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Someone under the influence of the propaganda of "eco-products", someone out of need, someone just out of curiosity, but today many people, even townspeople, are thinking about breeding quails at home. The main arguments for the townspeople are the small size and the promoted unpretentiousness of the quail. But is this so? Here you should take a closer look.
Breeding quail at home for beginners
If there were no quails on the farm earlier, it may not be worth starting with several hundred quails at once. Although, in principle, quails are not so different from ordinary chickens, they have certain peculiarities, at least in the fact that the main herd must be renewed already at the age of 8 months, while laying hens are kept for up to a year. Walking is also very desirable for chickens, quails can constantly live in a cage.
It also matters where the quail will be kept. A barn in a private house and an apartment in a city house are not at all the same thing.
Since the phrase "home conditions" usually means exactly quail keeping in an apartment, then this option is worth considering first.
Keeping quails at home
If you are going to have quails in an apartment, you need to take into account not only the area that will need to be allocated to the birds, but also the reaction of neighbors.
First you need to decide on the desired number of quails. If you only need 5 - 6 quails to get eggs, a large parrot cage is fine. The main thing: the cage should be low, and with a large bottom area. An area of 0.5x0.7 m is fine. You can choose or make a cage more suitable for keeping quails.
One family of quails is unlikely to displease neighbors. And if your goal is to get a dietary quail egg, then you can take only quail. Then the neighbors do not even know about the presence of quails in the next apartment. Quails do not scream.
About 20 heads of quails can be safely started without fear of quarrelsome neighbors. Even if they find out, you can always complain about poor health and doctors' recommendations regarding the use of quail eggs and meat.
Such a battery can accommodate more than 20 heads.
It's another matter whether you want to live on a poultry farm.
From the Odessa experience it follows that 50 heads of the main quail herd are enough to provide for the family. The owner of the Odessa apartment farm does not want to increase the livestock, since with an increase in the number of quails, the smell from them increases.
For self-repair of a quail herd, an incubator and males are also required.
On the Internet, you can find statements that up to 200 heads of quails can be placed on the balcony.
This is what a battery of cells on a balcony might look like. But with two hundred quails, you must be prepared for the increased attention of your neighbors. In this case, it will not be possible to get rid of stories about poor health and anti-crisis support of the family.
Therefore, the balcony must be tightly closed from prying eyes and have good sound insulation. Don't count on the good attitude of your neighbors. It usually ends as soon as people realize that you have found a way to make money.
In addition, to some squabblers, the quail mini-farm will stink, even if it is located in an apartment on the 16th floor of a 16-storey building, and squabblers live on the first.
If you plan to allocate a whole room for a quail mini-farm, as in this video, it is better to make friends with the district police officer and inspectors from various regulatory organizations in advance. For example, sanitary and epidemiological stations. Complaints are inevitable. And it cannot be said that they will not be justified.
It was in the 90s that even a horse could be kept in an apartment. Now the authorities are putting things in order.
After deciding on the estimated number of quails, you need to decide on the goal breeding and a breed of quail.
How to choose a quail breed for breeding in an apartment
If you intend to receive only eggs, without focusing on the amount of meat, it is better to take Japanese quail. This smallest breed of all domesticated belongs to the egg direction and gives the maximum number of eggs. Egg size correlates with quail size. Eggs from the "Japanese" weigh 7 - 10 g. The breed is the least whimsical of all available and is ideal for beginners.
If the family does not consume so many eggs, but loves meat, it is better to have broiler quail breeds: Pharaoh or Texas white. The quail of these breeds is more than two times larger than the Japanese quail. Egg production in these breeds is not so bad as to leave the owner without eggs. And the eggs themselves are the largest of all other breeds and can weigh up to 20 g. The disadvantage of these quail breeds is in their demands on feed and keeping conditions. If you start your quail career with broiler breeds, you can be forever disappointed in this lesson.
All other breeds are versatile, meat and egg direction. The Estonian quail is most suitable for a beginner, which is somewhat larger than the Japanese one and has the same color.
Among meat and egg breeds, the widest selection of quails of various colors. You can choose not only for productive characteristics, but also for the color you like the most.
The Manchu golden quail has a very nice shirt.
Tuxedo quails are easy to distinguish from each other due to their piebaldness, although this may not matter to the owner of a mini quail farm.
English quails come in two color variations: white and black.
Black English quail, despite the name, is not pure black. Rather, it's just very dark.
The color of the white English quail is the same as that of the white Texas quail. More precisely, on the contrary, since the Texas white was bred using English and inherited his shirt.
Cell selection
The cages will have to be selected after the selection of the quail breed, since broiler breeds require cages 10 cm higher than for other breeds. This is the case when it comes to large livestock and cage batteries.
Craftsmen make cells on their own.
The main requirement for all quail cages is a solid floor (but then it will be difficult to clean) or a fine-mesh grate.
A mesh with a mesh size of 1x1 cm is well suited. Cages for flying birds are absolutely not suitable. For example, here is this cell, where the bottom does not differ from the side walls in construction.
There are a great many options for cages where quails can be placed. Who has enough imagination and skill for that.
Completely free cage option.
And a video with instructions on how to make such cages from boxes.
After the breeds, the size of the livestock and the cages, the next step will be to care for the quails, since there are few of them to buy. They still need to be fed and properly maintained.
Quail care at home
In general, caring for quails is no more difficult than caring for any other birds or small rodents: cleaning cages and feeding. The only difference is the mandatory collection of quail eggs every day.
Feed and feeders
What to consider when caring for quails: the basis of the quail ration is compound feed. Any additions of greens and worms are just top dressing. Compound feed for one bird is required 30 g per day if it is a medium-sized quail, and 40 g per day if the breed is broiler.
Attention! Before buying quails, you also need to think about where the quail feed will be stored, since it is better to buy feed in large batches. At the same time, the place where the feed is stored must be dry, the feed absorbs moisture well.
Quails have a habit of scattering feed, so they should either have a feeder with stops, or a feeder outside and a feed catcher under it.
Do-it-yourself feeders with limiters.
Feeder option on a professionally equipped quail farm.
For better digestion of grain feed, quails need so-called gastroliths in the stomach - small pebbles that help grind solid food, so quails in the cage must have a container with sand or sand can be mixed into the feeder. If the quails need it, they will choose pebbles.
Drinking bowls
Very often on videos of quail farms, you can see nipple drinkers, sometimes with a drip catcher. The advantage of such drinkers is that the water is not wasted and always remains clean. Minus financial costs.
Nipple drinkers with drip catcher
Ordinary drinkers can also be used.
Such drinkers can be made from improvised materials, but thick wire restraints must be installed so that the quails do not jump into the drinkers.
Lighting
Since the quail is a bird looking for shelter in dense grass, where the sunlight is dim, bright lighting causes discomfort and anxiety in them. Instinctively, quails believe that they are in an open space, accessible to the sight of a predator. The growing nervous tension provokes the quail to fight.
The room where the quail cages are located should be shaded. If the quail cage is in the back of the room, then this is enough. No additional shading is required. In the case of placing quails in a room without windows, a small fluorescent lamp or an ordinary incandescent light bulb will be enough for them. The room for the comfort of the quail should be twilight.
The video shows the device of quail cages without surplus. There you can clearly see what level of illumination should be when keeping quails.
Breeding and keeping quails in a private house
It is much easier to keep quails in a private house than in an apartment. Firstly, quails do not bother anyone there, and the neighbors often keep various cattle themselves. Secondly, in this case it is not at all necessary to live among the quail cages. An outbuilding in the courtyard can be distinguished for a quail mini-farm.
In the video, a quail mini-quail farm is set up in an unheated room.
When keeping quails at home, you can ignore the temperature. In apartments, it usually does not fall below 18 degrees. When kept in an annex in the courtyard of a private house, the extension must either be heated or put up with the lack of quail eggs in winter.You also need to protect the quail extension from drafts, but at the same time provide good ventilation.
If you make ventilation from the bottom up, ammonia will rise and dissipate in the air, poisoning the room and harming the health of the quail.
How to breed quail
Breeding quails in an apartment and in a private house will differ only in the number of quails hatched.
For breeding egg-bearing breeds, families of 3 - 4 quails and 1 quail are created. When breeding broilers, there are only 2 quails for 1 quail.
Since domesticated quails have lost their incubation instinct, an incubator is needed to breed quails.
For novice owners of a small livestock of quails, an incubator like this is suitable.
What eggs to lay for incubation
Non-standard eggs are not placed in the incubator. Very large quail eggs are good for food, but they should not be incubated. There is a high probability of a double yolk in the egg. No one will hatch from such eggs. The picture shows quail eggs suitable and not suitable for incubation.
The average weight of quail eggs should be in the range of 10-14 g, depending on the quail breed. Small eggs are not incubated, the quails from them are too weak.
But at the same time, the incubation quail eggs must be clean, free of droppings and other contamination. This is achieved by keeping the quail cages clean.
18 days on incubation of quail eggs and 2 months to grow the replacement of the main quail herd. Do not forget to provide brooders for quail and cages for young quail.
It is better to buy an automatic incubator with controlled temperature conditions and air humidity, since in the first two weeks of incubation of quail eggs, the temperature in the incubator must be maintained at 37.8 degrees. Humidity in the first week is 50-55%, in the second - 45%. In the first week, the eggs are turned 4 times a day, in the second - 6. From 8 to 14 days, the eggs are cooled twice a day for 20 minutes. From the 15th day until hatching, the quail temperature is reduced to 37.5 degrees, the humidity is increased to 65-70%, the turning and cooling of the eggs is canceled.
It is necessary to lay 3 times more eggs for incubation than the number of quail heads to be replaced is planned, since 25% of the eggs will be unfertilized or the quails will not hatch at all, some of the quails will be defective, some of the quails will die. Of the rest, half of the quails will be males.
You can collect quail eggs for incubation within 5 days if the collected eggs are stored at a temperature of 18 ° C. In this case, the hatchability of the quail will be maximum. The longest shelf life of quail eggs is 10 days. Further, the percentage of hatchability of quail falls rapidly.
Growing quail at home
After receiving a mass of squeaking lumps and the extinction of joyful emotions, a novice quail breeder may well grab his head: how to grow quails to an adult state in such quantities?
In fact, growing quail is not so difficult, but you need to get a brooder for growing quail, in which you can maintain the temperature within 25 - 28 ° C, and starting compound feed for quail.
Practice shows that it is easier for a novice quail breeder to start feeding young quails with special compound feed for quail, and it is easier for quails to start their lives and survive by eating this compound feed.
In this case, it will not be necessary to add finely chopped onions to the quail's feed, supposedly to destroy harmful microflora, while the quail still has no microflora at all, but there is an intestinal upset from food unnatural for the quail.
It should not be forgotten that in nature the quail would start feeding from small seeds, which today are replaced by compound feed.
If there is a problem with starting compound feed in the region, then quails can be given boiled millet, non-sour (better calcined) cottage cheese and grated hard-boiled quail egg.
It is imperative that the quail egg be the one, since by feeding chicken eggs, you can infect the quail with salmonellosis.
As they grow up, the temperature in the brooder is lowered, and the fully fledged quail are transplanted into cages and grown to an adult state.
Features of growing quails can be seen in the video. Unfortunately, this video shows the cultivation of quails in a semi-industrial environment.
From all of the above, we can conclude that directly breeding and keeping quails at home does not require superhuman efforts and the main investments will have to be made not in quails, but in the infrastructure of a quail mini-farm.
