Quails are very small birds that belongs to the pheasant and partridge species. In India, Quail farming is a great source of income. Apart from this, quail farming is very entertaining too. The best thing is that rearing of quail birds is very easy. In addition, commercial production of both meat and eggs can be done by quail birds.
In comparison to any other poultry business, quail farming is very profitable for the farmers. Indian climate is considered comfortable for raising quails and quail birds can adopt themselves in all types of environment.
Commercial Quail Farming in India
Let us start from,
The key information about Quails
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Quails have streaked feathers in either blue, black, brown, cream, or white colour.
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Quails have brown coloured strong and long legs.
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Lower part of this bird’s body have warm, buffy orange colour.
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Beak of this bird is short, chunky, curved, and of black colour.
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Maximum length of quail can be 7.8 inches and maximum weight can be 4.9 ounces.
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Quails can fly only for short distances.
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Some species of quails have a topknot (also called plume), on the top of their heads that is shaped like a teardrop.
Advantages of Quail Farming
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Initial Investment is low for quail farming in compare to any other bird.
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Quails are small sized birds and require less floor space.
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Quails are sturdy in compare to any other poultry
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Quails gain sexual maturity earlier in compare to any other bird, they start laying eggs within six to seven weeks of age.
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Egg laying rate is high, up to 280 eggs per year.
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Quail meat is tasty and contains lower fat in compare to chicken meat.
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Quail meat promotes body and brain development in children.
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Quail eggs are small in size but have almost equal nutritional value as the chicken egg.
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Quails can be easily raised with other birds and animals.
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Commercial quail farming can be a great source of income.
Now let us move and understand,
How Quail Farming can be done in India?
Most commonly kept quails are the Japanese quails. A good farm should ensure the physical and mental well-being and natural living of the quails.
Quail farming business can be easily started in India. Farming can be started with the farming of other birds.
1. Quail breeds
There are 18 breeds of quail all around the world, and most of them are suitable for commercial quail farming in India.
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Bobwhite (American) and White Breasted (Indian) are broiler quail, suitable for meat production business.
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British Range, English White, Manchurian Golden, Pharaoh and Tuxedo breeds are considered as egg producing breeds.
2. Raising
Proper raising of quails is very important. You can go for raising in both cage system and deep litter. But, if looking at the facilities of both, then cage system is considered good, in deep litter system you can keep only 4 to 6 quails per square feet.
After the age of 2 weeks, you can shift the quails into the cage. For commercial egg production, make several colonies in the cage and keep about 10-12 layer birds per colony. And keep one male quail for every three female quails for breeding purpose. And take care about proper ventilation and cleaning of quail house. Quails survive for around 3 to 5 years in the wild.
3. Feeding and Breeding
Feeding quality food is really important for commercial quail farming. An adult quail consumes near to 20 to 30 grams of food per day. And for newly born baby quail, 27% of protein with 24% of adult food is suitable.
As mentioned earlier, quails gain sexual maturity at 5 to 6 weeks’ age, and they attain around 50% of egg production at 8th week of age. For breeding, you can keep male and female quails in the ratio of 1:3 to 1:5. It takes less than a month to hatch the eggs and producing quail chicks. Newly born chicks are very sensitive to temperature, so care must be taken for that.
One thing to keep in mind is that, if you take good care of your quails it will be beneficial or say profitable for you, so best of luck for your new bird farming and stay connected for more information like this…!!
