Quail breeding conditions

Birds have a number of biological features: a) rapid growth b) high fertility c) physiological precocity d) high body temperature (42 C).

A beautiful bird species that is identified as the object of study is the quail. Quail farming has recently become increasingly widespread. Quails are bred at home and on large farms for dietary meat and dietary eggs.

Quail eggs are stored for a very long time and do not spoil as a result of the development of microorganisms, like chicken eggs. The shelf life of quail eggs at room temperature is 30 days, in the refrigerator 60 days. Birds are resistant to infectious diseases; they never suffer from salmonellosis.

Quail eggs are superior to chicken eggs in many respects:

For example, five quail eggs, equal in weight to one chicken, contain five times more phosphorus and potassium, 4.5 times more iron and 6 times more vitamins B6 and B12, 5 times more vitamin A. Compared with eggs Chickens contain more calcium, copper, cobalt, and amino acids. In terms of protein content: chicken eggs contain 55.8%, quails 60%.

Quail eggs have also been successfully used as a therapeutic food for patients exposed to radiation, as they contribute to the removal of radionucleotides during radiation sickness. This experience was used by Russian doctors after the Chernobyl accident. in 1997, in the Luki children's sanatorium in the Vitebsk region, irradiated children were treated there with quail eggs. It was found that eating quail eggs has a positive effect on the immune system and increases resistance to viral diseases.

Quail eggs have long been used in Chinese folk medicine. Quail eggs contain active stimulants for the body's vital functions, and therefore they are useful especially for children.

Quail is the only bird species included in the space exploration program.

Quails are resistant to many infectious diseases, although science has no explanation for this phenomenon yet. The literature available to us on quail farming mainly covers issues of growing technology, keeping, and feeding. There is evidence that painted Chinese quails are bred only as ornamental birds.

It is controversial that the brooding instinct is not manifested in painted quails. The issue under consideration has not been sufficiently studied in the literature.

Features of nest design, participation of floors in construction

Chinese quails have the properties of domestic chickens; they also constantly rummage, dig, raking the earth and grass with their feet. The male helps in building the nest. In the wild, quails begin to breed at the age of one year.

To study painted quails in September 2008, we placed a female and a male in a cage so that the birds could get used to new conditions and each other.

During our observations, we noticed that the male’s courtship with the female began in early October. On October 6, two piles of dry hay were placed in the cage, the next day the female and male made one from these piles, then they raked the litter and formed a nest in the corner, covering it with dry grass.

The nest is a hole 14-16 cm deep, trampled by birds. The nest protects the eggs from rolling out, holds them together, thanks to which the entire clutch fits under the body of the incubating bird and warms up. Both sexes actively participated in the process of building the nest.

Reproduction time, clutch formation, incubation

Painted quails breed all year round. Reproduction becomes optimal only at favorable temperatures of 23-25 degrees and feeding conditions.

The conditions in the living area were the most suitable for breeding offspring, the temperature was at least 22-23 C.

Even though the birds are indoors, weather changes affect their behavior.

Specifically during rain they are silent and little active, which cannot be said about a sunny day; the birds rummage around and actively move around in the cage.

The female painted quail lays one egg every day. The time period between egg laying was 24 hours.

For control, we took a clutch of 6 eggs, which was formed by the birds themselves. Incubation began on October 10, 2008.

The eggs had an elliptical shape with one blunt end, and were uniformly olive in color.

Hatching period

Females of domesticated silent quails completely refuse to equip their nests, incubate eggs, and care for their offspring. [Pigareva 1986]

In painted Chinese quails, the female and male take part in incubation, quails often incubate eggs together, the male temporarily leaves the nest while feeding, and the female remains on the clutch. Then a change occurs, the female takes food, the male warms the clutch.

In our experiment, the male sometimes brought dry grass to the female on his beak, calling her to feed, clucking. The male takes care not only of the offspring, but also of the female. Quail eggs incubate for exactly 16 days. The eggs are placed in the nest not in one row, but in two rows. To heat the eggs evenly, the female gradually moves the eggs in the nest, from the bottom row to the top, from the edges of the clutch to the center. The female and male practically do not leave the clutch.

Hatching, features of post-incubation development of chicks

October 26, 2008, on the 17th day in the morning, the chicks hatched. In terms of time, everything is hatched within 15 minutes; from the moment of pecking to the moment of complete hatching, 40 minutes pass. The brood included 3 dark-colored chicks with stripes on the back, 3 light-colored chicks.

Within several hours, the chicks dry out under the warm body of the mother. The weight of a day-old chick is only 2.2-1.8 g. On the first day, the chicks have an egg “tooth”, with which they puncture the egg membrane. On the third day, the egg “tooth” disappears.

Quails emerge from the egg almost independent: covered with down, sighted, able to move, independently peck food and drink water.

After a few hours, the female calls them to feed, shows them how to take food: the female takes the food in her beak, crushes it in her beak and throws it on the floor, immediately the chicks run up and try the food. This is how the parents of the painted Chinese quail teach them to become independent. The male also participates in this. The chicks communicate with their parents by making quiet sounds.

An important condition when keeping painted quail chicks is maintaining the required temperature in the room.

The temperature for the first 10 days of growing in a cage with chicks is +32-33 ºC, indoors +25-27 ºC. From 10 to 17 days of age, the temperature in cages is gradually reduced to +30 ºC, in the room to +24 ºC.

The air in the room where the quails are raised should not be dry; a bucket of water was placed near the cage with the chicks. And for the chicks, a drinking bowl was placed in the cage.

The water in the drinking bowl was changed 2 times a day. Once every two weeks, potassium permanganate was added to the water (1 g per 10 liters of water).

The water temperature should correspond to room temperature.

On the day the chicks were hatched in the morning, one chick fell ill, the chick had loose stools, died in the evening, another drinking bowl with a raised bottom was placed in the cage so that the chicks would not drown.

During the day, the second chick fell into the drinking bowl, the body cooled down and died in the evening, and the third chick was killed by the male, his eye was pecked out, and there was dried blood on his head.

The remaining three chicks grew up safely.