Manchurian quail: breed description and characteristics, breeding

Quail breeding is a promising branch of agriculture available to private breeders. Quail eggs are more nutritious than chicken eggs, 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 the Manchurian quail:

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

Quails are brighter than quails, but there are fewer black specks in their plumage. 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 and meat direction. Manchus weigh 270 grams. With scrupulous selection of eggs, "heavy" individuals weighing 300 grams are hatched. The French variety reaches four hundred grams.

Egg production of Manchurian quails is at an average level - 220 eggs per year from one female. The weight of the egg reaches 12 grams. The survival rate of chicks is 80 percent. Females start laying at the fifth week of life.

Main pros and cons

Manchurian quail is inferior in egg production to the Japanese, and in weight - to the Pharaoh breed. But novice breeders will find it easier to deal with Manchus.

Pros and conslarge eggs;unpretentiousness in nutrition;high immunity.relatively low egg productionthermophilicity prevents breeding in cold climates;when kept in private farms, the cost of feed is higher than with intensive breeding in poultry farms;impulsive, capricious and shy character.

Golden quail is interesting as a decorative breed. If you cross Manchu with Texas quail, you get more fleshy hybrids weighing 500 grams. A calm atmosphere should reign around the poultry house.

At sharp sounds, Manchurian quails take off in fright in their cages and beat against the bars. Birds do not make good contact with humans and are not given into hands. Squeezing their feathers hurts them.

When establishing supplies in a chain of restaurants, there is a difficulty with large carcasses. Their sizes do not correspond to standard portions, so the chefs refuse to take them. But when selling to private buyers and selling through stores, there are no problems with birds. The main thing is to have permission from the sanitary inspection.

Home maintenance and care

Manchurian quails are kept in cages. They are more unpretentious compared to other breeds. But critical fluctuations in temperature, humidity and lighting cause birds to reduce productivity and aggression.

Room

Cages with quails are placed in an insulated barn or in a separate room in the house. Birds should not be kept on the loggia, balcony or yard. The most acceptable option for a large number of quails is a special windowless room with a lighting, heating and ventilation system.

Cage

Quails are put in common cages. To protect against drafts, it is recommended to use constructions in the form of plywood boxes with a slatted front door. Arrangement Requirements:

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

Quails do not build shelters for eggs and incubate clutch on the litter. Young birds are planted more densely to increase the chance of mating. The bedding is changed daily. Feeders and drinkers are installed in the cage. Also once a week they put dishes with sand for bathing.

Temperature conditions

The norm for quails is 20-22 degrees plus or minus 2 degrees. With a significant decrease in temperature, the hens lose their maternal instinct. When fluctuating from cold to warm and back, the birds attack each other.

Ventilation

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

Lighting

Birds are frightened by direct bright light. If the windows of the poultry house face south, they are shaded with blinds. In a room without windows, fluorescent lamps are installed. Permissible power of conventional lamps - 50-60 watts.

Humidity

Dry air makes quails thirsty and reduces appetite, which negatively affects the productivity and plumage of birds. The optimum humidity is 65 percent. With intensive heating in winter, water containers are placed indoors.

Features of industrial content

How Manchurian quail is grown in poultry farms:

• in one large cage of 20 square meters contain 700 birds each;
• to accommodate quails, systems of cages accommodating 250 quails are used;
• cell complexes are equipped with egg collectors, drinkers and feeders.

The industrial maintenance of Manchurian quails differs from domestic scales. There are 35 quails per square meter. The livestock fattened for meat is not divided by sex. To obtain eggs for sale, laying hens are kept separately from males and fed with special compound feed.

Diet

Wild quails find food in the thickets of grass: small insects, plant seeds. Domestic birds lead a less mobile lifestyle. Their diet consists of crushed cereals, designed to maintain a balance of metabolism and weight gain.

Food for Manchurian quails is cooked on their own or mixed feed is poured.

From birth

Manchurian quail chicks need fortified food. Therefore, ready-made mixtures form the basis of their diet.

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 groats and compound 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, the chicks are fed 5 times a day, from the second week - 3-4 times.

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 shown in the table:

Chalk5Vegetable oil3,5 Premix2

Name	Percentage share
Corn	25
Wheat	20
Soybean meal	25
Sunflower top	19

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

For getting meat

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

Feeding schedule:

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

Fatted birds are transferred to 4 meals a day.

Breeding

For breeding choose 3-4 females and one male aged two to eight months from different broods. A quail family is planted in one cage. When bred naturally, Manchurian quails show a hierarchy in the flock. Birds are matriarchy. The female leader is the first to approach the feeder and drives away the weak companions. The leader of the flock carries the largest eggs. The duration of incubation of quail eggs is 17 days.

Leading females sometimes behave aggressively and peck at 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 breed chicks in an incubator, you need to observe the temperature regime as carefully as when keeping adult birds. Basic rules for hatchery breeding:

• shelf life of eggs before laying - no more than five days;
• temperature in storage - +12 degrees;
• put eggs warmed up to room temperature in the incubator;
• choose medium-sized specimens of the correct form with a whole shell;
• before laying eggs, warm up the incubator to sixty degrees;
• turn eggs every 4 hours.

Temperature and humidity in the incubator:

Indicator	Incubation days period
	1-12	13-15	16-17
Temperature (in degrees Celsius)	37.7	37 ,2	37
Humidity (percent)	60	50	70

Hatched chicks are placed in a brooder, setting the temperature to +36 degrees. Within a month, every week the temperature is reduced by 5 degrees. Monthly 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:

• pseudo-plague - causes green diarrhea, foul-smelling beak, head tilt, and lethargy. Quails can be asymptomatic carriers of the pathogen. Depending on the stage, a complex of antibiotics is selected;
• ornithosis - birds are disheveled, look untidy, 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 "Thiabendazole" is prescribed;
• aspergillosis - a fungal infection often affects young animals, causes thirst, weakness, shortness of breath, blue beak and paws. The disease is difficult to cure on your own, so you should contact your veterinarian;
• alopecia - feathers fall out with a lack of vitamins A and B, sulfur and iodine, as well as due to drafts or overheated air in the room. For treatment, vitamin supplements are introduced into the diet of birds and the temperature in the house is regulated.

A typical quail problem is fright injury. Birds try to fly in a cage, hurt their wings and paws.

Layers have problems laying eggs:

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

To prevent egg-laying pathologies, quails are given fodder yeast, fishmeal.

How much and where to buy?

Average prices for Manchurian quails of different ages:

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

The cost of adults ranges from one hundred to two hundred rubles.

The following Russian farms are breeding Manchurian quails:

• "Ural quail" - they sell eggs, chicks, make cages and equipment;
• Ptichy Dvor - located in Krasnodar, has a representative office in Moscow, specializes in breeding different breeds of quail, manufactures brooders, cages and turnkey farms;
• "My quail" - a network of family farms for the sale of young animals and equipment.

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

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