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The Pharaoh quail is a classic example of breeding a new breed by means of an exceptionally long-term selection of Japanese quail on the basis of the desired character without adding any "foreign" blood. The official version of the appearance of this quail breeds: The need of the culinary industry for larger quail carcasses.
Although it is possible that the matter is in the gigantomania inherent in Americans, from which not only quails, but also other animals suffer. Selection only by size led to a decrease in egg production, fertility and undemanding conditions of keeping. Pharaohs are more capricious, the percentage of egg fertilization is lower than that of the Japanese quail. Egg production also declined.
Although the pharaohs carry a sufficient number of eggs so that this breed can be ranked not only as meat, but as meat and egg.
Description and productive characteristics of the Pharaoh breed
On the left in the photo is a Japanese quail, on the right is a pharaoh. Obviously, without a scale, just by the appearance in the photograph, it is impossible to understand where which breed is.
These breeds differ only in size. Therefore, if the pharaohs were sold to you, and they did not grow more than 150 g, this is not a bad breed, they sold you a Japanese quail.
In this case, you can console yourself that the Japanese breed is unpretentious, lays more eggs, it has better preservation of young animals, and find a restaurant to buy carcasses. Since restaurants prefer to take the carcasses of Japanese or Manchu quails, from which exactly one portion is made. Pharaohs are too big for a restaurant.
Otherwise, there is every chance to buy Japanese quails or a cross between Estonian quails and pharaohs.
The average weight of a Pharaoh quail is 300 g. This is almost twice the Japanese weight. Pharaohs lay about 220 eggs a year. This is less than that of Japanese quails, but the Pharaoh's eggs are much larger and weigh an average of 15 g. Quails begin to rush on the 42-50th day.
In many ways, the weight of the egg depends on the type of feed that the quails receive. So, when feeding quails with broiler feed, the eggs are much larger. If the task is to get an edible egg and herd layers considered as a consumable, it is a very good quality. If eggs are needed for an incubator, it is better not to get carried away with such methods. They destroy the bird's body, and too large eggs are not suitable for an incubator.
The French pharaoh has the maximum slaughter meat yield. The live weight of the French pharaoh can reach 500 g, although this is a record weight. Such quails are usually shown at exhibitions, and the average weight of the livestock is about 400 g.
The dark plumage of the pharaohs is considered a minus due to the fact that it spoils the color of the carcasses after plucking. Quail with a dark feather, dark skin and meat, which does not look very appetizing.
Other disadvantages of the pharaohs include low egg production and demanding content compared to the Japanese quail.
At the same time, the advantages of the pharaoh overlap his shortcomings, for example, the advantages are: early maturity, a large weight of a marketable carcass and large eggs.
Overexposure to 7 weeks of age leads to overconsumption of feed by 13%. At the same time, at 5 months, the growth of the quail has already stopped, but the carcass has not yet been formed and has a very thin cyanotic skin without fat. Such a carcass belongs to the 2nd category of fatness. By 6 weeks, the carcass is marketable with well-developed muscles and fat deposits on the neck, back and abdomen. Such a carcass belongs to the 1st category of fatness.
Pitfalls of the Russian version of the breed
Or rather, even the entire CIS. It is very difficult to find good representatives of the Pharaoh breed in the former Soviet space. This is due to the too small initial population, which is why inbreeding and chopping of the bird is inevitable, and the crossing of pharaohs with other quails with the same plumage color. For example, with an Estonian quail.
Features of keeping and feeding Pharaohs
Pharaohs, like large quails, require an increased area, so 20 cm² is allocated for one pharaoh. The height of the cage in which the pharaohs are kept should be no more than 30 cm.
The room is kept at a constant temperature of 20 ± 2 ° C. When the temperature is too low, the quails get bunched up and the extreme ones constantly strive to get into the middle. If too high, both the birds and the eggs laid by them overheat.
Then solid "it is necessary, but ..."
Quails need daylight hours lasting at least 17 hours. But the lighting should not be too bright, as in bright light the quails become shy. A 60-watt light bulb is enough for a small room.
Air humidity must be maintained at the level of 60-70%. If the air is too dry, put a bowl of water in the room. But humidity above 75% is critical for steppe birds.
Quails need constant supply of fresh air... In summer, the air exchange in the room should be 5 m³ / hour. In winter, this standard is reduced by three times. But with drafts, quails begin to hurt, lose feathers, reduce egg production and may die.
Pharaoh food
Due to the rapid weight gain of quail, Pharaohs especially need a balanced diet. The basis of their diet is cereal feed, which should be dominated by ground millet, oats, corn and wheat.
In summer, quails can be fed with finely chopped grass, including sawdust.... But for insurance, it is better to exclude poisonous plants from the green mass. In birds, the metabolism is very different from that of mammals and most often they eat poisonous plants and seeds without consequences for the body. These consequences then occur for the human body, who ate the carcass of a quail, who ate poisonous seeds.
In winter, wheat and millet sprouts are added to the quail feed. You can also give ordinary kitchen vegetables: cabbage leaves, grated beets and carrots, and other vegetables.
All year round, quails need ground eggshells, sand, limestone and table salt.
Young animals in the first two weeks of life are added to compound feed grated boiled egg... A boiled egg can also be added to females, since they need more food, the nutrients of which go to the formation of eggs.
This is all provided that the quails are fed the old fashioned way, without the use of special compound feed. When using special compound feed, quails do not need additional feeding. Everything you need has already been added to the feed.
The water of quails is changed every two days, since, quickly becoming contaminated with food residues, it sours in a warm room and can cause intestinal problems in the bird. If you want guarantees, it is better to change the water every day. Any animals have the habit of going to drink immediately after eating and transfer the remains of feed into the water.
Quail breeding
When quail breeding there are rules common to any breed:
- to avoid inbreeding, pairs are made from unrelated birds taken from different flocks;
- there can be from 2 to 4 females per cock. The ideal option is 3 quails for one quail;
- the upper age limit when quails are suitable for breeding is not older than 8 months. The lower age limit is 2 months;
- the maximum time during which quails are used to obtain an incubation egg is 3 months. The ideal option would be if the period ends when the quail is 20-22 weeks old. That is, the bird should be placed for breeding at the age of 8-10 weeks. After 3 months, the quails are replaced with new ones.
Subject to the necessary conditions incubation quails hatch on the 17th day. The mistakes that can be made unknowingly during incubation are shown in the video.
