Five Breeding Measures for Steady Egg Production in Quail During Winter
1. Keep warm and raise the temperature. Quail have a strong appetite between 15 and 25°C, lay many eggs, and their hatching egg fertilization rate is also high; below 15°C the egg production rate drops noticeably. Therefore, in the harsh winter and early spring cold season, measures to keep warm and raise the temperature should be taken: at night, cover the cages with insulating material and appropriately increase the cage stocking density.
2. Increase lighting. Equip each 30 to 40 sq m quail house with one 40-watt electric light; turn the light on 2 hours before dawn every day and turn it off 2 hours after dark, maintaining a stable light intensity and photoperiod.
3. Balance nutrition. In winter, feed a complete compound feed and provide an appropriate amount of sand grains for the quail to eat freely, to aid digestion. At the same time, provide clean water for the quail to drink. The balanced winter feed formula for quail is: soybean meal 15%, concentrate 10%, fish meal 15%, corn 54%, bran 3.5%, bone meal 1.5%, dried grass meal 1%, with appropriate additions of vitamin A, vitamin B, and vitamin D.
4. Keep the environment quiet. When doing routine feeding, egg collecting, manure cleaning, and water adding, move gently, and do not change the caretaker easily. Keep the cages, houses, and feeding and drinking utensils clean and hygienic daily. Use 25 ml of formalin and 12.5 g of potassium permanganate per cubic meter of space for fumigation and disinfection. Every 7 to 14 days, disinfect the feeding utensils inside and outside the house once with 2% to 3% Lysol.
5. Prevent disease in time. In winter, caged quail are generally kept rather densely, so once disease occurs, isolate and treat them promptly. To prevent quail pullorum disease, mix furazolidone into the feed (add 20 g of furazolidone per 100 kg of feed) and feed continuously for 7 days. To treat ulcerative enteritis, use penicillin by intramuscular injection, 10,000 units per bird per time, once in the morning and once in the evening, or administer sulfaguanidine orally, 1/4 tablet per bird per time, doubled for the first dose, twice a day, continuously for 5 days. To treat bronchitis, add 0.005% tylosin to the feed for 10 consecutive days, stop for 5 days, then administer for another 5 days; while giving the medication, also add tylosin and erythromycin to the drinking water.