Category Archives: Quail – Breeding

QUAILS HAPPIER IN BATTERIES THAN OUTSIDE

2014-01-21 - Inside Quails2014-01-21 - Outside Quails

I consider both my housing systems for quails as very adequate, providing for the needs of the birds first and foremost. Even though I manufacture and sell both systems – i.e. Production Cages (“Batteries”) and Free Range Housing (Movable outside units), the birds are much happier and more calm and content in the inside cages than outside, irrespective of the fact that stocking densities are 14 Quails per 3 Meters Square outside and 7 Quails per 0.25 Meters Square (500 mm X 500 mm) inside. I provide fresh food and water ad lib as well as clean sand baths at all times in both systems. Both systems house Males and Females together. My housing design has been influenced by years of experience and very close observations and understanding of the Quails, as I have run commercial units in both systems for a long time. My observations are backed by the quail behavior and performance as they have higher production, lower mortality and better feed conversion in the inside cages compared to outside. Knowing Quails very well I can also confirm that they are much quieter, calmer and more content inside. This may be as result of a number of factors like fixed light intensity and duration, other controlled environmental factors such as no drafts, wet conditions and extreme temperatures inside as well as the absence of visible threads like large flying birds and other predators. Quails do not enjoy running around in search of shelter and food, so relative confined ares are more suitable for them.

2013-10-17 - Quail Palace2014-01-21 - Batteries

QUAILS IGNORE WEATHERMAN

Lightning

There was a lot of conversation. especially on Facebook, as to the possible effect on hatchability of poultry eggs when heavy thunder is experienced during incubation. During the second half of December Dunedin experienced very heavy weather with lots of thunder, especially in North East Valley. During this time I had a batch of 120 Quail eggs in the incubator, which hatched  on 4 January and the results are that  I had 57% live birds at 17 days old of all eggs placed. This compared with the running average for the year of 59% is a negligible difference and disproves the theory that heavy  weather effects hatchability. It may be small numbers to be statistically significant and the weather may not have been bad enough (I would hate to experience  more severe storms), but at least I have some results. Will continue to monitor this  in future.

Lethal Homozygous (Y) Gene in Coturnix Quail

This short reply was written by me as result of a Facebook discussion2013-10-24 - Italian Coturnix 2ll my life, not only in breeding my own animals but also when involved in establishing new cattle and horse breeds in the past, as well as advising Governments, large International Organisations and many thousands of Farmers around the world. I breed with poultry as they come out of the egg, without having to interfere with them to be able to survive and breed. I select and cull heavily, especially when the gene pool is as limited as it is in New Zealand for the breeds I am interested in. As for the Lethal homozygous Y gene associated with Golden Italian Quails, I failed to have read any article reporting hatchability between strains under the same commercial conditions and report on comparable results, nor have I found any reputable body advising to never breed Golden Quails to Golden Quails. In my own case, over a period of three months, using 480 quail hatching eggs (120 from each of the four strains I breed at present –  All purebred) I quote the following results for animals alive after 24 hours of terminating the hatch : Golden Italian – 74.3 % (Variation 66.7 % to 83.1 %) ; Tibetan – 83.2 % (Variation 79.1 % – 90.0 %)  ; Pharoah 75.0% (Variation 73.3 % – 76.7 %) and White – 68.9 % (Variation 56.7 % – 76.7%). I do not for one moment doubt the work that has been done in identifying and mapping the genetics of the Golden Italian Quail, but clearly there is more to it than say you have 25% embryo mortality and that is it. As an example there exist a plumage color mutation Yt2 that is dominant over the yellow (Y) gene and produce fawn or yellow birds almost exactly like the heterezygous Y, but is not lethal. There are also many other malformations and abnormalities controlled by one or few genes, as well as many other lethal genes in Quails. I am aware of a number of commercial operations using purebred Golden Italian strains of Coturnix coturnix japonica with great success. There are also some reports quoting 100% hatchability in purebred Golden Italian strains of quail. Any poultry will experience embryo mortality at some level and the results I have achieved with Golden Italians prove that I am on the right track and there is no real difference at present with the strains available to me in New Zealand. Inbreeding, indiscriminate breeding and failure to identify and eliminate hereditary defects are doing the damage to poultry breeds in New Zealand. I am also not against breeding fancy breeds – it is a lot of fun, but do it sensibly.

Inside the mind of a Quail

QUAIL WATER DRINKERS

I am a minimalist and like to use whatever is on hand, but won’t compromise on efficiency and quality of the end product. Plastic is definitely not my favorite material, but in today’s life you cannot avoid it, so why not use it and save it from landing in the garbage bin and become part of the world wastage problem.  I use an old plastic milk and peanut butter bottle to make a very effective quail water drinker FOR FREE and in the process drastically reduced my carbon footprint.

Knowing quail babies love to climb on and into everything and during the first few days are very clumsy and petite,  I used this knowledge to make a quail water drinker that encourages the little quails in the beginning to climb into the drinker to make water consumption easy, without being able to drown, get wet  or get stuck in a corner. When they are a few weeks old and know their way around the brooder and eat and drink freely, I switch to a drinker that they cannot get into and spoil or soil the water.

2014-01-06 - Juvinlile Water Feeder 1

Use a milk bottle and cut a large enough hole into both sides so the baby quails can freely enter and exit. Place a piece of wire netting (leftover from the last cage you built) inside to fit well with the sides turned slightly down so the netting is about 5 mm off the bottom of the bottle. Fill with water until the water touches the netting and you are ready. Cut the top off the milk bottle to make cleaning easy.

2014-01-06 - Juvinlile Water Feeder 2

This will encourage the little quails to enter without any risk of drowning or getting wet.

2014-01-06 - Juvinlile Water Feeder 3

Drinking made easy

When the quails are about two weeks old, I switch to adult Drinkers

2014-01-06 - Adult Water Feeder 1

Take used Milk and Peanut Butter Bottles. Any other bottle will work as long as it fits tightly inside the milk bottle. Cut off the top of the milk bottle. Cut a oval hole in the side small enough so a quail cannot enter it’s body, but large enough it can poke it’s head through – about a 30 mm opening and about 50 mm off the bottom.

2014-01-06 - Adult Water Feeder 2

Now drill four holes (opposite side) into the peanut butter bottle

2014-01-06 - Adult Water Feeder 3

The hole in the peanut butter bottle must be lower than the bottom edge of the hole in the milk bottle

2014-01-06 - Adult Water Feeder 4

Fill the Peanut bottle with water replace the lid and turn upside down and insert into the milk bottle.

2014-01-06 - Adult Water Feeder 5

Here you have 1 Liter of water that the quails cannot soil, but have easy access to

2014-01-06 - Adult Water Feeder 6

Happy Quails and Happy Farmer !!

Lethal Homozygous (Y) Gene in quail

This short reply was written by me as result of a Facebook discussion

2013-10-24 - Italian Coturnix 2

2013-10-24 - Italian Coturnix 9

  • I select and breed all my animals for functional efficiency, as I have done all my life, not only in breeding my own animals but also when involved in establishing new cattle and horse breeds in the past, as well as advising Governments, large International Organisations and many thousands of Farmers around the world. I breed with poultry as they come out of the egg, without having to interfere with them to be able to survive and breed. I select and cull heavily, especially when the gene pool is as limited as it is in New Zealand for the breeds I am interested in. As for the Lethal homozygous Y gene associated with Golden Italian Quails, I failed to have read any article reporting hatchability between strains under the same commercial conditions and report on comparable results, nor have I found any reputable body advising to never breed Golden Quails to Golden Quails. In my own case, over a period of three months, using 480 quail hatching eggs (120 from each of the four strains I breed at present –  All purebred) I quote the following results for animals alive after 24 hours of terminating the hatch : Golden Italian – 74.3 % (Variation 66.7 % to 83.1 %) ; Tibetan – 83.2 % (Variation 79.1 % – 90.0 %)  ; Pharoah 75.0% (Variation 73.3 % – 76.7 %) and White – 68.9 % (Variation 56.7 % – 76.7%). I do not for one moment doubt the work that has been done in identifying and mapping the genetics of the Golden Italian Quail, but clearly there is more to it than say you have 25% embryo mortality and that is it. As an example there exist a plumage color mutation Yt2 that is dominant over the yellow (Y) gene and produce fawn or yellow birds almost exactly like the heterezygous Y, but is not lethal. There are also many other malformations and abnormalities controlled by one or few genes, as well as many other lethal genes in Quails. I am aware of a number of commercial operations using purebred Golden Italian strains of Coturnix coturnix japonica with great success. There are also some reports quoting 100% hatchability in purebred Golden Italian strains of quail. Any poultry will experience embryo mortality at some level and the results I have achieved with Golden Italians prove that I am on the right track and there is no real difference at present with the strains available to me in New Zealand. Inbreeding, indiscriminate breeding and failure to identify and eliminate hereditary defects are doing the damage to poultry breeds in New Zealand. I am also not against breeding fancy breeds – it is a lot of fun, but do it sensibly.