Monthly Archives: May 2023

HOW DO I SEX MY COTURNIX QUAILS

A question that I often get is “How do I sex my quails?”

The easiest is that the male quails crow and the females do not. Should your quails be well housed and fed, the males will start crowing at about 3 weeks of age. I catch the crowing males and place them in a different brooder and come the time that they can go out to the breeding cages, or be sold, at 6 – 7 weeks of age, they are all sexed. Mature male quails only crow when sexually active during the breeding season and not so much when molting and not producing. Secondly the Pharoah colour and Italian colour can be feather sexed in that the males have brown feathers on the chest where the females have black spotted chests. The problem comes with the Tibetan colour and White colour where you cannot feather sex them as males and females look alike. All birds can be vent sexed though. The cloaca opening in the female is larger and more plump. In the males the cloaca opening is more tight and they also have a red swollen gland on the top end of the cloaca opening and when pressed a white substance appears, which is lubricant and not semen. The females do not have this gland. This gland in the males is also very depressed when not in the breeding cycle and it is more difficult to distinguish then.

Italian Coturnix coturnix Male with brown feathers on the chest

Italian Coturnix coturnix Female with black spotted chest feathers

Pharoah Coturnix coturnix Male with brown chest feathers

Pharoah Coturnix coturnix Female with black spotted chest feathers

Tibetan Coturnix coturnix – Males and Females look alike

White Coturnix coturnix – Males and Females look alike

Coturnix coturnix QUAILS are not miniature PHEASANTS

Today I was called by an acquaintance who also “breeds quails” and was informed that he has lost over 150 quails this season dying mysteriously from whatever. My first question, as a animal nutritionist, was what he feeds the birds. I was appalled to hear that he gives them a commercial “Game and Quail Crumble” (A name invented by the reseller as the manufacturers does not even call it that) and supplements it with kibbled corn, peas and some “other seeds” and every so often they get some dog roll. This manufacturer also claims their product to be good for all stages of game birds, which is IMPOSSIBLE.

The mistake that many people make is to think that quails are just small pheasants. The feed companies that manufacture pheasant feeds, because there is a reasonable industry breeding and rearing pheasants for the hunting industry, want to jump onto the wagon and claim their feed is also good for quails as well, which is just not true. New Zealand is one of the few, if not only, developed countries in the world that does not have any animal feed regulations and / or legislation relating to feed analyses. This means the manufacturers can mix anything and claim anything and do not have to disclose any content nor analyses. It Is therefore difficult for anybody to comment on any feed, as very little is disclosed and no regulatory body oversee this industry

A quail hen of 220 g average body mass can lay up to 300 eggs of 11 g average (5 % of body mass), in a season. A total egg mass of 3,300 g, or 15 times the quail’s body mass

A pheasant hen of 1,300 g average can lay up to 80 eggs of 32 g average (2.4 % of body mass), in a season. A total egg mass of 2,560 g or 1.97 times the pheasant’s body mass

Quails are 760% more efficient egg producers than pheasants and they recommend feeding them the same?

So are there many other physiological and production differences between these two species of animals

I am an experienced and well qualified animal nutritionist who has been involved at all levels of animal nutrition in many countries of the world, and seldom, if ever, have I heard such misrepresentation of any animal feed.

If you want your QUAILS to be healthy, happy and efficient producers, feed them a series of well formulated QUAIL FEEDS that is specifically manufactured for every different stage of life and production

ITALIAN STAPLE DIET

SIMPLE NO KNEAD BREAD RECIPE

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It gives me great pleasure to bake different types of breads every few days. The one I am describing here is a low input, high success, bread that I “developed” when my Kitchen Aide broke down and I had to do ALL the kneading by hand

300 g Luke warm Water

24 g Dry Yeast (I use SUREBAKE)

1 Teaspoon of Honey

Wisk well

Cover and let it proof for 5 – 10 minutes until the yeast has formed some foam on the top

100 g Whole Wheat Bread Flour (Home milled) and mix with a spatula

Cover and let it proof for 1 hour

300 g Flour (Use either more Whole Wheat Flour or a combination of whole and refined Wheat Flour to suit your taste

2 level Teaspoons of Salt

3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Mix very well with Spatula

Cover and let it proof for 1 hour

Mix well with Spatula, or hands, and form the bread, use extra flour to keep it from sticking to your hands and place it in pre oiled bread pans. Dust the bread with more flour, or paint with egg or water, whatever you prefer

Cover and let it proof for 1 hour

Preheat the oven to 250C and place the bread in oven. Bake for 20 minutes

Turn the heat down to 190C and bake for another 10 minutes or until it suits your preference

ENJOY !!!