The subtleties of quail care at home

Care for quail at home, subject to all necessary requirements to it allows you to get delicious products on the private farm that compete with chicken eggs and meat.

Care for quail at home

Subtleties of proper work breeding

Keeping quails at home and caring for them is not difficult even for beginners in this business.For full-fledged cultivation within a small farm with up to 50 birds, a room with a cage of 1 size will be sufficient sq. m, which you can do with your own hands. Nevertheless, there are a number of subtleties that should be taken into account when caring for quail in the household, so that they bring eggs and become a source of meat from them.

Among the main factors that affect the birds ’well-being in a confined space:

• appropriate temperature,
• adequate lighting,
• comfortable cells with the required sizes,
• a complete diet that provides all the microelements for the growth and development of birds,
• the correct planting density,
• timely cell cleaning and disinfection

Creating a microclimate and food

A properly provided microclimate in rooms where they contain winged, it will create the most favorable conditions for birds.

Room

Requirements for premises for the care of quails at home are similar to those characteristic for keeping other domestic poultry. First of all, this is the absence of drafts and good ventilation.

In the absence of proper ventilation in the premises where the quail is kept, a persistent, difficult to remove specific smell begins to appear.

For the content of quail at home, it is important to ensure that these shy-natured birds do not have irritating external factors, such as noise, loud noises and sudden movements.

Temperature

The temperature regime is more suitable for quail will be the one that is within the boundaries ah 18-25 ° C.At excessively elevated temperatures, feathered birds under the influence of stuffiness, if this is also supplemented by a close landing, will begin to molt.

In the absence of stationary heating systems in rooms where quail is grown and cared for, they resort without fail using portable heating systems.

Lowering the temperature below the limit of 8 ° C will result in the death of individuals.

Lighting

Lighting premises with newborn quail involves round-the-clock use ie additional artificial light sources.

The use of bright light sources adversely affects the ability of representatives of quail scurry. Contrasting white lamps lead to stressful situations, as a result of which they begin to nibble each other.

For young animals from two weeks of age, the daylight hours should be at least 17 hours.

Feed

The quail is able to feed and quickly gain weight on feed intended for ordinary chickens, selected in accordance with the age category of the bird. It is worth paying attention to crushed grain, which is often used by birds as the main diet.

On average, quail eats 20-30 g of feed during egg laying, for a male, the daily volume is about 18-20 g.In the calculation of 1 head, feed costs are a little more than 1 kg for birds from the first moment of birth to adulthood. For a grown bird, the feed volume is in the range of 10 kg.

If you want to increase the egg production of domestic quail, choose ready-made feed with a protein of at least 20-21%.

Among the main components on the menu stand out:

• millet and corn,
• bone meal,
• boiled vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beets ),
• fresh herbs (nettle, dandelion, cucumber peeling, cabbage foliage, euphorbia.

In order to ensure the normal functioning of the digestive system in the feed sand is mixed in.

Arrangement of cages

It is desirable that the cells in which the quail will live are bright and fairly spacious, regardless of the size of the small bird living in a tight heap. As was noted earlier, tight landing creates stuffiness in the cells and overheating of the bird’s organism, which leads to the loss of plumage.

Do not plant more than 6 layers per 1 sq. m area, otherwise the indicators of egg production are lost.

Among the main points that you should pay attention to when making your own cages, the following are noted:

• the material from which the place of residence of the birds will be made may be a tree either galvanized metal, for example steel,
• feeders and drinking bowls should be located on the outside of the cages so that they are accessible for quail,
• the distances between the bars of the cage should be calculated so that only a bird’s head crawled through the bars,
• the height is taken with the calculation of avoiding bird injuries during jumps, which is usually not less than 20 cm, often the ceiling of the cage is covered with soft nets,
• as a rule, the floor of the cages is tilted so that the eggs laid by the birds roll into a special tray and do not choke on quail .

Feeding features

A balanced diet for caring for quails at home implies regular feeding of complete feeds that give birds health and provide them with stable rates of egg production. The fact that you correctly feed your quail can be indicated by the quality of the eggshell. A sign of adequate nutrition is a strong shell.

A constant deviation from stability in feeding quail will certainly affect the number of eggs laid.However, do not exceed the quail rates, otherwise these overeating birds begin to accumulate unnecessary fat and stop laying eggs.

Many farmers prefer to cook their own food, but some opt for ready-made ones feed for quail, purchasing for chicks or broilers that have grown.

The status of birds according to the results of a selected feeding ration may be indicated by their litter. A solid coating will indicate the digestibility of the consumed foods by the digestive system of birds. With liquid manure, you can think about the quality of food. In this case, they often resort to rice decoctions, which, when chilled, are drunk to the birds until the stool is completely normalized. As a preventive measure, quails are watered once a month with a weak potassium permanganate solution.

The subtleties of caring for chicks

When growing newborn chickens, quail some rules that are slightly different from adult quail care.

Incubat oh

First of all, nestlings are raised in an incubator when quails refuse to hatch laid eggs.

Unlike wild quails, domesticated eggs themselves rarely hatch.

It should be remembered that the hatchability rate of the younger generation also depends on the number of eggs laid. On average, the incubation batch should be at least 50 eggs removed not later than a week after laying. The incubation period is up to 2.5 weeks, and an average of 6 hours is allotted for active artificial hatching of chickens. How it looks, you can watch the video.

In the incubator, during the period of active withdrawal of young animals, quail eggs are no longer than 10-12. Chicks that appeared after this time are not viable and most often die.

Care for hatched chicks

Hatching young animals are grown separately from adult birds in specially equipped cages – brooders. They are available in specialized stores, but you can also make them yourself.

When making brooders on their own, they take plywood, plastic, cardboard, wood or metal as the material. You can watch the video on how to do it.

Initially, newborns will be re-quelled with a high temperature reaching 35 ° C, which when they reach one month of age decreases to 22-25 ° C.

From the first day after birth, quail chicks feed on their own. At the same time, feeders with lower edges are equipped with it, and it is recommended to use vacuum devices for drinking. Chicks menu consists of eggs, cottage cheese, chopped fresh herbs. Some farmers prefer prepared foods intended for chicks instead of natural food.

Conclusion to the main livestock

Young chicks go to the bulk of adult quails when they are at least 2 weeks.

It is most advisable to separate the birds by gender when they are already a month old.

Properly provided nutrition allows them to quickly gain weight. It should be remembered that, despite living among adult birds, young growth requires that only warm boiled water be in the drinkers.