Basics of Quail Farming (by Moiz Abdullah)
Moiz Abdulah
Student of BS Poultry Science (2nd Semester)
PMAS Arid Agriculture university Rawalpindi
Email: moizabdulah0344@gmail.com
- The scientific name of quail is Coturnix coturnix
- Genus is courtnix
- Chromosome number is 2n=78
Quail domesticated species are used for meat and eggs purpose. In Pakistan there is no trend of eggs eating but there is trend of meat eating of quail. The meat taste is much tastier than chicken and has less fat content. It promotes the development of body and brain in children. Nutritionally, the quails eggs are far good than the chicken eggs. Moreover it also contains less cholesterol. Quail eggs are smaller as compare to chicken but contain more fats, protein, iron and vitamin B12 by weight
HISTORY
It was First domesticated in Japan 1950s and There are about 45 species of quail around the world Some common species of quail are Italian quail, japanese quail, English white quail, bobwhite quail, black- breasted quail Black-breasted and bobwhite quails farming are done in Pakistan. Quails are the smallest farmed bird, some of the quails weighing as little as 100g when fully grown but now a days there is a trend of quail farming in Pakistan many farmers are coming in quail industry and mostly developed countries are already having a settled quail farming business
Importance : It’s very easy to handle. It can adopt varied environment. Quails are tough birds for farming they can adopt variety of environment and can survive in tuff conditions. These are fast growing birds and have very short intervals. They get mature early and breed early also gains good weight in short intervals. It’s to short that even it gives around 3-4 generation in a year. It’s is also a pilot bird for genetic, nutritional, and physiological studies most of the researchers do experiments on this bird because it’s a perfect bird for farming as well as for experiments. It is a very good source of meat and egg. It’s meat is tastier than the chicken meat and it’s eggs have less cholesterol than the chicken’s eggs. Quails eggs and meat promotes the growth of brain and body especially in children. Their meat and eggs are mostly affective in children for growth. Quail also an offered an opportunity to have a alternative of chicken farming because it’s easy to handle. It’s short interval of breeding. It consumes very less space to live and kept a lot in the cages for the farming purpose. Main purpose of quail farming is its meat price is cheaper than chicken. In abroad countries people love to eat quails because of its nutrition value but in Pakistan there is no much awareness about quail meat and its benefits. It is very useful as table delicacy. Mostly their eggs are table delicacy but in upper class peoples in Pakistan. Good for researchers and for education purpose. It’s requires very less space to live and also needs low investment for starting up the quail business. Quails are comparatively sturdy birds than the other birds that help to get more profit in this farming. And it can be marketed at the early age of just 5 weeks. The quail lay eggs around 280 eggs per year. Comparatively it’s a good laying in a year. Its meat is much tastier than the other birds and also contains less fat content. It contains less cholesterol in eggs as compared to other birds in their league or even in poultry. Quail meat is a nutritious diet for the pregnant and for nursing mothers. The main benefit of quail farming is that its need no vaccination. And have early maturity at the age of 42 days. The difference between male and female quail is female is heavier than the males. Females weigh about 200-250 grams and males weighs around 180-200 grams. Females have long and pointed feathers with black speckles on the throat and upper breast and male have crusty brown throat and breast feathers. As in the quail farming is done in the cages because they can live in less space. There are some different kinds of cages that are given below such as deep liter system, cage systems these 2 systems are mainly practiced in quails farming.
Cage system for quails?
There are 2 main cage systems for quails that are discussed below.
- Deep litter system
6 quails can be kept in a 1 sq. ft of a floor space, after the 6 months quails are moved to cage system by this way it will help to gain a good body weight
- Cage system
Each system is about 5 ft in length and 1 ft in width and sub –divided into 6 units. It can be arranged to 6 tires high. Bottom cage is fixed with movable wooden plate. Long narrow feed troughs are placed in front of the cages and waters troughs are placed at the back of the cages
CAGE SIZE
Age | Cage size | No. of birds |
First 2 weeks | 3* 2.5* 1.5* ft | 100 |
3-6 weeks | 4* 2.5* 1.5* ft | 50 |
FEEDING
Classified as, starter 0-4 weeks and finisher at 4-6 weeks layers and breeders 6 weeks onwards balanced and higher nutrient is required for good growth and egg production feed conversion ratio (FCR) is 1.75-1.80. Quails of 6 months old consumes around 30-35 grams of feed per day. Quails requires about 400 grams of feed for the production of 12 eggs. An adult quails can take 14-18 grams of feed in a day. It is important to give fresh feed and water daily.
INCUBATION
Incubators that are used for hatching chicken eggs can also be used for hatching of quail eggs. Incubation period of quail is 18 days. Fumigated with formaldehyde gas for 20 min. before storage Fumigated with formaldehyde gas for 20 min. before storage 0-14 days ,99.5 F , 60 % humidity , 5-6 times turning of egg in a day 15-18 days , 98.5 F , 70 % humidity, no turning
In short quails are best birds for farmers for farming because they are very good source of iron, vitamin B6, zinc, and vitamin D3, its also good for vision, skin, bones, and body tissues. Quail also helps to boost our immune system, good for heart health and also solves the problem of digestive and respiratory systems and also a lots of benefits of quail eggs such as a single eggs provides us significant chunk of your daily vitamin B12, selenium, riboflavin, and choline needs, along with some iron and its good for farming purpose because it takes less space to live and to breed in tough conditions also it can live in various types of conditions and quail gets no disease which is the most beneficial part for the farmers. They are pilot birds for researchers and for students to study on them. They are once a day but fresh feed and water must be provided to them daily. Their eggs and meet are not mostly used in Pakistan comparative to other countries but its meat and egg contain more nutritional value as compare to the other birds. In future it will be the preference for Pakistani public because of cheap price of meat as well as eggs. Quail farming is one of the growing business in Pakistan
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