What is the best way to feed quails at home so that they lay eggs well?

Quails are unpretentious in their diet, but to maintain the health of the birds it is important to properly create a menu for them. From the first days until adulthood, the diet is complicated with roughage and saturated with minerals. But for successful breeding, you need to study the age characteristics of quails and what to feed them to maintain productivity. After all, fortified food, useful for chicks, can disrupt the egg-laying cycle in young laying hens.

What to feed quails at home so that they lay eggs well

In order for the yolk and shell to form correctly, and healthy offspring to appear, birds need to choose a balanced diet. Traditionally, the diet of domestic birds consists of five types of food.

Grain and leguminous feed, cereals and seeds

In the wild, quails independently obtain food - they look for edible plants and seeds. Therefore, feeding in captivity should also include grain crops. Cereals contain protein necessary for the formation of eggs. With a lack of protein components, quails peck at their own clutch.

To increase egg production, quail nutrition includes:

• corn is a source of energy, carbohydrates, starch. Due to the lack of amino acids in its composition, it is combined with legumes;
• oats - saturates the birds’ bodies with B vitamins. Quails are given peeled grains so that the husk does not clog the esophagus;
• wheat groats are the main component in the diet of laying hens;
• beans - rich in amino acids, vegetable proteins and fat;
• Rice is a nutritious product that increases the productivity of laying hens and replenishes their energy costs during the laying period.

The share of grain legume feed should not exceed 40 percent of the total quail diet. Excess protein will lead to obesity. Egg production in overfed quails decreases.

Animal feed

Quails get iron, potassium, magnesium from animal products. The substances support the nervous and endocrine systems of birds.In nature, quails feed on insects and larvae. In captivity, the following products serve as sources of trace elements and amino acids:

• feed fat - added to vegetable fats, replenishes energy, the permissible share in the diet is 5 percent;
• quail blood is a protein supplement obtained from poultry carcasses after slaughter;
• blood meal is a product of cattle blood processing, mixed with cereals;
• bloodworms, mealworms, maggots are sources of animal protein; quails happily eat them after dandelion leaves and vegetables;
• meat and bone meal, fish meal - the main supplier of calcium and phosphorus, but is unpleasant to birds due to the smell;
• fish waste - boiled pieces of fish, tripe, crushed caviar also contain a lot of phosphorus and protein. The proportion of fish products should be increased during molting and egg-laying;
• fish oil is a source of vitamin D, mixed with skim milk and used as a base for wet mash.

Quails love to feast on earthworms. Birds that eat them regularly gain weight faster. 2 weeks before slaughter, quails are no longer given fish products, otherwise the meat will smell like fish.

Vitamin feed

Root vegetables are given to poultry as natural sources of vitamins:

• carrots - contains vitamin A, useful for chicks during the formation of feathers and for the prevention of visual impairment;
• beets are a source of glucose, vitamins C and B;
• Chinese cabbage is a natural vitamin complex and a source of fiber, a soft product for digestion, unlike white cabbage;
• potatoes are the main supplier of starch;
• herbs - vitamin C is contained in the leaves of nettle and dandelion; clover and alfalfa are also useful for birds.

Vegetables, except cabbage, are boiled and chopped before serving.Cabbage leaves and grass are finely chopped, and nettles are scalded with boiling water.

Industrial waste

Quails readily eat processed products of grains and legumes:

• soybean meal, cake - plant waste serves as a source of amino acids, lysine and vitamin E;
• bran is useful only for adult birds.

Instead of soybeans, hemp, flax, and sunflower waste are used.

Mineral feed

When laying eggs, quails need additives that promote shell formation:

• chalk - contains calcium;
• salt - replenishes sodium deficiency;
• crushed shells - help digest food.

To prevent laying hens from pecking at eggs, crushed shells are added to them.

Feed preparation

Domestic quails are given specially developed mixtures. But due to the high cost of production, farmers often prepare their own feed.

The approximate composition is shown in the table:

Ingredients	Number in percentage by age of birds
	From two weeks to a month	One to two months
Grains, beans	45	55
Schrot	20	30
Animal products	10	8
Yeast	6	3
Herbal meal	3	5
Mineral supplements	1	6
Fat	0	2

For beginning poultry farmers, there are ready-made recipes for compound feed.

Preparing feed for young birds:

• grind and mix a kilogram of wheat, 200 grams of barley and 0.5 kilograms of corn grains;
• add 4 milliliters of sunflower oil;
• add half a teaspoon of bone meal and the same amount of salt.

Mixture recipe for adult quails:

• mix and crush 800 grams of corn, 500 grams of wheat grains and 200 grams of peas;
• add 6 milliliters of vegetable oil;
• add a tablespoon of salt, shells and chalk;
• to stir thoroughly.

The mixture is enough for one quail for 40-50 days. To calculate the amount of ingredients for a flock, you need to multiply the weight in grams by the number of birds.

Nutritional supplements

Special vitamin complexes are added to the feed, prepared according to our own recipe, to stimulate weight gain in chicks and increase the productivity of laying hens.

Premixes for chickens or vitamins “Undevit” and “Kvadevit” can be added to the quail diet. One tablet is dissolved in the amount of drinking water calculated for ten quails.

Features of seasonal feeding

Quails require balanced nutrition all year round. But in winter you have to look for a replacement for fresh grass.

How to feed birds according to the season:

• in winter, give soybean meal, oat and wheat sprouts, dried nettles, clover, alfalfa hay;
• in summer add spinach and boiled root vegetables.

With the arrival of cold weather, the feeding schedule of quails changes. Birds eat twice a day. Before noon they are given wet vegetable and grass feeds, and in the afternoon - grain concentrates and beans.

Norms of daily feed consumption

Representatives of meat breeds gain 160 grams by the third month - half the weight required for slaughter. The weight gain of quails at different ages is affected by the frequency of feeding.

For an adult bird

Norms and nutritional characteristics of quails:

• from two months, birds are fed 3 times a day;
• the share of protein products should be 40 percent. Small deviations up or down will not affect the health of the birds. But significantly increasing the amount of protein is not recommended. Instead of gaining weight, the quails' liver grows and fails;
• The daily portion of food for one individual is 30 grams. The serving should include herbs and by-products;
• It is useful to add low-fat cottage cheese to mixed feed;
• during the egg-laying period, quails are given more fish;
• In the intervals between ovipositions, birds are fed with yeast.They are added to the feed of laying hens throughout the week at intervals of one day.

The proportion of protein components and fat in the diet of fattened quails is gradually increased. Fattening for meat lasts a month. In the fifth week, the daily portion of feed is increased by 8 percent.

For the quail

Norms and rules for feeding chicks:

• in the first week after hatching, the quails are fed 7-10 times a day and given water with manganese;
• in order for birds to grow quickly, the daily diet should consist of 26 percent protein;
• the first food of newborn chicks is crushed boiled eggs;
• from the third day they give low-fat cottage cheese;
• from the eighth day, the chicks are fed 6 times a day;
• grown quails are able to digest wheat cereal, ground root vegetables and herbs;
• the food is mixed with fish oil, broth, adding bone meal;
• the third week begins with four meals a day, crushed shells are introduced instead of eggs.

From the fifth week, quails feed like adult birds.

What errors need to be taken into account?

Basic rules for feeding quails:

• control the protein level - if it is difficult to calculate the proportion of protein feed, it is better to switch to ready-made mixtures;
• use fresh products - damp or moldy grain, rotten vegetables cause fungal diseases and poisoning;
• collect herbs on the plains or in the foothills - in swampy areas the plants are infected with helminths;
• observe the shelf life of animal products - no more than six months at a temperature of -3 degrees;
• mix the ingredients thoroughly - crush whole grains in a grinder, grind meat waste in a meat grinder along with vegetables and chopped herbs.

Often poultry farmers carefully study nutrition, but forget about the drinking regime.Quails are given settled tap or boiled river water to drink. Manganese is added to the drink once a week, and ascorbic acid is added every ten days, two tablets per liter. Week-old chicks are given shallow drinking bowls, otherwise they may choke.

Quails are shy birds. In order not to disturb them by their presence in the enclosure, it is better to attach feeders and drinkers to the door or place it near it. The water needs to be changed 1-2 times a day, and uneaten food should be removed immediately. Mixtures with cottage cheese and offal spoil quickly. Maintaining good hygiene when feeding quails is just as important as choosing a balanced diet.