Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: Preparing to raise quail
• Part 2 of 3: Buying and hatching birds
• Part 3 of 3: Raising quail
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Quail are a small type of poultry that exists in the wild but can also be bred in a backyard cage. Unlike chickens, there are no restrictions or bans on quail in most city ordinances. They are quiet, small, even-tempered birds that can lay five to six eggs per week. Make sure to breed them in clean conditions, with plenty of light, water, and food.

To step

Part 1 of 3: Preparing to raise quail

1. Think about quail breeding. Quails are small and fairly easy birds to care for, but they do take time to feed, change water bowls, clean the hutch, check daily and collect eggs. You can also run into a lot of problems when you first breed quail.
2. Find a place in your garden or on your balcony where you can hang a cage for quail. Clear the space underneath to put straw there. That will help you collect and dispose of debris.
   • You can also decide if you want to keep your quail in a different type of cage such as a rabbit hutch or something similar. However, the cage above is set up in such a way as to prevent disease, as quail waste contains a lot of ammonia.
3. Buy a long, narrow cage and hang it on a canopy of your house, garage or balcony. Choose a spot where there is light, but it is sheltered from strong winds. Most cages for quail are made of open bars, as the birds need shelter but plenty of fresh air.
   • They should be placed out of reach of hunters, including pets, and the area should be free from disturbances.
4. Hang some lights around the cage. This will allow you to increase egg production in the fall and winter. The bird needs 15 hours of light a day to produce eggs, but more than that they will be stressed from lack of sleep.
5. Decide whether to buy a pair or hatch eggs. An adult bird can cost around € 5, while you can buy 50 eggs for around € 20. With the eggs you will have to prepare to spend a lot of time looking after some of the chicks and you will also have to buy some extra equipment. If this is your first time breeding quail, you may choose to purchase adult birds instead of hatching eggs.
6. Decide how many birds you need based on your egg consumption. Find out your weekly egg consumption. You would need five quail eggs to replace a chicken egg, and your adult females would lay an egg every day.
   • Have a female bird (by hatching eggs or a pair) for every chicken egg you eat.
   • Quail eggs can be eaten just like chicken eggs, but you need more eggs to produce the same amount.

Part 2 of 3: Buying and hatching birds

1. Look for a good egg-laying variety. Coturnix is ​​a highly recommended variety to keep. This species not only lays a lot of eggs, but can also be kept for meat and is very easy to care for. If you're looking for quails that lay larger eggs, the jumbo coturnix is ​​a good choice.
   • Coturnix quail are also known as Japanese quail. You can also get the coturnix quail in a variety of colors, such as the tuxedo quail, which is white and brown in color.
   • Coturnix usually start laying eggs from 6-8 weeks, when they are adults. From then on, they will lay an egg every day.
   • If you are not sure about the coturnix, you can buy other popular varieties such as the scaly quail, the helmet quail or the bobwhite. However, the coturnix quail is the recommended breed for beginners.
2. First look at Marktplaats or in regional magazines. The best idea is to use contacts in the local farming community or urban farming community to find birds that are adapted to your circumstances.
3. Check eBay for eggs to hatch. They can be sent by email; but you may have higher mortality rates than buying nearby.
4. Try a local farm or garden center or farmers union. If they don't get their own quail with their chickens and other poultry, they can order it especially for you.
5. Buy at least two females for each male, but keep males separate. A force majeure of females will ensure plenty of eggs in your flock. At the same time, you will probably only be able to keep one male in each cage; if two or more males are kept in the same cage, the dominant male will attempt to kill all other males to ensure that only he can mate with the females.
6. Purchase an incubator from the feed supplier or garden center if you plan to incubate eggs. You can also pre-order them online. Your incubator should also include an egg turner.
7. Keep the humidity at 45 to 50 percent during incubation and 65 to 70 percent on the 23rd day of incubation. Have a humidifier or dehumidifier handy to adjust the humidity. Humidity controls unnecessary loss of moisture in the egg.
8. Adjust the incubator temperature to 40 degrees Celsius. It is essential that you keep it even at this temperature. A Coturnix egg hatches at this temperature after about 16 to 18 days, while other breeds take 22 to 25 days.
9. Do not turn on the egg turner earlier than three days after laying the eggs. Thereafter, the rack should rotate 30 degrees each day every day to prevent the embryos from sticking to the shell.

Part 3 of 3: Raising quail

1. Keep the quails in a small space once they have hatched. Gradually reduce the temperature from 40 degrees to room temperature, in steps of three degrees per day. Chicks that are cold will climb on top of each other, while hot chicks will pant.
2. Keep up to 100 quail chicks in an area of ​​60x90 cm for the first ten days. Then give them more space as they grow.
3. Give chicks a chick starter feed until they are six to eight weeks old. Chick Starter contains more nutrients for your chicks, and they need it. When they get older they no longer need that diet. You can buy turkey starter or chicken starter food and grind it into finer grains for the quail chicks to eat. Any food that is high in protein should be good.
4. Make sure each bird has 1m2 of space in the cage.
5. Provide quail with clean drinking water. Change and refill their water bowls every day.
   • Make sure the chicks cannot drown in the water bowl and have easy access. Most breeders will put marbles in the water bowl to keep the quail from drowning.
6. Change the straw under the cages daily. You can add some of it to your compost. Quail waste contains a lot of ammonia, so it should be cleaned regularly.
7. Clean the cage outside if dirt builds up. Wash it once a week to prevent illness.
8. Start adjusting the conditions and replacing the feed with a laying pellet at five to six weeks. Special laying pellets are available from most food suppliers. Before you buy, ask if it is suitable for laying birds. If you are raising quail for meat, change their food to a fattening diet instead of a laying pellet.
9. Offer crumbled oyster shells and grit for your quail. The grit will help grind the food, and the oyster shells provide calcium so the quails can lay strong, healthy eggs.
10. Keep the animals undisturbed at the age of six weeks. The females will start laying and will have poor egg production if exposed to other animals, noise or other disturbances.
11. Consider adding fresh greens, seeds, and small insects to your quail's food.

Tips

• If you are a beginner in quail breeding, ask other people for advice. Breeding quail for the first time is not easy, so it is a good idea to ask other people for advice based on their experience with quail. You can ask people who have raised quail in the area, or you can inquire online.

Warnings

• Do not feed chicks medicated feed as this can potentially kill your chicks.

Necessities

• Fertilized quail eggs
• Hatching quail pair.
• Incubator
• Humidifier
• Dehumidifier
• Heat source
• Thermometer
• Small box for chicks
• Wire cage
• Straw
• Water
• Water source / bottles
• Laying pellet for quail
• Starting mix for quail
• Seeds
• Green food
• Insects
• Lamps
• Disinfectant for cleaning cages.