COTURNIX QUAIL
(Page 2 of 6)
CAGING
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Almost any small cage can be modified to hold Coturnix. Old tiered chicken brooders, with the heaters removed, serve as excellent colony pens. Or, of course, you can quite easily build your own enclosures. Be sure to provide 40 to 50 square inches of floor area per bird. The interior height of the pens should be about 8 to 10 inches to prevent the active quail from flying up and scalping themselves on the ceiling, and the floor and sides are best made of half-inch wire mesh ...which is small enough to prevent predators from sticking their paws inside, but large enough to permit droppings to fall through. Pans can be placed underneath the cages to catch the nitrogen-rich manure for your compost bin or garden. And, for easier egg collection, the floor should be given a slope of one inch per foot: The mesh can then project a few inches beyond the cage and bend upward, allowing the eggs to roll out of the pen and into a wire apron, ready for gathering.
FEEDING
Coturnix require a feed containing 21 to 25% protein (chicks require an even higher percentage). Such levels can be found in commercial turkey starter and game bird starter, but-if you can't get these-you can use a feed with less protein and supplement it with grain, sprouts, and bugs. (A small light in or near the cage will attract insects to your birds' "dinner table".)
BREEDING
The quail begin to breed and lay eggs at only six to eight weeks of age ...as opposed to the 20 to 24 weeks required for a chicken to begin producing. You should, of course, use only the biggest and best looking birds for breeding.
Three of the six Coturnix varieties can be sexed by color at about three weeks of age. The Australian Speckled Fawn male has a dark head, while that of the female of the species is light. Both Manchurian Golden and Pharoah Dl males have brick red breasts, whereas the females' breasts are speckled.
The other varieties must be sexed by vent examination after they've begun to breed. A sexually active male will have a rounded protrusion above his vent. When this ball is gently squeezed, a "foam" will run out. (The foam, which resembles shaving cream, is a kidney discharge.) The size of the globe indicates the degree of interest the male has in mating.
The breeding ratio can be one male to two females, or simply one to one. You can put each pair or trio in a separate pen or use a colony cage to accommodate several breeding groups ...whichever is more convenient.
HATCHING
Fertile eggs should be gathered daily (collect them several times a day during very hot or cold weather). When you're saving eggs for hatching, select only the ones that are perfect and do not wash them. Store the birds-to-be for no longer than ten days-at a temperature between 55 and 70°F and a relative humidity of about 75%. They should be kept with the small ends down and rotated laterally at least once a day.
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