quail | The Poultry Guide

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.

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

The Poultry Guide

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