When quails start laying: age at home and how many eggs are given per day and per year

Quails are excellent laying hens, the eggs of this bird are considered dietary, suitable for feeding sick people. Breeders have bred egg-laying breeds, the females of which are specially grown for egg production. Consider when quails start laying, how many eggs can be obtained per day from one bird, the reasons for the decline in egg production and how to improve it.

At what age do quails start laying

It depends on the breed, the first testicles can be obtained from young birds aged 40-50 days. At first, females carry few eggs, then the reproductive system is getting better.

Egg production peaks 5-6 months after birth. Stably quails rush up to 10-12 months, then productivity gradually decreases, although females can rush up to 3 years. But keeping them until such an age is economically unprofitable. In many industrial farms and those where birds are raised at home, quails are replaced after the end of the first season.

Beginning of laying eggs in different breeds

Small birds develop quickly, the start of laying can be expected 1.5 months after hatching. For different breeds, this age is different, but differs slightly, a maximum of only 2 weeks.

So, for example, Manchurian quails start laying at 40-45 days. Pharaohs, as a meat breed, are slightly inferior to the Manchus - they start laying eggs on the 42-50th day of life. Texas quails will be able to please the first "harvest" even later than the Manchus - for 50-55 days. In a year, Texans can produce 270 eggs each, Manchus - 220-250, pharaohs - 220 pieces.

How many eggs per day can a laying hen lay?

Productivity also depends on the breed, it varies between 200-300 pieces per year. For keeping quails for eggs, breeds are used that produce at least 260 pieces per year. The number of eggs received is also affected by the state of he alth of the bird, the conditions of detention. If they are unfavorable, the owner does not care for the quails well or they get sick, egg production drops sharply or may stop altogether. Egg production is not affected by the time of year, but is strongly affected by temperature, humidity and lighting in the house.

A quail lays 1 egg per day, up to 25 eggs per month. A feature of the bird species is that the quail lays eggs 5-6 days a week, then rests for 1-2 days. The weight of the testicles is 10-15 g. The color of the shell is determined by the breed.

Females usually rush in the evening, at the same time. Japanese quails may lay after feeding.

Why stop laying?

As already mentioned, in older laying hens, egg production drops and soon stops, but this happens for natural reasons, due to the wear and tear of the body over time. Reduction can also be caused by stress from moving, changing males, the appearance of new individuals, and overpopulation. This kind of stress can slow down egg laying for a week. For a longer period, disease and injury interrupt the laying of eggs, as well as the period when the birds molt.

Reasons for the decline in quail egg production

Young laying hens reduce productivity for external reasons. For example, they are thermophilic, they will not rush in the cold. For stable egg production, the room temperature should be maintained at least 20 ° C and humidity at 60%. Too dry or humid air, drafts also act unfavorably.Lighting also plays an important role. The daylight requirement for quails is 18 hours. If this condition is not met, it will be problematic to wait for eggs from females.

For a short time, quails can reduce productivity if they change the feed. This is due to the fact that the body of birds gets used to it. A diet low in protein also leads to decreased productivity.

How to improve egg production?

The main reasons why birds do not lay well are considered to be poor feeding and improper keeping conditions. So, you need to analyze what was a negative factor and eliminate it. It is necessary to put cages with quails only in a heated room. In winter, you will also have to maintain a constant temperature in it.This can be done using heaters or wood-burning stoves. Heat sources will also dry the air in the room, remove dampness.

To organize the correct lighting mode, it is desirable to install lamps that will turn on automatically. To do this, you need to configure the system to turn on and off according to a schedule, so as not to do it manually. For lighting, you need to use lamps of low power, giving a soft muffled light. From a bright quail become aggressive, peck each other to the blood.

Cell area is important. Quails can be content with a very small living space, but they cannot be forced to live in cramped quarters. Crowding leads to stress and the spread of disease. For 1 sq. m. cages should not sit more than fifty birds. Laying hens should be kept separate from males, as it happens that males peck at females.

You can increase the volume of eggs laid by laying hens with good feeding.In order for a bird to have enough nutrients to form an egg every day, it must receive them from food. Each bird requires at least 30-35 g of food per day, you need to give food 3 times a day. But it is not worth overfeeding laying hens, with excess weight, egg production does not increase, but decreases. Also, do not leave leftover food in the feeders if the birds have not eaten it. This will encourage appetite for the next serving.

You can not abruptly change one product to another, give mixers or feed of different composition without a preliminary period of addiction. It needs to be mixed in small portions with the usual feed so that the quail organism switches to it without stress. Compound feed for quails should be fresh, stand in closed bags. Old compound feed loses its properties. It is useful to feed layers with protein products and vegetable oils or ready-made premixes designed specifically for layers. This not only increases the total volume of eggs, but also the weight of each of them.

And, of course, you need to keep the quail clean. Clean pallets in cages every day. Once every 1-2 months, remove birds from them, rinse and disinfect. If you clean the droppings regularly, not only will there be no smell in the room, but the birds will also remain he althy.

To maintain he alth, it is also useful to carry out preventive treatments of livestock with antibiotics and antiviral drugs, without waiting until diseases appear. To strengthen immunity, give vitamins, fresh herbs.

Those who decide to start laying quails should know when they start to lay, how much you can get from a particular breed, what volume of production to count on. How to avoid serious mistakes in maintenance and feeding in order to make a profit, and not count losses. And what needs to be done so that the laying hens show the full potential that breeders have invested in them.

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