How to Raise Quail? A Complete Guide to Quail Farming Techniques and Methods
Quail is a popular type of poultry, with fast growth, early maturity and high egg production, low feed consumption and quick time to market. Quail meat is good quality and sells steadily, making it a relatively good choice in the farming industry, so how do you raise quail?
1. Hatching of breeding eggs
Eggs can be hatched by pigeons or hens as surrogate hatchers. If using a hen to hatch the eggs, it is better to choose a smaller hen, to avoid crushing the eggs. One hen can hatch 30 quail eggs at a time, and eggs stored for no more than 7 days should be selected for hatching. Artificial incubation can also be used, in the same way as hatching chicken eggs. After 17 days of incubation, the young quail will hatch.
2. Brooding methods
Newly hatched quail chicks weigh only 6-7 grams, have relatively poor resistance and are very afraid of cold. Therefore, chicks should not be fed too early; feeding 36 hours after birth is more appropriate. Within 1-2 days the temperature must be kept at 38-38.6°C, then lowered by 0.5°C each day; when it drops to 25°C, it should be kept constant. Quail do not have high requirements for feed; generally rice bran, wheat bran, soybean cake, broken rice, corn, fish meal and the like are mixed with chopped green, succulent feed such as vegetable leaves, and adjusted into a thick porridge consistency for feeding. In addition, an appropriate amount of eggshell powder and bone meal should be added to the feed. Before feeding, it is best to stir-fry it in a pan, so that after feeding it is easier to digest and feed utilization is high. Feeding should be at fixed times; during the day they can be fed 4-5 times, and at night 2-3 times. Quail chicks are prone to enteritis, pullorum disease, paratyphoid and infectious bronchitis, so feeding utensils must be disinfected regularly, droppings must be removed every day, and an appropriate amount of antibiotics can be mixed into the feed and drinking water for the chicks to eat freely. Generally, after more than 20 days of rearing, quail chicks can be transferred to cage raising.
Quail are generally best kept in cages. The cage can be made of bamboo or wood. Length 100 cm, width 20 cm, height 22 cm; a 2-5 cm thick droppings board should be placed at the bottom of the cage, and four legs 12 cm high made of bamboo or wood at the four corners of the cage. A cage this size can be divided into 10 compartments, each compartment holding one quail. The Bangnong Network editor reminds you that quail like to jump, so the top of the cage should be covered with old cloth, old bags, soft paper, etc., to prevent the quail from injuring its head when jumping upward. A rectangular feed trough and water trough should be set outside the cage. If raising a large number of quail, the cages can be stacked in 6-7 layers. Generally, about 500 quail can be raised per square meter of shed.
3. Daily management
Daily feeding should be at fixed times and in fixed amounts to prevent feed waste, and clean drinking water should always be available. Young chicks should be given cooled boiled water, with anti-enteritis antibiotic drugs added. Feeding and drinking utensils must be disinfected regularly to prevent disease in the quail flock. Bedding should be laid inside the cages and shed. Quail are timid and easily startled, so it is best to raise them in a relatively quiet place and minimize disturbance. From the time they hatch, quail begin laying eggs after 40-50 days of rearing, and female quail can be culled for meat after 1-2 years of laying. During the egg-laying period, quail must be protected against animal pests. For laying female quail, initial mating can be carried out 20 days after they start laying; when mating, take the male quail kept alone in a cage and put it in with the female quail to let them mate, and after mating take the male quail out.