Although many people have never eaten quail meat, they will definitely not be unfamiliar with quail eggs. After all, whether it is hot pot, steamed vegetables or barbecue, quail eggs are very popular dishes.
Quail is a kind of wild bird. After being domesticated, it began to be cultivated artificially. The meat of quail is tender and fat, delicious and rich in nutrients.
Due to the high economic value of quail, the number of people raising quail is gradually increasing. Quail grows faster, has the characteristics of simple equipment, convenient management, easy feeding, and obvious benefits, and it is small in size and requires less investment in the early stage.
In addition to chickens and ducks, quail is a kind of bird that people breed more. Let’s take a look at quail breeding technology!
Breeding techniques for quail:
1. Seed selection: Excellent breeding quail, with moderate eye size, slender neck, small round head, shiny feathers, plump muscles, and kind expression. Do not choose close relatives.
The selection criteria for female quails are that they have a large abdomen, weigh 130-150 grams, and those with a body weight of more than 170 grams are not strong enough to lay eggs. It is better to have more than 250 eggs.
The male quail can be selected within 50 days of hatching. It is required to have a loud cry, a long and continuous voice, a strong body and a wide chest, fully extended quail claws, a weight of 120-130 grams, and a dark red bulge in the anus, such as white foam when pressed by hand Appears, indicating that it has been in heat and has the ability to mate.
2. Breeding: The breeding age of quails is 3 months to 1 year for female quails, and the best age for male quails is 4 to 6 months. However, in actual breeding, male and female quails of 50 to 60 years old begin to breed and breed, and the breeding period is 1 year and is replaced every year.
Quails have the highest sexual desire in the morning and evening, and the highest fertilization after mating. It is best to let them mate after the first feeding in the morning. If artificial hatching is carried out with certainty, quails can be bred and reproduced all year round.
3. Egg-laying: During egg-laying, light is very important. According to experiments, increasing light at night can increase the egg production rate by 25%.
Therefore, a 60-watt electric lamp should be hung and supplemented with light for about 4 hours to achieve 16 hours of light per day. Switch to 4-watt electric lighting the rest of the time.
4. Incubation: There are two kinds of quail hatching: natural hatching and artificial hatching. Natural hatching can choose hens and hens for hatching, and artificial hatching is to use chicken incubators, and hatching selected quail eggs.
The incubation temperature is slightly higher than that of chicks, generally room temperature is 20-23 ℃, and the relative humidity should be maintained at about 65%.
In the first two days of hatching, the humidity increases to more than 80%, and ventilation is often used. When the embryos are about to be hatched, the eggs are rotated at a 90-degree angle every 2 to 3 hours to help the embryos move.
The hatching period of the hatching eggs is 17 days, and the hatchlings start feeding and drinking 12 hours after hatching, and no more than 24 hours at the latest.
Feeding and management of quail:
1. Quail house: The lighting of the quail house should be dim, the ventilation should be good in summer, and the hazards such as dogs, cats and mice should be prevented.
Lighting equipment must be installed, and there must be light at night to improve the egg production rate of female quails. In the breeding room, place brooding cages, fattening cages, breeding quail cages and arrange hatching rooms.
The cage can be made of bamboo or iron. The bottom of the cage should be made into a mesh. The size of the mesh is suitable for the quail feces to leak. The spacing is roughly 1.2cm.
2. Feed: For quail feed, try to use food with less fiber and rich nutrition, and the variety should be diversified.
It is generally composed of bean cake, fish meal, cornmeal, wheat bran, rice bran, alfalfa grass, cabbage, carrot, bone meal, calcium carbonate, salt, etc. Some complex vitamins, antibiotics and trace elements can also be added. The feed should be relatively stable, and the exchange should be gradually excessive if necessary.
3. Feeding: There are two feeding methods for quail, one is to feed dry material, and another is to set up drinking water equipment. The other is to feed wet feed. When feeding wet feed, the ratio of dry feed to water is 1:3 in summer, 1:2 in winter, and 1:2.5 in spring.
Feed 4 times a day, and make timed, quantitative and qualitative supply. For quails of 9 to 10 weeks old, the feeding method of “as much as you can eat” should be achieved.
4. Management
① Grouping: Male quails and female quails are best kept in groups, so that they can be bred regularly, so as to improve the fertilization rate of eggs. If it is inconvenient to divide into groups, it can also be mixed feeding. The ratio of male and female quail in mixed breeding is 1:3. Except for the breeding quails, the remaining male quails are treated as meat quails.
②Density: Pay attention to the stocking density in feeding and management. The flat breeding density of young quails is 100/1 week/square meter, 85/2 weeks/square meter, 70/3 weeks/square meter, 50/4 weeks age/square meter.
③Environment: The surrounding environment for breeding quails should be quiet.
Disease control of quail:
1. Pullorum
[Symptoms] Pullorum is a common bacterial infectious disease with great harm. The sick quail is lethargic and the feces are white paste.
[Prevention and control] Adding 0.4% sulfadiazine or 0.1% sulfaquinoxaline to the feed of diseased quails has certain effects. The cages should be kept clean and dry, and the temperature should be stable to prevent overcrowding.
2. Coccidiosis
[Symptoms] Coccidiosis is an acute epidemic disease caused by intestinal infection, with loose feathers and blood in the feces.
[Prevention and control] Sulfamethazine or sulfamethazine can be mixed into feed or dissolved in drinking water at a proportion of 0.2%, and it can be effective for 4 to 5 days.
3. Ulcerative colitis
[Symptoms] Ulcerative enteritis is a highly infectious disease of domestic quail, quail arched back, eyes closed, diarrhea.
[Prevention and control] Dihydrostreptomycin and tylosin are both good therapeutic drugs, and tetracycline and furans also have certain curative effects.
4. Diphtheria
[Symptoms] Diphtheria mostly occurs in the rainy season, with swollen and teary eyes and loss of appetite.
[Prevention and control] 0.1% sodium dimethoxypyrimidine powder can be mixed for feeding or drinking with water. At the same time, the head of the diseased quail should be cleaned and disinfected in 0.5% potassium permanganate solution, the effect is better.
5. Marek’s disease
[Symptoms] Marek’s disease is also a common viral disease of quails. The diseased quails are manifested as lack of energy, paralysis, anemia, drooping wings, and discharge of green loose feces. Visceral type is common at necropsy, showing single or multiple tumors in the heart, lung, gland, stomach, liver, kidney, testis and ovary.
[Prevention and treatment] There is no specific drug treatment for Marek’s disease, and prevention is the mainstay. The effect of subcutaneous injection of Marek vaccine on newborn quails is better.
6. Escherichia coli
[Symptoms] Colibacillosis is an infectious disease caused by Escherichia coli, including acute sepsis, omphalitis, airsacculitis, perihepatitis, enteritis, arthritis, granuloma and yolk peritonitis.
【Prevention and control】Escherichia coli is a conditional disease, and improving the environment is an effective measure to prevent the disease. Enterobacter canis is mainly infected through gastrointestinal, respiratory, umbilical and skin wounds.
Put an end to the use of spoilage and feed contaminated with mold and Escherichia coli. Strengthen the feeding and management of quail, frequently brush the water tank and drinking utensils, and use high-quality feed to enhance disease resistance.
7. Lime foot disease
[Symptoms] The pathogen of lime foot disease is the mutant knee mite, which is mostly parasitic on the shanks and toes of quail. The shin and toes of the diseased quail are inflamed, with inflammatory exudates, forming gray-white or yellow crusts.
In severe cases, it can cause joint swelling, deformation of the phalanges, difficulty walking, growth retardation, and decreased egg production.
[Prevention and treatment] 20% sulfur ointment can be applied to the affected area during treatment, 2 times a day for 3-5 days. You can also wash off the scabs on the shin and toes with warm water, and then soak it with 0.1% trichlorfon solution for 4 to 5 minutes.
Breeding and brooding, raising eggs and preventing epidemic diseases, as long as you master the above three breeding skills, it is not so difficult to raise quail.