Category Archives: Breeding Guide

BREEDING OF POULTRY

August 18, 2022 Farhan sheikh Leave a comment

Genetic composition is a major factor which governs the productive performance in variousaspects of livestock. About 80 per cent performance of poultry is dependent on genecomponents and 20 per cent on environment component in exploiting genetic potential to itsmaximum possible extent. Basically if birds are of poor genetic make-up, whatever may bethe highly scientific management conditions prevail, they may not be desired economical andprofitable producers. The combination and fixing of high quality genes in specific breeds,varieties and strains involve consistent scientific and skillful breeding practices. It ishighly technical skilled job which requires persistent continuous efforts for long-time.Gregor Mendel is supposed to be the father of genetics who has formulated some offundamental laws in genetics on his observations on which most of today’s genetic skills depend.

BASIS OF VARIABILITY

No two individuals are similar. Each individual differs from another due to the genetic variation. This is because each parent transmits one gene or pair of genes to its offsprings and variability depends on the heterozygosity of number of gene pairs ofparents. A sample half of inheritance of each parent and sample half of environment isreceived by each offspring. The chicken has total 39 pairs of chromosomes and each carries many genes, some probably 100 also. The number of gametes produced are abundant resulting into enormous hereditary combinations. The expression of character is due to one or moregenes. The basic unit of inheritance is gene and not the character.

INHERITANCE AND ENVIRONMENT
As already stated earlier variation in any flock is not only due to genetic component but environment component is also responsible for it. The exploitation of genetic variation is rather slow because several genes are involved in expression of each character in addition to which environment, hormones, and management conditions are also responsible for producing response. The hatchability, fertility, viability (liveability), resistance to disease, egg production, flesh production are the characters of economic and fundamental importance, where environment frequently plays its role for full exploitation of these characters. For example, inspite of high hatchability genes, poor hatching can be obtained due to faulty incubation conditions or low egg production can be noted in highly genetic potential birds because of imbalanced diet and poor housing conditions.

SEX RATIO AND FERTILITY
The fertility in poultry to large extent depends on genetics and selection of bird as an inherent character, but it is equally affected by better management than inheritance. The most important management point for it is sex ratio formating. On an average one male for 15 to 16 females for replacement pullets and one male for 10 to 12 females for broiler breeders is optimum for good fertility, depending on light or heavy breeds.

SELECTION
The choice of allowing individuals to become parents for next generation is selection. In other words differential rate of repro-duction is also called as selection. It is necessary to maintain or increase variation in population and one of the important force for geneticimprovement.

Kinds of Selection:
There are two kinds of selection, viz. natural or artificial.

Natural Selection

In case of random mating nature itself selects individuals for mating in flocks or population by preferential mating.

Artificial Selection
The selection applied by man with records and by adopting different methods is artificial selection. This involves intrapopulation and interpopulation selection.

Basis of Selection (Systems of Selection)

Depending on the base used for selection it is divided into the following systems:
Individual Selection
It is also called as mass selection. Because the individual is selected from mass (flock or large number) on its own phenotypic value and put together in mass for mating, it is known as mass selection. The system is adopted for traits of high heritability and expressed in both sexes, where it results in faster genetic improvement.

Family Selection
The individuals are selected on the performance of their whole family. It is useful in case of low heritability characters like egg production and which is expressed in females only; similarly viability, where phenotype is not reliable indicator of genotype. The sire or dam family averages are compared to population mean and the whole family is either selected or rejected for higher or lower means, respectively. The system involves two types of selection, viz, progeny testing and sib selection:

Progeny testing

The individual isselected on the basis of performance of it’s progeny, i.e. sons and daughters. But thebiggest problem with this system is the time consumed to obtain performance values of progeny. The part year production values, e.g. egg production upto 40 weeks of age can be efficiently used to overcome the difficulty of time consumption as it is positively correlated with full year production to make use of this selection system.

Sib testing

Sisters and brothers of individual are called as sibs. To avoid time consuming problem in progeny testing, individuals are selected on the basis of performance and appearance of their brothers and sisters. Similarly, to select birds for traits which are expressed in one sex only, for example, egg production which is expressed in pullets or hens, cockerels or cocks are selected on performance of their sisters.

Pedigree Selection:

Pedigree is the record of an individual’s ancestors including parents. This selection is also important because sample half of genes from each parent is transmitted to each of it’s offsprings. It is of immense importance in selection at earlier age, when traits in question might have not expressed themselves, i.e. it’s greatest applicability is in initial selection of sex-limited traits.

Methods of Selection on Phenotypic Values

The net value of an individual depends on many traits having varying economic importance.
The heritability and magnitude of genetic variance of traits differ from traits. The various traits may have phenotypic and genetic inter-relationships among themselves. Therefore, if too many traits are to be selected at a time, it may result in less improvement in specific traits. In this connection, Hazel and Lush have examinedsuperiority of the following selection methods:
Tandem Method
This method involves selection of only one trait at a time for improvement till satisfactory level of improvement in it, selection efforts are then relaxed for this trait and concentrated on second trait, and so on. The improvement is simultaneous for traits which are positively correlated and vice versa for negatively correlated traits. But this is again time consuming method.
Independent Culling Levels
Selection for many traits can bedone at a time or simultaneously by setting up minimum standard level for each trait. Any
individual below of any one or more levels is culled irrespective of meritorious performance in other traits. Such method of selection will result in favouring of medium type of birds and may reject outstanding individuals in many economic important traits as they may not qualify themselves in traits of lesser economic importance.
Selection Index
Hazel and Lush (1943) have invented this method wherein selection for several traits at a time can be done by rectifying drawbacks in previous methods. It is also called as total score method as it includes estimation of the bird’s total breeding value (net merit) for two or more traits at a time. Each trait is given weightage depending on its economic importance, heritability and inter-relationships (genetic and phenotypic) among traits. The score of index of each trait is added to arrive at total score index. The method is more efficient in all circumstances, as it saves superior individuals in important economic traits even they are inferior in less important characters.

IDEAL BREEDING PROGRAMME
As seen earlier most of selection systems have some or the other limitations. Therefore, ideal breeding programme consists of combination of various selection systems, and method can be better used along with individual, family and pedigree selection systems. The traits like egg production, viability, fertility, etc. which have low heritability, can be
improved by adopting family selection. On the other hand successful improvement in characters like egg weight, shell quality, sexual maturity, growth rate, confirmation can be achieved by using individual selection. Therefore, a wise breeder fixes required characters in his bird by combining useful methods for his operation.
Selection of Birds for Breeding
Selection of Egg Type Lines
The suitable age for selecting egg type birds is 10 to 14 weeks where inferior birds are removed from the flocks. The body confirmation and development of structural body parts are given more weightage than body weight in selecting these breeders. Thebirds from each lines are selected separately and most of breeding procedures involve mating of males and females from various lines. The chicks from each line are sexed at day-old age and inaccuracies in sexing may lead to mixing of cockerels with pullets and vice versa. These birds of sexing error should be removed prior to mating. The unwanted males must be removed as early as possible to reduce the cost.

Basis for Selection of Individual Males and Females
1. The pedigree in past is assessed for several pedigree generations.
2. The appearance and performance of individual and its sibs in present is used for making final judgement.

3. The appearance and performance of individual in future is judged by appearance and performance of its progeny, generally of sons and daughters.

Selection of Meat Type Lines
As there is high correlation between weight of meat type parents and their broiler offsprings at eight weeks of age, their selection preferably is done at this age. The selection pressure required for males is more than that of for females. The correlation between weight of parents at sexual maturity and broiler offsprings is little due to which selection on weight basis of birds going into lay or after eight weeks is very difficult. Even though same percentage of birds are removed from each sex, more selection pressure

(culling) is applied for males than females. This does not result in any differences in the effects for next generation as males required are fewer than females.

Selection of males
First of all we should know percentage of males to be retained at eight weeks of age which is more than the requirement of sexual maturity. Usually 60 per cent males are retained at day-old age. Forty per cent at eight weeks and 12-15 per cent at sexual maturity. The percentage is more at initial and middle stages because of depletion due to mortality and culling in later period. For selection at least weigh 15 per cent birds individually in a flock or in pen as representative of all birds at eight weeks of age.Record these weights on a separate sheet starting from heaviest and ending with lightest.According to percentage required count the number of males to be kept out of these 15 per cent, starting from heaviest with counting towards lightest. The figure of weight at which percentage of retaining is reached becomes the minimum weight for selection. Now discard the males weighing below minimum standard weight fixed by individual weighing. The sample weight must be taken in every pen of house to nullify effect of variation.

Selection of females
The selection for females is done with lesser selection pressure than males. About 80 per cent females are retained at eight weeks of age. Body weight is not much exerted for selection of females. The selection some times may be done with same procedure adopted for males but usually it is done by following the normal method of culling, i.e. birds are selected on the basis of general appearance, body condition, confirmation, moulting pattern, etc.

Methods of Mating
The methods of mating play major role in obtaining fertility of eggs from breeder birds.There are five commonly used methods of mating, out of which pen mating and flock mating are of commercial importance. While stud mating, shift mating and artificial insemination (AI) are important from research point of view.

Pen Mating
Generally followed for pedigree hatching where parents of offsprings can be determined with trap nesting of females. More number of females are allowed to mate with single male in small flock in separate pens for each male. But fertility may not be as good as of flock mating due to likeness in mating, i.e. the male heading the pen may not like to mate with particular female and vice-versa.

Flock Mating
This is the common method of mating used in most of the breeding practises. About 20-30 males are run with 250-300 females in flocks in a section of house. This reduces the chances of likeness or social order in mating and very good fertility is obtained, but parentage of offspring cannot be known.

Stud Mating
The male is housed in a pen or coop and females are individually kept one by one with male for mating time only and removed. The method is excellent for increasing the utility of outstanding males to increase the offsprings mating, and therefore, it is more expensive.

Shift Mating
In this method males are shifted from one pen to another after certain period of time, which helps in thorough testing of females as they are exposed to several males for mating.But to maintain accuracy of parentage this method is little difficult because fertile eggs can be produced for one to two weeks even after removing male from that pen. The recommendation for overcoming this problem is to discard eggs for one week after shifting of old male and housing of new male in particular pen. By adopting shifting after short span of time, large number of males can be tested with adequate assessment of females also for breeding.

Artificial Insemination
The method is not commonly used in chicken but it is quite common in turkey breeding due to lower fertility problems. The reasons for not becoming it common may be the non- availability of trained personnel, more labour involved and handling stress to birds. But if practised, it is excellent method to increase the efficiency of breeding programme. Because it increases the utility of outstanding males, eliminates completely social order in mating, minimises risk of disease spread and increases accuracy in parentage determination, it is more advantageous.

Breeding Season
In fact poultry birds are prolific breeders and they bred in all seasons. Therefore, there is no specific breeding season for poultry unlike that of other livestock but fertility percentage may vary in different seasons. For that also only season may not be the sole cause for reduced fertility. The season may act as minor contributing factor to lower down fertility. For example in summer season fertility is little bit reduced than mansoon and winter. That is excessive heat in summer may reduce breeding instinct of birds adding to causes of lowering down of fertility. Therefore, it may be said that rainy and winter seasons are comparatively better seasons for poultry breeding than summer.

BREEDING SYSTEMS IN POULTRY
The object of any breeding programme is to improve genetic make-up of progeny by maintaining genetic variance, for increasing the productive performance along with descent appearance. For keeping the variation, which is effect of heterozygosity, homozygosity is also essential to induce variation. At time of reaching of selection limit or selection plateau, status and condition is maintained to obtain highest production for some period and selection with breeding system in opposite direction can be adopted to avoid drastic deterioration of genetic composition which may result in sudden drop in productive performance. Therefore, the breeding systems used in any breeding programme should have the following objectives:

i. Increase in homozygosity which constitutes inbreeding,
ii. Increase in heterozygosity which involves outbreeding.
iii. Maintain the status quo position which is done by random mating. Ultimate result of breeding in term of genetic language is alteration of gene and genotype frequency, either in forward or backward direction as per desire and requirement.

Systems to Enhance Homozygosity
Any breeding system that increases homozygosity within breed or variety is known as inbreeding or rather to increase homozygosity inbreeding is adopted. Inbreeding is mating of closely related individuals wherein relationship is more close than the average of population. In inbreeding there will be one or more common ancestors from which part of gene samples (gametes) are drawn. Depending on closeness of relationship among the individuals, inbreeding can be grouped into three types, viz, close inbreeding, line breeding, and foi !nation of strain.

Close inbreeding
The mating of parent and progeny of mating between sibs is known as close inbreeding. This is followed for formation of inbreed lines and if relationship is less closer than that of cousins then inbreeding effect is very mild which cannot be counted also. As stated earlier with breeding of close relative the heterozygosity can be brought down to 10-12 per cent or even below it in 10-12 generations.

Line Breeding
It is inbreeding within the highly admired sire or dam ancestoral line to increase number of individuals of outstanding male or female in population. The daughters of different generations are mated back to outstanding sire or sons of various generations are mated back to outstanding sire or dam, so that resultant progeny has more and more percentage of genes of these outstanding parents. An inbred line should have at least 50 per cent inbreeding co-efficient. Mating of full sister-brother for three generations or of half, brother-sister for six generations can produce inbred line with 50 per cent inbreeding co-efficient.

Formation of Strain
This involves mating of double cousins, hence it is called as milder form of inbreeding.This is done to establish high productive traits in population to use it for production of commercials. It is adopted within the breed, so that selection can be carried out within and between strains to evolve better commercials. It also reduces heterozygosity but a slower rate than close or line breeding.

IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF BREEDING

Heritability:

the capacity of quantitative character to be transfered from parents to offspring is called as heritability.In terms of real genetic language the ratio of additive genetic variance to total phenotypic variance is heritability, i.e. h2 = va/vp. The improvement in progeny is fast, when heritability of that character is high and vice-versa. But inspite low heritability, a significant improvement in specific character can be achieved by using suitable selection procedures.

Hybrid-vigour:
As stated earlier any deviation from expected mean performance is called as heterosis, and positive heterosis is generally known as “hybrid-vigour” or “nicking”. Heterosis can arise from out-crossing in between various lines of same breed or strain crossing or cross-breeding.

Selection pressure:
The rigidity or intensity of selection is known as selection pressure. It is designated in terms of percentage of flock retained for breeding purpose. Higher the percentage of flock retension, lower will be the selection pressure and vice-versa. For example, selection pressure will be much more, when superior 15 per cent birds in flock are retained for breeding as compared to 50 per cent use of birds as parents.

Sexual maturity:
The age of laying first egg or the distance between day of hatch and first egg laid, is termed as sexual maturity. Earlier is the sexual maturity, more productive the bird is because it gets additional period to lay in its laying cycle of year. But some times in specific breeds pullets are presented from early sexual maturity to avoid production of smaller size eggs, egg bounds and prolapse before proper development of body.

Intensity of lay:
It is capacity of bird to lay in defined period of time. It can also be termed as rate of lay and what breeder is interested is high intensity of lay, which is the ability to lay at rapid rate. The better is intensity of lay, the more will be financial returns. In this connection the size of clutch is important. The number of eggs laid on consecutive days without gap, is known as clutch. The longer is the clutch size, the higher will be theintensity of lay. One way of measuring intensity of lay is to calculate simple percentage of production while other way is the size of clutch. It is important genetic trait but management also governs intensity of lay.

Precosity:
It can be defined as early sexual maturity.
Persistency:
The ability of hen to continue laying for longer period in her first laying cycle. In other words it is measure of length of Laying year of hen. The laying is generally terminated by moult in late summer. The longer is the length of laying cycle, more persistent the hen is. Once again it is important genetic trait associated with egg production. Persistency is highly (+ve, 0.75) correlated with annual egg production and hence important contributing factor to hen-housed egg production of bird

Breeding Guide, Brooding And Rearing guide

Raising Quail in the urban environment- Guide for quail pen and breeds

August 16, 2022 Farhan sheikh 1 Comment

Raising chickens in the backyard of your home has always attracted many people. People who get retired or are very much in backyard chicken farming and adopt this as a hobby. Some even do this for getting fresh eggs for their breakfast. But this practice has raised some issues as well. Cases were reported in many different regions that people had started complaining in against those houses that were raising chickens in their backyards. The reason was the noise they use to make and even sometimes get into neighbors houses UN-invited. As a result of this, urban chicken keeping laws were formulated so as to keep the environment safe and peaceful. This resulted in making handicap to many chicken lovers. But life is not over yet. Still you can fulfill your desire of raising some birds and having fresh eggs in your breakfast. This can be done by raising quail. Quail’s have almost the same living habits as chickens have besides the fact that quails are much quieter as compared to chickens.

 Why quails

Besides being a silent creature, what else benefit quails can give that may encourage a chicken lover to plan to raise backyard quail instead of chickens. Currently, there are no such municipal limitations in keeping quails at the backyard of your home. This makes it easy in raising quail. Quails don’t need a larger space to live as compared to chickens. This is because quails are smaller in size than chickens but this does not effects on the eggs given by them. Quails lay high-quality eggs which are full of nutrition’s. Housing for quail is also quite easy as compared to chickens. If you had chickens in your backyard and now you are planning to have quails, so you can keep quails in your urban chicken coop without any hesitation.

 Coop or pen for your quail

Now after finally deciding the city farming of quail, it’s time to plan your quail coop. making coop or quail pen is not that hard. As mentioned earlier, if you had chicken coop, you can keep your quails in them. But having a separate quail coop would be much better. There are not much of very high requirements of keeping quails. A quail only requires about ½ sq ft of place on the floor. If you are planning to keep your quails indoor, than you should keep this in mind that quails require light. So you have to design your quail hutch accordingly. Now comes the bedding. The most effective bedding for quail is with fine wood shavings. Quails love to take bath in dust, so make sure you provide them dust in the wood shavings. One can opt to use wire mesh floor which has trays underneath as it allows the dropping to pass through but that trays must be regularly clean up. In case of bedding it should be overturned periodically. When feeding your quails, you can use a small pet bowl or a through feeder. Keeping the feeder outside the cage is more effective as it will help in saving some space within the quail cage and will also help in prevention of any contamination of feed by quails while messing with it. You can simply put some cuts out on the mesh so that quails could easily take their feed by bringing their heads. The width of the cute mesh should be 1.5” and 2” in height. This same procedure can be adopted for placing bowls of water for quails. It is advisable to not use pet bowls as they can bring any kind of unhygienic problems for quails.

For more information on quail housing you can download the following Quail Housing.doc

 Breeds of quail

Having quail in your backyard is sometimes just not enough. People also give specific priorities to some specific breeds of quail. Normally there are two breeds of quail that are more commonly raised. One is the coturnix quail while other is bobwhite quail. The Japanese quail that is more commonly known as coturnix quail is the bird found in East Asia. These quails are migratory species and breeds in southeastern Siberia, Manchurian, Korean peninsula and northern Japan. While they do wintering in southern china and south of Japan. This species is found in large quantity and can easily be raised as your backyard quails. These birds are usually raised for the purpose of production of egg and meat for families. While on the other hand, bobwhite quail are found in Mexico, U.S and Caribbean. These quails are the member of species generally known as New World quails. They are called bobwhite because of the characteristics of their whistling call. These quails feed on small bugs and plants. Their appearance is also a bit different to coturnix quail that has also attracted many people in raising bobwhite quails as their backyard quails.

Now these breeds that are mentioned above are the perfect replacement for keeping chickens in your backyard if you are hampered by city chickens ordinance. Birds of these breeds get mature quickly and can be much productive as compared to chickens. Quails can easily adjust themselves more quickly in the urban environment as compared to chickens. For chickens, you have to make many necessary arrangements so that they could feel comfy like home in order to keep them as your backyard chickens but that is not the case for quails. Much less arrangements have to be done for quails to keep them in your backyard. This makes quails the best alternative for your backyard chickens. Getting the same desired output with less input that was being done in chicken case can only be obtained if you are planning to keep quails.

Backyard Chicken, Breeding Guide

10 Best Egg Laying Chickens To Keep In Your Backyard

August 10, 2022 Farhan sheikh 4 Comments

Poultry birds have been domesticated for thousands of years now. These birds have existed since times when the process of selective breeding was first initiated by man. The physical and physiological traits that are used for classifying and categorizing chicken breeds are size, skin color, levels and amounts of feathering, the color of the egg and plumage color. In the 21^st century, the chickens are being breed by making use of several standardized patterns of breeding, due to which a number of breeds of poultry have come into existence. These standards have been brought into practice by various countries including USA, UK, Russia, China, India and many more, just for the production of different breeds of chicken.

You may like to see other types of chicken breeds such as white and black chicken breeds, heritage chicken breeds, rare chicken breeds, and small chicken breeds.

Now here we have the 10 most famous and best egg laying chicken breeds.

Barnevelder

The reason, for which this best egg laying chickens breed has been named in this way, is due to its specific area of origin, which is situated in Holland. The city, after which it has been named, used to be a dominant and the primary center for egg production in the country. This chicken breed is able to lay nearly 200 caramel and brown colored eggs on an annual basis.

Rhode Island Red

This is one of the best egg laying chickens breed that is known to be the most famous farmyard class. It lays around 260 per eggs on a yearly basis, thus taking it to the number 1 spot in terms of the best laying chicken by any pure breed. The origin of this backyard chicken breed is the Rhode Island area in The United States.

Light Sussex

The eggs laid by this egg laying breed are light brown or cream colored being around 260 on annual basis. It is considered to be a well-known show bird and generally friendly in comparison to other common chicken breeds.

Buff Oprington

The egg laying capacity for this chicken is lower in comparison to the other breeds on the list but on the other hand are good mothers,as they often go broody.

Welsummer

The origins for this egg laying breed also traced in Holland, in the village named Welsum. They are able to lay nearly 200 eggs yearly and are in fact, a cross breed of Barnevlder and Rhode Island Breeds.

Black Rock-Hybrid

This one of the best egg laying chickens breed which is more like a hybrid of the Rhode Island and the breed of Plymouth Rock. Their plumage and the high egg laying rate make this breed as one of the most desirable as well as affectionate.

Specklady Hen-Hybrid

In addition to laying nearly 260 eggs per year, this egg laying breed was formed using the French Maran Hen. The eggs laid by them are dark brown in color. But it is imperative to remember here, that this breed consumes more food and nutrients in comparison to others.

Japanese Bantam

Being a Bantum Breed, these chickens are one of the small chicken breeds and also come to lay smaller number of eggs on a yearly basis. Most of the times, they are used as pets.

Polish Bantam

The reason, for which this breed is costly, is all because of its puffball crest. In addition to have a good egg laying capacity, this breed is also tamer than others.

Araucana

The eggs laid by this hen range from pale blue to green colors. It is marked by having no tail and is also a bit difficult to find, but is still included in the most popular chicken breeds.

Breeding Guide, Brooding And Rearing guide

Quail Farming-Guide for raising coturnix and Bob White Quail

August 10, 2022 Farhan sheikh 11 Comments

History and Origin

Quails are migratory game birds with mottled brown feathers and short tails, which are native to Europe, Asia and Africa. The origin of this bird dates back to the 11th century while it is also referred to, in the old testament of the bible. Egyptians caught Quails from their farmland for the purpose of meat while in china these birds were kept as pets and as “singing birds”. In the late 11th century quail was brought to Japan where it was first domesticated. Since the farming and breeding of quail is credited to the Japanese it’s called a Japanese quail or a Coturnix Quail.

Quail farming and benefits of raising quails

Quails are much easier to raise and breed than poultry. Along with the several benefits of the high protein meat they have to offer, these birds make excellent pets as they are skittish birds and with a little training they will let you coddle them and will be feeding out of your hand. For raising Quails one does not need special training or expertise. All you need is a well ventilated 8ft by 8ft room or pole building and an incubator and you can start raising them. An incubator can be created at home as well as bought online at a reasonable price. The most ideal feed for baby Quails is poultry starter feed like game bird starter and since these baby quails are so small, the feed can only be given to them in a crumbly state. As a beginner one may start with young coturnix quails which are ideal as they mature in 6 weeks and start laying eggs in 7 – 8 weeks. Most experts suggest the ratio of 1 male to 3 female quails for breeding as that produces the most fertilized eggs. To protect quails from predators like snakes it is ideal to use a wire mesh around their cages. Farming quails in your own backyard can provide you with free garden manure. Scoop up the quail droppings and let them age so they break down and then use them to fertilize your garden. These birds are diverse in their colors and it is often a brilliant pastime just to watch them in the summer. Raising them is very cheap because they can live in small spaces and do not smell as bad as chickens do; hence quail farming becomes even more feasible as it can be done outdoors as well as indoors. Unlike the roosters and their deadly morning crow, quails aren’t loud so the noise pollution is at a minimum. They are also hardy birds that can withstand the cold winter as long as their cage is protected from drafts and harsh winds. Quails lay eggs seasonally so they do not lay eggs in winter but they lay approx 300 eggs in one year; eggs which are 5 times healthier than chicken eggs. Quail chicks mature at around 6 weeks and a little longer for buttons.

Famous breeds of quail

Coturnix Quails as discussed in length above are the easiest to raise and breed, not too keen on flying inside aviaries and much gentler towards newcomers. The Bobwhite Quails are characterized by the “bobwhite call” given by the males in the summer months and are also easier to raise. Bobwhites are raised commercially on a large scale and so they are found in multiple varieties, the most common being the “red” bobwhite. The Gambel’s Quail and scaled quail crossbreed in the wild. These birds are aggressive and of nervous temperaments. Their chicks do not hatch easily and raising these birds requires a lot of patience and space as they are also keen fliers. Quail poultry farming is very profitable when these birds are raised as table birds; they produce high protein meat and tasty eggs with several dietary benefits. Poor families benefit a lot by raising Quail for meat as not only do they gain profits but also maintain a healthy protein diet for themselves. Due to high poverty rates in Africa raising Quail for profit is common in countries like Nigeria and Kenya. Quail farming in Kenya has attained much success as the healthy quail eggs are now regularly eaten by men to boost their vitality within. The business is expanding into a broader market as several orders have been placed from four star hotels in the capital Nairobi. Coturniculture (breeding quails) is becoming increasingly common in Nigeria particularly in the northern part of the country. The popularity of quail farming in Nigeria is due to its medicinal values and the highly nutritious Quail eggs that are much better than the normal poultry foul eggs. The business is getting increasingly popular with small farms springing throughout the country and professional council for quail keepers is soon to be formed in order to advise quail breeders and ensure successful business ventures. Due to the economical setup and huge profit gains Quail farming is becoming increasingly popular and the sooner one goes into a business like this, the better

Backyard Chicken, Breeding Guide, Brooding And Rearing guide, Hen House

Raising Chickens for Dummies

August 2, 2022 Farhan sheikh 2 Comments

Raising chickens for dummies is quite an easy process, but only if you make use of some expert advice and specialized measures for the betterment of the animals in the farmhouse environment. There are some useful techniques and tips which might come in handy in bringing up chickens in the best manner possible. More or less, the tips I would be sharing you are like the ones that are used in the commercial poultry farms. First things first, so before you go on for buying chickens to be kept in your home or near to your home, you should first make sure whether or not there are certain laws that prevent you from keeping chickens in the home based settings. The good news here is that almost all of the cities in the US are allowed to keep chickens at any place they want. Furthermore, you should know about the chicken feeds and the way they should be given to the animals. One reason for this can be the growing pressure from the side of the public who want to earn some money from the chickens they keep. Below are the steps you need to follow before you buy some chickens for your home or any other setting.

Familiarizing yourself

It is meant here that you must have all forms of information about the chickens you would be keeping. Most of the farmers and poultry house owners do have sound levels of knowledge about the chickens , they keep. At the time of raising the chickens, you should also be able to tell that whether or not the chicken is healthy. In short, in order to know about the exact needs of the chickens, you should keep track about they eat, drink and sleep. The same applies to having an understanding about the chicken’s behaviors, so that you may know in advance about their complex behavioral patterns.

Knowledge about the different type of Chicken Breeds

As you start to explore the complex world of the type of chicken breeds, you are more likely to find a number of terms which are used for them like hybrids, pure breeds, mixed breed and mutations. In simple, pure breeds are those who are bred to chickens that are similar and have been in the process for generations and generations. Most of the breeds we know these days are in fact hybrid breeds i.e. they are resulted from the crossing of two pure breeds. They come in handy for end use or in other words, they can be used best for a single purpose only. Moreover, both the pure and hybrids can be further categorized as strains. Mutations are the breeds that appear to be different from the breeds they were produced. In other words, they behave in a manner which is quite different from the original breeds. Lastly, mixed breeds in simple are those whose blood lines or ancestry are not known, as they have originated from various breeds. In all, taking care for chickens and all their breeds is crucial.

Number of Chickens and Cost

If you are new in the business, then it is always thoughtful to start out small. After having some experience with these birds, you would be able to slowly increase the number of chickens you can keep. Even if you are equipped with sound levels of experience, still you would need to go to the larger numbers in steps. As chickens are social animals like us, it is better to start with a minimum of 2 chickens. In terms of cost, you can start a flock with minimal cash of $ 50, unless you do not want to keep some rare and expensive breeds. Furthermore, for saving some money try to share your order with someone at the time of transport and also try to make use of a hatchery for placing the order. You can use this strategy for raising backyard chickens.

Building a Housing System or Chicken Coop for dummies

At the time of buying a chicken coop or making one on your own, you should consider the following factors in mind for building chicken coops for dummies:

Shelter from the rain and all changes in weather
24/7 protection from the predators
Mechanisms for temperature control
Sufficient space for the movement of the chickens
Fresh air and optimal levels of lighting
Clean surroundings
Choosing the right location and material for the coop
Always go for the materials that are inexpensive and at the same time sufficient for the protection of the animals
Relaxation of the animals
Being mindful and equipped with knowledge about the materials

All these tips would really prove to be helpful in keeping chickens for dummies if you are able to follow them strategically.

The Poultry Guide