Manchu golden quails: peculiarities of breeding at home

Keeping and breeding quails is quite a profitable and interesting occupation. These birds are bred for decorative purposes, to obtain eggs and dietary meat. Keep them is not as easy as ducks, chickens, geese - they cause a bit more trouble and demanding conditions. The article describes the features and requirements of one of the breeds of quail - Manchu.

Description and distinctive features of the breed

Manchurian quail - one of the most common and popular among the poultry farmers of the species of this bird. Its popularity is due, first of all, to quite good indicators of productivity - it is attributed to the meat and egg direction. However, the decorative qualities of these birds are also at altitude.

Did you know? Our ancestors hunted wild quails in order to use them for food or breed as a singing and fighting bird. In Central Asia, a special kind of sport was popular - quail battles. War birds were launched into the pits-arenas, on the walls of which the spectators sat.

Appearance and physique

Quail is a medium-sized bird from the family of chickens, but little resembles its relatives, domestic chickens:

  1. Color of plumage is brown, yellow, golden shades.
  2. The bird has a light beak and paws, dark eyes.
  3. Feathers on the head are painted in a darker shade, forming a mask.
  4. Body length - 18 cm.
  5. The body shape is rounded.
  6. Wings - short, pointed at the ends. When folded, they have a length of 0.9-1.15 cm.
Video: description of the Manchu golden quail breed

Productive characteristics

Manchurian quails can not be attributed to the record for productivity - their egg production is significantly inferior to other breeds, for example, Japanese, and meat characteristics are lower than, for example, the Pharaohs.

However, with a great desire of the breeder, and most importantly - with high-quality care, excellent conditions of detention and a properly selected diet, it is also possible to achieve quite high rates from the Manchurian breed.

The average productivity parameters look like this:

  • male weight at 2 months - 115-120 g;
  • female weight - 130-150 g (individual individuals with selection and proper care reach 300-400 g);
  • egg production per year - 220 pieces (the highest rate - 280 pieces);
  • egg weight - up to 16 g;
  • start of egg production - the 40th day of life;
  • The duration of high egg production is 8 months.

How to distinguish male from female

In Manchurian quails, sexual dimorphism is well developed - males are smaller in size, have a brighter, more saturated color and a mask on the head. They usually have no dark spots in the chest.

Learn more about the best breeds of quail, as well as the most important thing about breeding quail at home.

You can accurately determine the sex, starting from the 4th week, the onset of puberty. To do this, click on the cloacal gland, located slightly above the cloaca. When you press the males from the cloaca foamy liquid is released.

The cloaca of the male is more than the female. Males are also determined by the presence of a seal on the inner wall of the cloaca, which is much larger than that of the female.

Conditions of detention and care

Quails contain a cellular way. In winter, the cells must be installed in a specially designed insulated room.

We advise you to get acquainted with the beneficial properties of quail eggs.

Requirements for the room

Ideally, in the room for quail should be equipped with:

  • brooder for young,
  • incubator,
  • adult cells,
  • feed compartment.

It should include:

  • heating,
  • lighting,
  • ventilation.

Lighting is important for high egg production rates for quail. Duration of daylight should be around 15-17 hours.

In the room with cells must be at least one window. If there are no windows, artificial lighting is installed, preferably infrared. The light is placed in such a way that it falls on the feeders and drinkers, and the place where the birds rest, remained in the shade.

Important! An overabundance of light adversely affects the general condition of the birds. Often it provokes mutual spraying, falling egg production, depressed state and death of birds. Therefore, the windows in the barn recommend glazing with frosted glass.

Birds are also sensitive to moisture parameters. The humidity of the air in the room where the quail is kept should be in the range of 60-70%. With strong moisture they start to hurt. Therefore, an important condition in the house is high-quality ventilation, able to deal with excess moisture. The simplest ventilation option is supply and exhaust. At the same time, it is necessary to prevent drafts. Another parameter to which quails are demanding is temperature.

A prerequisite for them is heat - not below 18 ° C (at 16 ° C, quails stop laying eggs). Birds rush perfectly at 18-22 ° C. To achieve such indicators, it is necessary to warm the shed and cages, as well as install heating devices in them.

Important! If you installed a quail in the shed, heaters that dry the air, you must additionally equip a humidifier or moisten the room with wet rags, buckets of water, etc.

To heat a chicken house with quails, heaters, UV heaters, electric convectors, oil heaters, etc. are most often used. To control the temperature and humidity levels, a thermometer and a hygrometer should be installed in the house near the cages.

Selection and arrangement of cells

The height of cages for quails should be at least 20 cm. The area should correspond to the calculations: 1 individual per 1 square meter. decimeter. In one cell area of ​​1 square. m can accommodate 60 individuals.

For keeping a large number of birds, the cages are installed in several tiers - up to 5 pieces. In the house area of ​​30 square meters. m can install up to 12 5-tier batteries.

Read more about how to make a cage for quails with your own hands.

Cell requirements:

  1. The cages should be equipped with convenient feeders and drinkers.
  2. Once a week, tanks with ash and sand are placed in them so that birds can swim.
  3. It is desirable that the cells were made of wood. However, they can also be made of galvanized, plastic, plywood, stainless materials.
  4. For the convenience of collecting eggs, the floor should be made at an angle to the egg collector, which is attached to the edge of the cage.
  5. Poultry farmers advise to keep separate females and males separately, so a partition should be made in the cages.

Video: how to choose a cage for quail

What to feed adult quail

Quail fed 3-4 times a day. The diet of representatives of the Manchurian breed must contain the following ingredients:

  • grain (corn, millet, wheat);
  • greens (clover, nettle);
  • boiled vegetables (carrots, beets, potatoes, cabbage);
  • animal products (minced meat, fish, cottage cheese);
  • shellfish;
  • gravel;
  • a piece of chalk.
Read more about how to properly feed quails.

Vitamins quail simply needed. They are present in the finished feed, which are sold in pet stores. Choosing feed, you must follow what is indicated in the accompanying instructions for feeding, or consult with a specialist. You can also buy in a pharmacy vitamins like "Undevit" and add to the feed in a hammer form at the rate of: 1 tablet per 10 birds per day.

Important! In addition to vitamins, quails are useful to give a source of minerals - milled eggshell is best suited. It is poured into a separate container.

Feeding frequency:

  • in the first feeding give one third of the daily rate of grain;
  • in the second - a wet mash of vegetables and herbs;
  • in the third - the remnants of the second feeding;
  • in the fourth - the remaining amount of grain.
Feeding produced after equal periods of time, usually after 3 hours.

Video: feeding and maintenance of adult quail

Breeding chickens at home

Quails do not belong to good mothers and gentle layers. Therefore, for the breeding of young offspring will require an incubator. You can buy it - almost all universal models are designed for incubating quail eggs.

It is also possible to make an apparatus for removing chicks with the help of improvised means by hand - broken refrigerators, wooden, foam, plastic boxes, buckets, etc. are used. Detailed schemes and detailed step-by-step instructions provide an opportunity to make an incubator even to people who do not have special skills .

Quail Egg Incubation

To get the greatest number of chickens, you need to be responsible for selecting the incubation material and preparing the incubator for operation.

Eggs are inspected before bookmarking, discarding:

  • those that have an irregular shape;
  • average or overweight or not reaching them - for Manchurian quail eggs, the average weight is 12-14 g;
  • with too light or too dark shell, with strong pigmentation;
  • polluted.
Get acquainted with the secrets of proper incubation of quail eggs.

When scanning with an otoscope, they do not allow eggs to be incubated, in which:

  • the air chamber is not visible;
  • there are damage, thickening, thinning of the shell;
  • several yolks are visualized;
  • there are spots in the inside;
  • the yolk is not centered, but with a strong displacement towards the blunt or sharp end.

Before loading the selected incubation material, the incubator must be turned on and kept working for 24 hours. After that, you need to check the temperature and humidity.

If they correspond to the established ones or are within the limits of the error stated by the manufacturer of the incubator, it is allowed to place eggs in it.

The duration of incubation of quail chicks is 17 days.

  1. Within 12 days after placing the eggs in the incubator, the temperature should be maintained at 37.7 ° C, humidity - 50-60%.
  2. In the last 5 days of incubation, the temperature is gradually reduced to 37.2 ° C, humidity - by 5-6%.
  3. When the process of spitting begins, the temperature indices decrease to 37 ° С, and the humidity ones increase by 13-16%.
  4. The eggs are reversed until the 14th day of incubation 6 times per day.
  5. After the 14th day, the incubation material is no longer disturbing. Starting from the same period, they start airing the incubator.
  6. To allow oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the apparatus, it must be opened twice a day for 5 minutes.
Video: Quail Egg Incubation After all the quails come to light, they are transferred to a brooder.
Did you know? Quails were the first birds whose offspring managed to get in space. In 1990, 60 chicks appeared from eggs placed in an incubator taken aboard a spacecraft.

Nursing care

Growing chicks after birth is carried out in cages with heating. For 100-150 chicks, a cage 25 cm high, 150 cm wide and 50-70 cm deep is required.

Up to a week old, babies can put a burlap mat in their cage, which must be changed every day. In the future, it is no longer needed. The cell should be divided into 2 zones: warm and cool. For chicks, the following temperature should be set:

Chick Age (days)The temperature in the warm zone under the heater (° C)Temperature in the cool zone (° C)
1-735-3627-28
8-1430-3225-26
15-2125-2723-25
22-3020-2220-22

Whether the temperature indicators are comfortable for them or not, the chicks will tell by their behavior. If they are cold, they will lump together, thus trying to warm up with their own bodies. If they are hot, they will crawl in different directions, away from the heater.

It will probably be interesting for you to read about when the egg-laying period at the quail comes, how many eggs the quail carries per day, and how to properly maintain and breed quail at home.

Humidity in the room where the quails are located should be maintained at a level of 60-70%.

Video: the secrets of care and maintenance of newborn quails

Feeding ration

Convenient feeders and drinkers should be installed in the cages for chicks. Feed and water should be fresh and clean. Water chicks give boiled.

In the early days, the chicks will need to be shown where they eat and drink. To do this, for example, one baby poke his beak in food and water. In the future, he himself will already know how to feed him, and the rest of the chickens will follow his example.

The diet of quail should be made as follows:

  • from the 1st day - boiled egg (chicken or quail) or milled feed with protein;
  • from the 2nd day - low-fat cottage cheese is added to the egg (2 g per 1 chick);
  • from the 3rd day - injected chopped greens;
  • 8-30th day - mixed fodder, from the 14th day - ground shells and gravel;

Upon reaching the month of youngsters transferred to adult food.

Advantages and disadvantages

The Manchurian quail has much more advantages than disadvantages.

Among the advantages of the breed should be noted:

  • a large mass of eggs;
  • early maturity and quick weight gain;
  • decorative plumage;
  • resistance to common diseases;
  • unpretentiousness in the diet;
  • adaptability to living in cool conditions.

Breed deficiencies:

  • not too many eggs;
  • discrepancy between carcass mass and restaurant standards, which is why Manchurian quails are not suitable for marketing in this direction.

Thus, Manchurian quails are a good option for those people who want to see beautiful birds in their farm and receive quality meat and a sufficient number of eggs from them at the same time.

If birds with a maximum productivity are required for meat characteristics or egg production, other breeds should be preferred. In general, keep quail is easy. The main thing is to create comfortable conditions for them in terms of temperature, humidity, good ventilation, spaciousness, and also to choose a balanced feed.

Reviews from the network

By males, a mask on the head is always clearly distinguished. The mask may be light ocher, contrasting dark brown or rusty. Often (but not always) the males have less dark pestrin on the body. By the period of puberty (6-7 weeks), males can be accurately identified by pressing on the cloacal gland, which is only present in males as a small bulge located above the cloaca. At this, a frothy secret is released, the purpose of which has not yet been elucidated, but is associated with the development of the testes, and evidence of precocity. Selection of early males for procreation, and obtaining more precocious offspring.
Nina Viktorovna
//www.pticevody.ru/t3898-topic#326827

Here is the recipe that I use to cook my k / k for quail-unlearn: corn 25% wheat 20% soybean cake 25% sunflower cake 19% Limestone 5.6% Vegetable oil 3.4% premix 2% 2% Premix I use D- mix Lviv 2%. It is always necessary to understand that the recipe is suitable for certain indicators of the components. When buying soy, you need to inquire about the protein content in it, etc.
Alpol
//www.pticevody.ru/t3898-topic#327664

Watch the video: how to prepare fried rice, chinese style (May 2024).