitions and ceiling twice with a 10% solution of freshly slaked lime. The wooden floor of the house should be doused with the same solution.

Typical causes of deterioration in egg production
Different types of quails have different egg production rates.
Under normal conditions of detention and with a full, varied feeding, Japanese quails lay eggs approximately according to the following schedule. Within 5-6 days, the female lays one egg a day, after which, an egg-laying break for 1-2 days follows and its subsequent resumption. There should be no long breaks in laying eggs. In a heated room, quails do not have breaks in egg-laying associated with the season and molting, as is the case with most birds of other species. If your quails do not rush, or lay few eggs, it is necessary to find out and eliminate the reason for the cessation or deterioration of egg laying.

The deterioration of the egg production of females occurs with some maintenance errors:
1. Quails stop laying when the temperature drops below +17ºC (+60ºF). In hot summer weather, with temperatures above +27ºC (+80ºF), and poor ventilation, egg production almost stops and even death of birds can occur;
2. in case of certain diseases (cannibalism, poisoning, etc.);
3. You should verify the authenticity and shelf life of fodder, premix, cereals. Insufficient content of protein, vitamins and other necessary feed components. When feeding low-quality feed (for example, sick carrots);
4. decrease in egg production of females (kept in a heated room), associated with their aging, begins at the age of 1 - 1.5 years;
5. in case of non-compliance with the norm of the number of quails per 1 m² per la;
6. shipping stress. Nobody or anything should scare your birds;
7. A sharp change in the lighting regime adversely affects egg production. Quails need 17-18 hour daylight hours;
8. transplantation of young females into cages for adult birds, immediately before the start of oviposition, causes a delay of 2 weeks;
9. when changing males, females temporarily stop laying eggs. In this case, oviposition resumes after 5-7 days.
10. Separate maintenance of males and females slightly reduces egg production.

Table 2. Typical quail incubation errors.

Sometimes, it is possible to improve the egg production of females by the so-called "contrast" feeding. Feed your quail 3 or 4 times a day, at the same time. Between feedings, food (except shells and water) should not be in the feeders. Quails rush better when they eat food with appetite.

With a lack of fat in the feed, quails squeak loudly, plaintively during the laying of eggs. Apparently, feed fat in the body of birds turns into a lubricant that facilitates egg laying. However, an excess of fat in the diet (more than 5%) causes liver disease in quails and even the death of birds.

If quails lay small eggs, then they were grown in conditions of excessive light, or there was a lack of protein in the diet.

***
Compared to other types of poultry, quails rarely get sick. If this does happen, contact your veterinarian. Quail diseases are contagious, non-contagious, helminthic (worms), and diseases caused by insects.

The most common quail diseases
With a gross violation of the rules for feeding quails, you can deprive them of vital vitamins and minerals, or, on the contrary, excessive feeding with vitamins and minerals is possible. These feeding errors can cause various diseases in quails.

Alopecia- complete or partial loss of plumage without further growth. The disease often occurs in adult quails. The causes of alopecia are a lack of vitamins A and B, a protein containing sulfur, cystine, and iodine in the diet of poultry. High air temperature, dampness in the house.

Prevention. Controlling the bird's diet. Observe the density of planting quail. Keep the cells clean and the air humidity in the room. Feed chopped cabbage leaves to quails.

Prolapse of the oviduct together with the egg, it often occurs in young females grown at the age of 1-1.5 months under conditions of excessively long, more than 20 hours a day, daylight hours. Another cause of oviduct prolapse is a lack of vitamin D. Females with a prolapsed oviduct often die. Surviving females no longer lay eggs.
Prevention - control over the lighting schedule of young animals. Increase in the diet of vitamins D and A.

poisoning more common in young birds. After mild poisoning, quails recover well from: an increase in the content of rice in feed (preferably boiled), corn grits, minced fish, an abundance of greens and grated carrots, drinking water with potassium permanganate (barely colored) or brovafom. Poisoning of a bird with table salt can happen when feeding with compound feed intended for cattle and containing more than 0.5% of table salt. In this case, there is an upset bowel, depression, thirst. In such cases, the birds are given a slimy decoction of flaxseed mixed with vegetable oil. Sometimes, birds are given water for 5 days with a weak aqueous solution of furacilin, or activated charcoal.

To prevent poisoning and other lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, periodically feed the birds with a solution of potassium permanganate, chamomile decoction, or levomycetin (levomycetin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic).

Quail cannibalism (pecking). A disease associated with frequent bird fights, pecking of the head, neck, eyes, cloaca and fingers. The birds are pecking at the laid eggs. Egg production often decreases. Quails are quite susceptible to cannibalism. Causes of the disease - lack of proteins, vitamins, minerals in the diet; excessive planting density, insufficient number of feeders and drinkers, excessive illumination, high humidity, drafts in the room.

Place affected birds in individual cages. Sometimes it helps to avoid fights between birds by installing additional opaque partitions in the cage. You can try to put in a cage, any object - an obstacle or a refuge for birds. Temporarily can try on birds joint bathing in the sand. Quail willingly bathe and forget about fights for a while. If the disease is advanced, one unpleasant remedy remains: in aggressive individuals, using sharp scissors, cut off 2 - 3 mm of the upper pointed tip of the beak. Be careful not to damage the quail's tongue!

Often pecking occurs when transplanting quails from one group to another. Quails and quails raised together in the same cage are less likely to peck at each other. There are also fewer fights among quails, when they are kept in large flocks, or when they are “family” kept - one male for several females in a cage, or they are kept without males at all. Sometimes, for better preservation, females are kept alone, in microcages.

Violation of the formation of the egg shell occurs due to metabolic disorders. The causes of the disease are a lack of minerals, calcium and vitamin D in the bird's diet. Symptoms: quails lay eggs in a thin shell, or without a shell at all, in a bag. Violation of the formation of the shell, more often occurs in young females.

Prevention. Make sure that the birds always have crushed shells, chalk, gravel. Do not try to achieve early laying of young females. Add fish oil to your diet.

Protein deficiency in feed has a negative effect on the egg productivity of quail females, the overall feed consumption increases, since the bird is more likely to experience hunger, cannibalism begins.

Excess Protein leads to the fact that quails carry two-yolk eggs, from which they often die.