Description and characteristics of Manchurian quails, their breeding

Quail breeding is a promising branch of agriculture, available to private breeders. Quail eggs are higher in calories than chicken eggs and contain more phosphorus, magnesium, iron and B vitamins. Due to their beneficial properties, they are in demand, as is the protein-rich meat of miniature birds. Manchurian quails are productive in both directions.

Description, productivity and characteristics of the breed

Appearance of Manchurian quail:

• yellow and brown feathers alternate and form a variegated cover;
• light beak and paws;
• black speckles on the chest of females;
• striped cap on the head of males.

Quails are brighter than quails, but their plumage has fewer black specks. Chicks of different sexes differ in behavior from the third week of life. Males stretch their necks and squeak. The breed belongs to the egg-meat breed. Manchus weigh 270 grams. With careful selection of eggs, “heavy” individuals weighing 300 grams are hatched. The French variety reaches four hundred grams.

Main pros and cons

The Manchurian quail is inferior in egg production to the Japanese quail, and in weight to the Pharaoh breed. But it will be easier for novice breeders to cope with Manchurians.

Golden quail is interesting as an ornamental breed. If you cross Manchurians with Texas quails, you will get meatier hybrids weighing 500 grams. A calm atmosphere should reign around the poultry house.

At sharp sounds, Manchurian quails fly up in their cages from fear and hit the bars. Birds do not make good contact with humans and are not easy to handle. Squeezing the feathers causes them pain.

When establishing supplies to restaurant chains, difficulties arise with large carcasses. Their sizes do not correspond to standard portions, so chefs refuse to take them. But when selling to private buyers and selling through stores, problems with birds do not arise. The main thing is to have permission from the sanitary inspection.

Maintenance and care at home

Manchurian quails are kept in cages. They are more unpretentious than other breeds. But critical deviations in temperature, humidity and lighting cause a decrease in productivity and aggression in birds.

Room

Cages with quails are placed in an insulated barn or in a separate room in the house. Birds cannot be kept on a loggia, balcony or in the yard. The most acceptable option for a large number of quails is a special room without windows with a lighting, heating and ventilation system.

Cell

Quails are placed in common cages. To protect against drafts, it is recommended to use structures in the form of plywood boxes with a lattice front door. Requirements for arrangement:

• stocking density - 6 adult birds per 30 square centimeters;
• grid cell size - 15x15 millimeters;
• bedding - thick cardboard;
• lack of perches and nests.

Quails do not build shelters for eggs and hatch their eggs on litter. Young birds are spaced closer together to increase the likelihood of mating. The bedding is changed daily. Feeders and drinkers are installed in the cage. Also, once a week they put out a bowl of sand for bathing.

Temperature

The norm for quail is 20-22 degrees Celsius, plus or minus 2 degrees. When the temperature drops significantly, the mother hens lose their maternal instinct. When fluctuating from cold to warm and back again, birds attack each other.

Ventilation

Despite their small size, quail actively produce heat. The room with birds must be regularly ventilated, but not cooled down. In a draft, Manchurian quails lose their feathers and lay fewer eggs. An exhaust hood will provide access to fresh air in winter. In summer, it is enough to ventilate the house through a slightly open window.

Lighting

Birds are frightened by direct bright light. If the poultry house windows face south, they are shaded using blinds. Fluorescent lamps are installed in a room without windows. The permissible power of conventional lamps is 50-60 watts.

Humidity

Dry air causes thirst and decreased appetite in quails, which negatively affects the productivity and plumage of birds. Optimal humidity is 65 percent. When heating intensively in winter, containers with water are placed in the room.

Features of industrial content

How Manchurian quails are raised in poultry farms:

• 700 birds are kept in one large cage with an area of ​​20 square meters;
• to house quails, systems of cages that can accommodate 250 quails are used;
• cage complexes are equipped with egg collectors, drinkers and feeders.

The industrial keeping of Manchurian quails differs from the domestic scale. There are 35 quails per square meter of area. Livestock fed for meat are not separated by sex. To obtain eggs for sale, laying hens are kept separately from males and fed with special feed.

Diet

Wild quails find food in thickets of grass: small insects, plant seeds. Poultry lead a less active lifestyle. Their diet consists of crushed cereals, designed to maintain metabolic balance and weight gain.

Food for Manchurian quails is prepared independently or mixed feed is added.

From birth

Manchurian quail chicks need fortified food. Therefore, the basis of their diet is prepared mixtures.

How to feed hatched chicks:

• 1st day - give mashed boiled egg;
• 2nd-4th day - add cottage cheese to the egg;
• 5th-7th day - add wheat cereal and mixed feed to the egg-curd mixture;
• 8th-20th day - instead of eggs, add boiled carrots, soybean meal, meat waste.

In the first week of life, chicks are fed 5 times a day, from the second week - 3-4 times.

During the period of growing up

Young birds are fed 3 times a day. The optimal feed consumption is 30 grams per individual.

The mixture is prepared from the products presented in the table:

With the beginning of egg production, females are given cottage cheese and fish meal.

To get meat

Quails and quails intended for fattening are seated separately. The room temperature is maintained at +22 degrees.

Feeding mode:

• morning and afternoon - plant food, vegetables;
• in the evening - crushed barley, oats, wheat, corn.

Fattened birds are transferred to 4 meals a day.

Breeding

For breeding, 3-4 females and one male, aged from two to eight months, are selected from different broods. A quail family is placed in one cage. When bred naturally, Manchurian quails exhibit hierarchy in the flock. Matriarchy reigns among birds. The leader female is the first to approach the feeder and drives away weak companions. The leader of the flock lays the largest eggs. The duration of incubation of quail eggs is 17 days.

Leading females sometimes behave aggressively and peck their relatives. With age, the egg production of Manchurian quails decreases.Older individuals are inferior in strength to young ones and often die under their beaks. Quails lay eggs for a year, rarely two. Therefore, females that have passed the peak of egg production are transplanted into a separate cage and fattened.

To hatch chicks in an incubator, it is necessary to observe the temperature regime just as carefully as when keeping adult birds. Basic rules for incubation breeding:

• The shelf life of eggs before laying is no more than five days;
• storage temperature - +12 degrees;
• Place eggs warmed to room temperature in the incubator;
• choose medium-sized specimens of regular shape with intact shells;
• Before laying eggs, warm the incubator to sixty degrees;
• turn eggs every 4 hours.

Temperature and humidity in the incubator:

The hatched chicks are placed in a brooder, setting the temperature to +36 degrees. For a month, the temperature is reduced by 5 degrees every week. Month-old chicks are transplanted into a regular cage and kept in the same conditions as adult quails.

Possible diseases

The following diseases are common among Manchurian quails:

• pseudoplague - causes green diarrhea, unpleasant odor from the beak, tilting of the head and apathy. Quails can be asymptomatic carriers of the pathogen. Depending on the stage, a complex of antibiotics is selected;
• ornithosis - birds are disheveled, look unkempt, suffer from convulsions, which intensify and lead to death. Sick quails are removed from the common cage and treated with vitamin complexes;
• helminthiasis - parasites infect the respiratory tract, causing birds to suffocate.For treatment, the drug “Tiabendazole” is prescribed;
• aspergillosis - a fungal infection most often affects young animals, causing thirst, weakness, shortness of breath, blue beaks and paws. The disease is difficult to cure on your own, so you should contact a veterinarian;
• alopecia - feathers fall out due to a lack of vitamins A and B, sulfur and iodine, as well as due to draft or overheated air in the room. For treatment, vitamin supplements are introduced into the birds' diet and the temperature in the poultry house is regulated.

A typical problem for quails is fright injuries. Birds try to fly in a cage and injure their wings and paws.

Laying hens have problems with egg laying:

• egg retention - occurs in young females due to weak tone of the oviduct and lack of vitamins;
• prolapse of the oviduct - observed with premature oviposition, vitamin deficiency D.

To prevent egg-laying pathologies, quails are given feed yeast and fish meal.

How much does it cost and where to buy?

Average prices for Manchurian quails of different ages:

• daily allowance - 25-30 rubles;
• weekly - 35-50 rubles;
• up to a month - 70-120 rubles;
• monthly - 75-180 rubles.

The cost of adult individuals ranges from one hundred to two hundred rubles.

The following Russian farms are engaged in breeding Manchurian quails:

• “Ural Quail” - sells eggs and chicks, manufactures cages and equipment;
• “Bird Yard” - located in Krasnodar, there is a representative office in Moscow, specializes in breeding various breeds of quails, manufactures brooders, cages and turnkey farms;
• “My Quails” is a network of family farms selling young animals and equipment.

Also, advertisements for the sale of birds and hatching eggs are given by private breeders in the Moscow region.