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The Original –
How To Raise The Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail
Walter Roderick
Copyright 2009
Revised July 2010
Table of Contents CHAPTER PAGE
Introduction 3 1. Why Raise The Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail? 6
2. Before You Get Started (Equipment, etc.) 9
3. Eggs or Chicks? 14
4. Feeding (Medicated or Non-medicated?) 16
5. Incubation/Brooding 20
6. Breeder Selection/Stock Rotation 26
7. Meat For Your Table: Raising The Extras 32
8. Taking Care Of The Injured Birds 34
9. Hatching Your Own Eggs – Storage and Equipment 37 10. Selling Your Birds and Eggs 41
11.
Recommended Websites
44
2
Introduction
You may be wondering why this book isn’t entitled “How to make money
raising Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail”, or something similar. The reason is
simple: everyone does not get into this hobby with the intention of making
money.
In fact, most who get into it will never make money at it but will instead find they
have a new hobby; a hobby that provides enjoyment as well as a means of
supplementing the meat available for the dinner table. It is to this market that this
book has been primarily written.
This book is the result of my time and effort spent in the successful propagation of
the Jumbo Brown Coturnix. What I mean by “successful” is that I have been able
to start with nothing but eggs and grow my operation to a couple hundred breeders
in a relatively short period of time, all the while developing systems that will allow
the average person with average resources to copy what I have done and make it
work for them too. Did I mention that I have also been able to derive a small
income from these efforts? It can be done, if that’s your goal.
3
This book will present the information in a simple and easy-to-understand
format so that anyone can take it and with some effort, duplicate what I have done,
and begin to successfully raise the Jumbo Brown Coturnix (JB) for whatever
purpose they have decided upon: whether as a profit center or as food for the
table. I say, “begin” because learning to raise the JB is a process and this manual
does not pretend to offer everything that a person needs to know to be successful
at raising the JB. But it is intended to be a very helpful place to start.
The equipment that I use is a combination of professional and homemade.
Sometimes I will recommend that you make some of the equipment yourself and
in other cases I will recommend that you invest in the professional equipment if
you can afford it. The determining factor in all of your decisions in this endeavor
should be your ultimate goal for the project and your available cash. If you are
raising quail because you like the birds and want a hobby or you just want to put a
little extra meat on the table, then you should keep your investment to a minimum
and make as much of the equipment as you can. If, however, your goal is to make
a profit with quail, then I recommend that you start off with professional
equipment (at least as much as you can afford without going into debt), as it will
save you time and money in the long run, both of which need to be optimized if
you are to be successful as a business.
4
I hope you find this book helpful in getting you off the ground properly with
the Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail and I hope you derive as much enjoyment from
the enterprise as I have.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Wally Roderick
Blue Ridge Quail Farm
5
Chapter 1
Why Raise the Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail?
We need to start off with some history on this bird so you know what you are
getting ready to raise. The following information has been obtained from the
website http://www.thatquailplace.com/quail/coturn1.htm:
Quail belong, along with chickens, pheasants and partridges to the Family Phasianoidea of Order Galliformes of the Class Aves of the Animal Kingdom. Species or subspecies of the genus Coturnix are native to all continents except the Americas. One of them Coturnix coturnix or common quail are migratory birds of Asia, Africa and Europe. Several interbreeding subspecies are recognized, the more important being the European quail, Coturnix coturnix coturnix, and the Asiatic or Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica. One subspecies that commonly migrates between Europe and Asia was eventually domesticated in China. These birds were raised as pets and singing birds. The domesticated coturnix were brought at about eleventh century to Japan from China across the Korean bridge (Howes, 1964). In any event, coturnix were first domesticated in the Orient and not in the Middle East as has been claimed by some authors. Although European coturnix migrating south in the fall across the Mediterranean Sea were, in their exhausted condition, easily caught or trapped the available Egyptian and Biblical records do not indicate that these birds were ever bred in captivity.
The first written records of domesticated quail in Japan date from the twelfth century. These birds were initially developed for song. It is claimed that a Japanese Emperor obtained relief from tuberculosis after eating quail meat, and this led to selection of domestic quail for meat and egg production in Japan in the latter part of the nineteenth century (Howes, 1964). By 1910, the Japanese quail in Japan were widely cultured for their meat and eggs. Between 1910 and 1941, the population of Japanese quail increased rapidly in Japan especially in the Tokyo, Mishima, Nagoya, Gifu and Toyohashi areas. This period also represented a time of imperial expansion in Japanese history and domesticated Japanese quail were established in Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and later on spread to Southeast Asia.
6
The domesticated subspecies, Coturnix coturnix japonica, is called Japanese quail but is also known by other names: Common quail, Eastern quail, Asiatic quail, Stubble quail, Pharaoh's quail, Red-throat quail, Japanese gray quail, Japanese migratory quail, King quail, and Japanese King quail. The correct popular nomenclature for Coturnix coturnix japonica should be Japanese quail or coturnix, but not coturnix quail since in Latin "coturnix" may be translated as quail.
The JB is basically this same bird except that it has been bred for size
instead of flying ability. Now that you have a little background on the species,
you need to ask yourself, “Why do I want to raise the JB?” I can’t answer that
for you, but I can tell you why I am raising them:
1. It is a large quail that is sexually mature at about 7 weeks (starts laying eggs at
about 6 weeks old) and ready for the table at 10 weeks or sooner. Compare
that to the Bobwhite which is sexually mature at about 20 weeks and ready for
the table at the same time.
2. It is highly disease resistant and does well in small quarters.
3. It is not as cannibalistic as other breeds of quail.
4. It lays “a bunch” of eggs (on the average 200+ a year, usually more)!
5. It has a high fertility rate when kept in 2/1 ratios (2 females to one male).
7
The JB is a great bird for the beginner because it is so adaptable. The
chicks are strong and energetic and the adults will survive under most conditions
as long as they are kept dry and given plenty of feed and fresh water. The adults
even do well outside if kept out of cold winds and rain. All in all, the JB is the
quail to raise for the first-time grower or anyone who wants a fast-growing quail
that lays a lot of eggs and produces a large body for the dinner table.
8
Chapter 2
Before You Get Started
Before you make your first purchase of eggs or chicks, there are some
things that need to be considered. My website is a great companion to this
book and will have other photos and information not contained in this
book. Check it out: http://www.jumbo-brown-coturnix-quail.com.
Where are you going to raise them?
This is really a multi-part question because there are three different time
periods in the bird's life: brooding, grow-out and breeder. All of these time
frames are distinct and require different cage arrangements and heating needs.
Assuming you will be starting out small (100 chicks or less), I recommend a room
in the basement or some other heated area, if possible, to start your new chicks in.
You will need this area for about a week and then you will need to move them to a
building outside of the house, where the odor won’t be offensive. These are birds
and their droppings have a strong odor. Also, as they get older, the males get
more vocal. Their sound is pleasing to most people, but you wouldn’t want it in
your home!
9
What do I need to get them started?
You should have a brooder box with a heat lamp on it prepared 24 hours
before the chicks are hatched. I recommend one of the inexpensive plastic tubs
that the big-boxes carry (the 54 gallon size is perfect for this quantity of birds,
see website for example). You will also need to have a bag of kiln-dried pine
shavings available to line the bottom of the box. Have a couple of rolls of paper
towels handy because you will use these to cover the shavings in the bottom of the
box.
You will need to have a source of heat. This can be a simple 100 watt bulb
in a socket with a hood – generally available for about $8.00. Better yet would be
a brooder lamp – same section of the hardware store – but its about $12.00. It has
a porcelain base and will take the heat that a 250 watt infra-red bulb (the bulb I
use) will put out (see website).
You will also need to be able to feed and water the chicks for the first week.
The feeding part is easy. You can get away with paper plates, jar tops, etc.,
anything with a lip of ½” or so that will hold feed. You should have at least 2
feeder areas in the 54-gallon tub to make sure they all have access to it. For water
you will have to go to a feed store (or online) and get a quail chick waterer. It has
a special water base on it that prevents the small chicks from drowning. You may
be able to buy just the base and use a mason jar as the reservoir. Whichever way
is cheaper – but you do need to get the correct base. Many people will say that
10
you can use a standard poultry base and put marbles or gravel in it to prevent the
chicks from drowning, but I’m of the opinion that raising these birds is worth 5
dollars for the proper water equipment to make sure they get off on a good foot
and don’t end up drowning.
I will get into the different feed options later in the book, but be aware that
you will need to have a bag of game bird starter when your chicks arrive or hatch.
You will also need a coffee grinder to turn it into a consistency that the chicks can
eat. If you don’t grind it, you will experience a lot of waste as the chicks will pick
through the large particles to get the dust they can eat.
That should cover your basic equipment needs for the first week or so.
Housing
As the birds grow (and they grow fast), you will need to increase the amount of
square footage available to them. The 54-gallon tub will carry them (100 birds)
about 10 days and then you will have to move them to the next area – in a building
other than your home. You can handle the next stage of housing requirements in
a couple of different ways, depending on your available space. If you’re not too
cramped, then you should plan to build 1 large brooding pen. Make it approx-
11
imately 2’ wide by 6’ long and about 2’ high. Use ½” galvanized mesh on the
bottom and make the sides from plywood or OSB with holes cut out for
ventilation. Make sure you cover these holes with wire mesh so the birds don’t
get out and nothing else gets in. You will need to put hinged doors on top and
make wire mesh inserts in them for air flow. This should hold your chicks until
they are 4-5 weeks old. At that point they can be transferred to your breeder
cages, which I’ll describe later. Those that won’t be used for breeders will be
transferred to holding cages, which I will describe in another chapter. The basic
schedule for these birds is as follows:
Day old – 10 days: Brooder Box (on pine shavings and paper towels)
10 days – 6 weeks: Grow Out Cage (1/2 mesh wire on bottom)
6 weeks on: Breeder Cages (1/2 x 1 mesh wire on bottom)
Meat birds: Separate from breeders at 6 weeks and keep on higher
protein feed until 8-10 weeks, at which time they should be
slaughtered.
12
You now have enough information to be prepared to order your eggs or
chicks. Always remember when the next housing stage will be needed and have it
built before the birds reach the age that they have to be transferred. I can tell you
it is no fun to procrastinate and realize too late that the birds have outgrown what
you have them in and you need to build new cages NOW!!
13
Chapter 3
Eggs or Chicks?
What came first? The chicken or egg? This silly old science question is one
that is often asked at the beginning of a bird enterprise; not to determine the
beginnings of all creation, but to decide which is the better way to start a quail
farm. If you start with eggs you have to lay out a good bit of money and take
some pretty big risks right up front. For instance, you’ll need an incubator – that
will run almost $100-150 for a new Styrofoam model with an automatic turner.
You’ll have to order your eggs and pay shipping and hope they arrive in decent
shape and aren’t already too old to hatch when you get them (unless you got them
from me!). Then your eggs have to survive your first experiment of learning how
to operate your incubator. Believe me, your first few hatches with a Styrofoam
14
incubator will be an experiment until you get the hang of it. If this is your first
experience with shipped eggs and a new incubator, you will be fortunate to end up
with a 40% hatch. I’m not trying to talk you out of trying the egg method first; I
just want you to be aware of what the risks are.
The alternative is of course, live chicks. I recommend this method for first
time quail farmers. You may still lose a few birds, but your success rate will be
much higher than with eggs for your first experience. Chicks get you right into
the fray. No waiting for 17 days while you hope and pray that your eggs will
hatch; instead, there is peeping in the brooder room from the start. And the
peeping is what gets the adrenaline flowing! The only thing to be considered with
chicks is that you have to have everything ready to go when they arrive. Eggs
give you a 17 day head start to get ready, but live chicks require immediate
housing and everything ready to go. Proper planning is always required for any
project to go well and raising quail is no different.
15
Chapter 4
Feeding
**Let me start out by saying that I am not a scientist. I cannot quote the
acceptable levels for medicines in meat birds. The USDA and other
organizations have already made their determination as to what is acceptable
and what is dangerous; I can only discuss what I have seen. **
I believe that raising the birds without medication is the preferable
method. Medication is a mask that is hiding an underlying problem – usually a
cleanliness issue. I have hatched thousands of birds and have lost only a tiny
percentage during the first 10 days. I do not use medications or antibiotics or
added vitamins. While all of those things may help produce a larger bird, my goal
is to raise healthy, natural birds; birds that can produce healthy, natural meat and
eggs.
If you practice sound management techniques, as I have described in this
book, you will suffer very few losses due to a lack of medication.
16
Protein Levels For Feed
If you go online and google “quail feed” (or see my recommendations at the
end of the book) you will find a number of different regimens recommended for
the quail. However, most of the recommendations are for Bobwhite Quail, which
is not the bird you are raising. The JB grows at a rate almost double that of the
Bobwhite and has a higher protein requirement for a longer period than the
Bobwhite. I’ll give you some general guidelines to go by and you will have to
find a local feed supplier to help you get close to these protein requirements.
Chick Starter
This is not chicken starter so don’t get the two confused. You want a turkey or
quail starter or gamebird feed with a protein content of at least 28% but ideally
30%. You will find that most starter feeds are medicated, so if you want to go
non-medicated, you may have to look around. Purina carries a Game Bird
Starter (Startena) that is 30% and non-medicated. I highly recommend this if you
can get it. It costs a little more than most other feeds but I it is finely ground
and contains no bone meal or ruminant parts. Southern States sells a turkey starter
that is 28% but it is medicated.
17
I live in Georgia and we have a local mill, Tucker Feeds. They have a 28%
turkey starter. Many of the mills offer both medicated and non-medicated and you
will have to see if you can get them to stock the non-medicated for you. It can be a
tough battle, depending upon where you live.
Another important factor in feeding your chicks for the first two weeks is the
size of the granule in the feed mix. Most starter feeds (especially turkey) contain
granules that are too large for the quail to eat and so they get tossed aside by the
chicks and wasted. Here’s a f ix for that : For the first two weeks you
should grind your feed with a coffee grinder to make sure the chicks are able to
eat the majority of the feed you place in front of them. After two weeks, you
should be able to feed it to them straight out of the bag.
Grow Out Feed
This is what you will feed them between 2-6 weeks or longer, depending upon
the end use of the bird. Since these birds are still growing rapidly during this
stage, I recommend that you continue using the 28-30% feed. If the intended use
of the birds is for breeder stock, you can continue using the turkey starter until 6
weeks, at which time you would switch to a non-medicated breeder ration.
18
If you intend to eat them and have started with a medicated feed, after two
weeks, you should switch over to a non-medicated 28-30% ration through week 6.
For weeks
6-10 (I kill at 8 weeks), you could switch to a finishing ration if available in your
area. A quail finishing ration is about 24%, but if you can’t find that, you could
substitute a chicken broiler feed with 22-24% protein in it. I wouldn’t feed less
than 22% for the last 4 weeks. Worst case scenario is that you can continue
feeding the 30% non-medicated until the time of slaughter.
Laying Ration
For your future breeders, switch them over to a laying ration of 21-22% at 6
weeks of age. Again, this is not an area where you can substitute chicken laying
mash because it is only about 16% protein and your egg production will be lower
to possibly nothing. Another reason to use a laying ration instead of cheap scratch
or whatever is handy is the calcium requirement of your hens. Laying ration is
made to specifically address the additional calcium needs of the hen during her
laying years. Purina makes an excellent feed for this purpose in their Game bird
line.
19
Chapter 5
Incubation/Brooding
This section will cover in more detail the first two weeks of the life of the
chick. I will briefly cover the basics of incubation in case you have started with
eggs instead of chicks.
Incubation
**The eggs should be set in an incubator that is equipped with an automatic
turner, and fan, if at all possible. This will save you the time of having to
hand turn the eggs 3-4 times a day to ensure you get the highest hatch rate.**
GQF Model 1502 Incubator/Hatcher
20
The ideal incubator temperature setting for hatching JB eggs is 95.5
Fahrenheit (I don’t do Celsius!) and the humidity should be 50-55% relative. This
temperature and humidity is to be maintained for the first 14 days of the hatch.
After 14 days, the eggs are taken out of the turner and placed flat on the bottom of
the incubator (if you have a hatcher spot) for the last three days of incubation. At
this time the temperature should be raised to 100 degrees and the humidity
increased to 60-65% relative (not wet bulb). Varying too far from these ideal
settings will have a dramatic affect on your hatching success, so the better the
incubator, the better the hatch rate. I use a GQF model 1502 and I love it but it is
a little more than the casual hobbyist may want to spend. Check out all of their
equipment at: https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/front.asp. I have found their service
to be exceptional and their equipment is always high quality (an unpaid
testimonial by the way!).
Once the chicks start hatching you will need to transfer them from the
incubator to the brooder. This is the 54 gallon tub I recommended earlier (if
you don’t own a professional brooder). The picture below illustrates my set up:
21
I’ve got about 50 chicks in here, so you can see that a hundred will easily fit. I
keep them in this set up until the hatch is finished (3-4 days) and then I transfer
them to my brooder. I will show you the professional 5 tier brooder that I use,
though this is not necessary for the hobbyist who is going to raise a hundred at a
time. You could keep them in this tub for 1 week then split them into two tubs for
22
another week. By week three you would have to transfer them to grow out cages.
For a hundred birds you would need 3-4 24”x30” cages.
Here is the brooder that I use now:
GQF Model 0540
This brooder has 5 pens and will allow me to raise 150 quail chicks per pen
for the first week, 100 per pen for the second week and about 70 a pen through
week 4. By then you should have them in grow out pens for optimum growth.
23
Back to my 1st week brooder tub (see picture above). The bottom is lined with
about 2” of kiln-dried pine shavings and then covered with paper towels. Starter
feed is spread at the opposite end of the water for the first day and then I put a tray
in the feed area and heap the feed up about 2” high. They will climb all over it
and knock it down, spreading it around where everyone can get at it. As the
droppings accumulate, you will need to add clean, dry paper on top of the soiled
and wet paper (about every two days). After the first week, the paper should be
completely changed out and all fresh paper put in. Keep an eye on the
amount of droppings that accumulate. If they pile up, the birds will end up
getting their droppings stuck to their feet and this will cause some to get sick
and die, while it will prohibit the growth of others. Clean feed, fresh water and
dry living quarters are the key to fast-growing, healthy birds.
Remember, I recommended a waterer with a quail chick bottom on it. Here
is a picture of a mason jar with the recommended water bottom (model 4460 at
GQF):
24
You can purchase the plastic jar for the waterer or use a quart mason jar that
you have around the house. You can see which option I have chosen!
From 3 weeks to 6 weeks I leave the birds mixed (male and female) in grow
out cages. I find that I get less fighting when I separate them into breeding groups
if they have been together for the first 6 weeks; nothing scientific about this, just a
personal observation. You may not enjoy the same success. The grow out cages
are 24”x30” and 8” high. The sides are 1x2” wire mesh, the bottom and top are
½ X ½” mesh. When I move them to breeder cages the bottom wire goes to ½ x
1” mesh. At about 6 weeks you will start to notice there are eggs in the grow out
pens! You are about to enter the next phase of the operation: Breeding.
25
Chapter 6
Breeder Selection/Stock Rotation
Once you have raised your first batch to about 6 weeks of age, you will start
getting eggs in the grow out cages. It is time to separate your birds into breeding
groups. How you do this will be mainly a personal decision based on space
available and the results you obtain as time goes on.
Before I get into it any further, let me tell you the main concerns that drove my
experimentation with different breeding arrangements. Regardless of how you
cage them, as long as they have good feed and water, they will lay eggs! The
main problem I have noticed with the different caging arrangements (and I have
tried a few) is physical damage to the birds – mainly to the males. They get their
eyes pecked out and their heads pecked to pieces sometimes. I’m not there when
it happens so I can’t tell who is doing it to whom, but I’m sure some of it is male
in-fighting and some of it is females pecking the eyes of males they don’t like. I
have found a solution, though I don’t like it: debeaking.
Of all the things we are forced to practice in animal husbandry, debeaking is
the limit for me. Debeaking is the removal of a portion (generally the tip) of the
26
upper beak. This prohibits the birds from causing severe damage to each other. It
works. But it is also mutilation and I can’t bring myself to continue the practice.
I have experienced this damage to the males regardless of the cage system I
have utilized. I have not used the pedigree cage method (1 male and 1 female)
because of the large space requirements, but that would probably give excellent
results in both fertility and reduced damage. If your operation is going to be
small, then I highly recommend going with the “pair” or pedigree breeding
method. These cages can be as small as 5”x9” though I recommend a lot more
space than that, especially if this is a hobby for you.
Another advantage to pair mating is that you can mark the eggs and keep
track of your fertility – in other words, you can tell which pair is fertile and which
is not. With colony breeding systems (which I use), there is no way to tell who is
fertile or who is laying. Basically, you leave the group together until it is time to
change them out.
27
Okay. There are three systems that I have tried for caging the breeders: the
Trio System (1 female and 2 males), the Small Colony System (12 females to 6
males) and the Large Colony System (60 females to 30 males). All three systems
require different cage arrangements and make the task of cleaning (which is a
major part of raising birds) more or less labor intensive.
The Trio arrangement
Like the pedigree mating system, the trio system gives you greater control over
who is laying and who is fertile, which is a great advantage when you are trying to
optimize the performance of your flock. The down side is the space required. In
the same area that a trio cage will house 6 hens, the small colony will house 12
hens – twice as many.
The cage for the trio will be a 24”x30” cage broken up into 3 compartments,
10”x 24”. I put doors in the front panel of the cage and then use a home-made
vinyl gutter feeder in the front and the same thing on the back of the cage for
water.
28
The Small Colony A 4-stack small colony arrangement
This method uses the same cage size as the trio, but without the compartments.
You have a single 24”x30” cage into which you will put 12 hens and 6 cocks.
Water and feed is handled in the same manner.
29
The Large Colony
A Large Colony Arrangement (30” x 96”)(60 females 30+ males)
I just started using this method and I really like it. I built a cage that is 30” x
8’ (all wire) and attached it to a 2x4 frame. I have 60 hens and about 35 cocks in
this pen. There are no compartments so the birds can run around and do not feel
as cooped up as they are in the smaller cages.
Now that you have an idea of the caging requirements, we can talk a little
about breeder stock selection.
30
I am not a veterinarian, or a scientist, so my advice here is just that, advice.
I start my breeder selection from week 1 by culling out the smallest and
weakest birds in the hatch. That leaves the largest and usually the strongest of
each hatch to make my final selection from. At 6-7 weeks of age I select the
largest and most active birds to go into the breeder program. This has worked well
for me so far.
As far as adding new blood to your stock, many people recommend adding
new males from an outside line every two years to make sure you keep the line
healthy and fertile. Make sure you are getting your stock from a serious breeder
so you won’t set your program back by adding an inferior blood line to what you
are building.
31
Chapter 7
Meat For Your Table: Raising The Extras
Many people can’t imagine eating the little birds they have been raising as a
hobby. I have a radically different philosophy: I won’t raise anything I can’t eat!
Feed costs are too high to have a pet unless it is a cat or dog (at least to my
thinking); so my quail are always potential meals. These little birds are eating size
in as little as 6 weeks and if you want them full-size you only have to wait 4 more
weeks. Holding the birds longer than 10 weeks is not cost effective as the increase
in weight after that point is mainly from fat and is very slow.
In a typical hobby operation you probably are just messing around with the
birds, eating a few eggs and hatching a few to increase your stock; but once you
start a program to increase the size of your flock, you will raise a lot of birds that
you won’t need – mainly males. Since you only need 1 male for every two
females and the average male to female ratio in a hatch is 60/40, you will have
extra males. When do you cull them to eat them? Here’s my program:
I let them all grow together, male and female until 6 weeks. At 6 weeks I take
the largest birds from the flock and set them in breeder cages because they will
32
start laying very soon. What’s left is the smaller males. I would thin them out to
only 15 birds per cage (if you can) and put them on the highest protein feed you
can get that is non medicated (probably Purina – 30%) for the next two weeks. At
8 weeks, put them in the freezer and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
I am planning to shoot a YouTube video of processing a quail and I will let all
those who have purchased this ebook know when it is posted.
33
Chapter 8
Taking Care of the Injured Birds
You will have injured birds! Get over it; nothing you can do will absolutely
prevent it. 90% of the injuries in my operation are to the head and it is probably
split 50/50 between head scalps from flying into the top of the cage and pecking
injuries to the eyes and ear area. Both will be obvious to you, because the bird
will be bleeding. Unfortunately for the bird, this flowing red stuff will catch the
attention of the other birds and cause some of them to pick at it, making a bad
situation worse. Coturnix are not particularly cannibalistic, but you can’t leave an
injured bird in the cage with other healthy birds. It will never heal.
I always have a “hospital” cage set up. It is nothing more than a 24”x30”
holding cage with a pop bottle waterer and a small feeding box. As I find the
wounded birds I transfer them to the hospital cage until they are healed or until I
determine that the damage was too severe and the bird must be culled.
While they are in the hospital cage I have noticed that the injured birds tend to
leave each other alone in their misery. They don’t seem to peck at each other’s
34
wounds and that means you can put multiple injured birds in one cage. Keep an
eye on them however, to make sure they are not hurting each other.
I don’t use medications or salves on the birds. I am not a vet and I don’t want
to practice medicine on the birds, hoping to get it right. I have found that rest and
plenty of food and water usually are all that is needed to bring them back to
health. If a bird is too sick and appears to be in pain, I will usually cull the bird to
end its misery.
Do not return the birds to the breeder pens until they are completely healed and
then do it at night when the other birds in the cage are resting and groggy. Even if
this bird is being returned to his original cage, don’t do it in the daytime when the
birds are active because they will try to assert their authority on the newcomer, or
reestablish the “correct” pecking order. You may find he is quickly re-injured and
back in the hospital cage before you can get any use out of him. By the way, it’s
always a male that is injured. I have had very few hens injured.
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As a last note, it may be easier to replace injured birds than to put them through
the hospital treatment. It only takes about 7 weeks to raise up a new breeder and
once you get started raising these birds, you’ll find that you usually have some
around at various ages, some probably close to breeder age. So, if you don’t have
the time or desire to heal them, it is better to cull them and stop their pain.
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Chapter 9
Hatching Your Own Eggs
(Storage and Equipment)
Though I talked about this briefly in the beginning of this book, I just want to
cover it in a little more detail in this chapter.
Storage
Before you can get the eggs in the incubator you will have to store them long
enough to save up enough to fill up your incubator (if you are hatching your own
eggs). There is a proper way to store eggs that are to be hatched – whether quail
or chicken or any other. Quail and chicken storage requirements are similar so
that is what I will discuss here.
Eggs should be collected every day, in fact, multiple times a day. Don't allow
them sit around the cage for days on end until you get enough to hatch because
you will probably have a bad hatch using that method. As you collect your eggs
they should be stored in egg trays that are made just for holding them. They
should be stored pointed side down – always. They should be kept in a room
as close to 65 degrees as possible. For me that means the eggs are stored in a
basement area in the summer and in the winter, upstairs.
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That’s as close as I can get to these temperature requirements without buying a
special cooler to keep them. If you are going to buy a special cooler, then don’t
use a refrigerator. It takes too much humidity out of the air. A wine cooler is
actually the ideal egg storage unit because you can control both temperature and
humidity with it. You’re probably looking at around $300 or more for a wine
cooler, so you’ve got to be pretty serious about egg storage before investing in
one of these. Normally, you will do well by moving your eggs to a room with a
temperature range close to what I’ve described. Also, don’t wash your eggs
before setting them. There is a protective coating called a “bloom” that is
deposited on the egg as it is hatched and it protects the eggs from bacterial
infection. Washing the egg removes that protection and opens the egg up to
possible contamination. If the egg is so dirty that you can’t clean it
without water, you should probably just discard it. It could infect the rest of the
eggs in the incubator.
The egg trays that I use are cardboard chukar egg trays. Bobwhite quail egg
trays will be too small. Here is a link for a source:
Chukar Egg Trays
Eggs should not be stored longer than 7 days before setting. There are studies
that show that you can still get an “acceptable” hatch rate after storing them for 2
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weeks, but I have found that 7 days, max, works well. If you were storing them
in the optimum temperature and humidity range, 2 weeks may not make a
big difference, but most of us will not be storing eggs under the ideal conditions,
so 7 days is the longest time I would wait.
Incubation
If you are using a Styrofoam incubator with a turner, you won’t need any
additional trays. If, on the other hand, you are using a larger incubator such as the
GQF model I mentioned in the beginning, you will need to have plastic quail egg
trays to “set” them in the incubator. Here is a link for a source:
Incubator Egg Trays for Quail
Make sure your incubator, regardless of the model, has been operating for at
least 24 hours and is maintaining 99.5 degrees +- .5 degrees before setting your
eggs in the trays. The Styrofoam incubators are the hardest to regulate, but once
you get used to them you’ll know their fluctuation range.
Make sure your incubator has water in it to maintain the humidity. If you do
not have a digital method of determining temperature and humidity, I highly
recommend that you purchase a portable model. I have seen them on eBay for a
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reasonable price. I recommend this because both temperature and humidity are
very important to a high-percentage hatch. All incubators will have a
method of determining temperature, but most won’t have a good method for
determining humidity and if they do have one it is usually a “wet thermometer”
reading, which I don’t like. This requires that you be able to interpret graphs and I
think most people would like to look at the readout and know what the relative
humidity is. The relative humidity during the first 14 days should be about 55%.
For days 15-17, when you take the eggs out of the turner and leave them lying flat
for hatching, the relative humidity should be about 65%.
Write down the number of eggs you set and the number that hatch so that you
can keep up with your percentages. I average about 70% with the Jumbo Browns
and about 80% with the Texas A&M Whites. Perhaps you will do better! I hope
so.
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Chapter 10
Selling Your Birds and Eggs
I just want to offer a little advice in this section to help you get started should
you desire to try and sell some of your birds and eggs. First and foremost – check
with your local and state authorities on regulations concerning the sale of birds
and eggs. Generally speaking, the Coturnix quail will not be considered a game
bird such as the Bobwhite quail, which has its own set of rules and regulations.
But that being said, there are still requirements that each state has in order to
process and sell meat and eggs and you must be aware of them or you could find
yourself in trouble. Here is a link to get you started:
USDA
Selling live birds and hatching eggs will be far less restrictive in most states. I
live in Georgia, and I am required to have a poultry license to sell the live birds
and hatching eggs. It was relatively easy and inexpensive ($25) to obtain and
allows me to legally sell my birds live. I recommend that whatever you do, do it
legally!
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Live bird sales can be made through local newspapers and internet ads. If you
advertise outside of your living area, people may want you to ship the birds to
them. This can be done through the US Post Office. I have had great success thus
far using the USPS for all of my egg and live bird shipping. Make sure you check
with your local Post Office to ensure that they will ship live birds and eggs. If
they will, you will want to know what time they normally leave the Post Office, so
you can get them to the Post Office at the last minute to avoid leaving the birds
sitting there any longer than necessary.
Another source of advertising is through local “Trader” type magazines. Often
this type of advertising is free, and I have had pretty good success with these. Of
course, word of mouth works well, so talk it up at your local feed store where you
buy your quail feed. They will hear of people that want birds and they may even
be able to sell some for you.
The local Farmers' Market is a good place to sell both live birds and hatching
eggs. You may need to have small cages made to sell the birds, so price the birds
with a cage accordingly. If you are selling your eggs and birds in the summer or
hot months, be sure that they have a shaded area to sit in or you may end up with a
bunch of dead birds on your hands. Birds do not deal well with excessive heat, as
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they don’t sweat. You’ll know that they are hot because they will have their
mouth wide open and looked very stressed; that is because they are. Avoid this
situation because no one is going to want to buy stressed birds either. As far as
the eggs go, you’ll need to have them in a cooler, but not frozen – remember, they
shouldn’t get any cooler than about 50 degrees.
eBay is a good source for selling eggs only. eBay does not allow live bird
sales. You won’t get as good a price for your eggs on eBay as you would through
a private sale, but you will sell a lot more eggs on eBay than you will anywhere
else, at least until you can establish yourself as a reliable source. Be sure to look
into what will be required for packaging your eggs to get them there safely before
you set your shipping price. I sell foam shipping packages that will fit right
into a number 7 USPS box (the box is free from the Post Office). Check out my
website for purchase information .
You could also pack them in special plastic shipping trays and then cover them
in peanuts. Here is a link:
Plastic Egg Trays
There is a good market for the birds already processed, but you need to be
near a licensed processor – it is very expensive to get set up as one yourself.
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Chapter 11
Recommended Websites
This is the conclusion of my story on how I’ve been raising the Jumbo Brown
Coturnix Quail and I hope that the information has proven to be helpful to you.
The price of this book is small in comparison to the hours/weeks/months that it
took to acquire this information. The last thing I’d like to leave you with is a list
of helpful websites where you can continue your quest to master the art of
growing the Jumbo Brown Coturnix Quail. Happy Growing!
Wally Roderick
P.S. For those who have purchased my ebook, I am available by email to help
you in any way that I might be able to. Please write with your questions to:
waltersingingr@gmail.com. Again, thanks for your business.
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Sources for hatching eggs/supplies:
Blue Ridge Quail Farm
Topisaw Creek Farm
Lake Cumberland Game Bird Farm
Sources for equipment/supplies:
GQF Manufacturing Company
Randall Burkey
General Information:
USPS SHipping Rates and Supplies
Professional Cage Systems
More Cage Systems
Ideal Poultry
Game Bird Feeding Programs
More Game Bird Feeding Programs
Quail Nutrition
More Supplies
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Recommended