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Quails are most often raised for the sake of eggs, although their meat also has valuable qualities. Small birds can be kept in a non-residential area apartments, at the cottage in the summer kitchen or any other similar place. But don't think that raising quails it's a simple matter. The bird requires a comfortable environment, cleanliness and good care. Now we will talk about how the quail is kept in the country, and also touch on all the intricacies of caring for feathered creatures.
Choosing a place for growing quails
A small amount of quails will not bring much trouble to the owner. If you decide to have birds in the summer at the dacha, you need to think in advance about the location of the cages.
So, it was decided that only one bird cage should be installed at the dacha. So where is it better to place it? The best place would be a remote corner of a living room or a summer kitchen. However, it is advisable to install the cage away from food, because small particles of feathers will fly from the birds. It's not bad if there is a closet or a well-kept barn in the country. It is not scary that the building lacks large windows. Free quails live among dense grasses. The bird is comfortable in the twilight, and occasionally it gets out to sunny areas. Similar living conditions for quails must be created in captivity.
Quails do not tolerate heat well. When choosing a room, it is necessary to take into account that the temperature here on the hottest day does not exceed +30aboutC. Exhaust ventilation provides good results in providing comfort to birds. You can simply install a fan in the window, but it should draw air out of the room, and not force it from the street inside. Daily cleaning in the cage will eliminate the spread of the unpleasant odor of the quail's vital activity. However, it is not worth placing a bird close to the bedroom, even in a clean and neatly made house.
Incubators for obtaining chicks
When everything is ready for quail breeding, it is time to take care of purchasing chicks. Experienced poultry farmers who have been breeding quails for many years have acquired incubators. This device can be bought in a store ready-made or made yourself, for example, from an old refrigerator. It is not profitable to constantly buy new chicks. In addition, long transportations, plus adaptation to new living conditions, have a negative effect on the young. Sometimes this process is accompanied by a large mortality of the bird. IN incubation quail very unpretentious. Even an inexperienced person can bring out chicks. The main thing is to observe the temperature and humidity inside the incubator. The problem can only be the purchase of high-quality quail eggs for the first time. If this is not possible, you will have to buy chicks for the first plant. When the quails grow and start to lay eggs, you can start hatching your young in the incubator.
Time to purchase hatchery eggs or ready-made chicks
Quails grow very quickly. The incubation period is also short. From the eggs laid in the incubator, the first chicks will already appear on the 17th day.At two months of age, the female reaches maturity and begins to lay eggs. At the same time, quails can be slaughtered for meat. Given these terms, the owner himself determines the time when it is better for him to start quails at the dacha.
List of important issues to consider when breeding quail
In order to understand exactly that breeding quails in the country is your business and you need it, let's cover a number of important issues. These small birds are highly sensitive to good grooming as well as the surrounding microclimate. If something is neglected, the quails will not meet your expectations or, in general, will perish. So, it's time to touch on important issues related to quail breeding:
- The purpose of quail breeding and the number of individuals... There can be only two goals: to obtain dietary eggs or raising poultry for meat, sale, etc. The number is determined on the basis that there should be 3 or 4 females for one male.
- Quail habitat... A cage with 20-40 birds will fit in a remote corner of any room. If appetites start to grow over time, you will have to occupy new space for the installation of additional cells.
- Choosing the optimal cage design... It is unprofitable to occupy useful space with a cage, inside which a male with four females will live. For quails, it is better to make sectional multi-tiered cages, each of which will contain up to 30 adult birds.
- Compliance with daily care... It must be remembered that quails are living beings. They require daily feeding, clean water, constant cleaning in cages, collection of eggs. This whole procedure takes a certain period of free time.
- Finance... Here you have to balance debit with credit. Initially, cash costs will be required for the purchase of chicks, eggs, an incubator, and cages. A certain amount will need to be allocated for the constant purchase of feed. Profits can be obtained from the sale of eggs, chicks or carcasses for meat. If everything suits you and your appetite has increased, you won't be able to keep a large number of quails in the house. We'll have to build a barn, and this is already a serious investment for a summer resident.
So, if all the questions discussed are feasible for you, you can safely start breeding quails.
Everything you need to know about quail cages
Most poultry farmers quail cages made independently. Any sheet materials and necessarily a metal mesh are used. Cell designs are very different. Many drawings can be found on the internet. Usually a quail cage is a box of a certain size. To save space, a multi-tiered battery is made from several cells.
In addition, birds are very fond of flying. If the aviary is not covered, the quails will fly apart, and poor cover can be traumatic for the bird. The cages are made with a height of at least 200 mm. The area depends on the number of birds, but about 200 cm should fall on one quail2 free space. This is approximately a rectangle measuring 10x20 cm.The floor should have a slope of about 12about towards the egg collector. The egg collection tray itself is attached to the outside of the cage. Quail flooring is optional. Sometimes you can put clean straw. Once a week, any box up to 80 mm high with dry sand is placed inside the cage for quails. Birds love to swim in it. Before discarding the sand, it is necessary to check whether the female has buried eggs in it. Feeders with drinkers are optimally placed outside the cage. The quail should reach them only with the head inserted through the net.
Microclimate for quails
Quails are sensitive to the surrounding microclimate.This primarily affects the development of chicks and the number of eggs laid. The following conditions are considered optimal for poultry:
- Inside the room where the quail cages are installed, there should be fresh air without drafts. Optimally maintain the temperature within 18-22aboutFROM.
- The moisture index affects egg production. The optimal value is from 60 to 70%. Deviation from this indicator will affect the smaller number of eggs laid by the quail.
- Quails do not need to equip artificial lighting. Daylight hours are enough for them. If you want to increase productivity, daylight hours can be extended to 18 hours. To do this, they turn on a not powerful light bulb in the room, but always at the same time.
Well, to all that has been said, do not forget about the timely harvesting of cages with quails.
Quail feeding
It is important to follow the correct diet for feeding chicks from the first day of life:
- After hatching, the chicks are fed a hard-boiled egg for the first three days. It must be cut into small pieces.
- Further, the chicks begin to mix a little cottage cheese with the boiled egg. You can add purchased feed for newborn chicks.
- Only boiled water is given to drink. It is optimal for disinfection to dissolve a tablet of chloramphenicol in it.
- After 8 days, the grown chicks begin to mix compound feed with microelements for chickens, after which the young are transferred completely to this feed.
- Starting from the twentieth day of life, mixed feed for adult birds is mixed, and on the twenty-eighth day it is completely transferred to it.
At the age of one month, grown quails are divided into two groups. One batch goes for fattening, the other for laying eggs. It is desirable to keep each of the groups of quails in different rooms. Naturally, the food for the birds will be different. Adult females are fed with compound feed for laying hens. Each quail is given 30 g of feed 2-3 times a day. It's good to mix crushed egg shells, chalk and bone meal into mixed feed. Birds love fresh cabbage, carrots and potatoes. Excess males and culled females are fattened for meat. For them, the diet is increased by giving food up to four times a day. Here it is possible to add feed fats and grain waste. The slaughter of quails for meat is performed when the weight reaches about 150 g. The video shows the sparrowhawk device:
Breeding quail in the country is as easy as chickens, geese or any other poultry. If you get right up to speed, poultry farming can even be profitable.
