Japanese quail farming: feed, housing, brooding and lighting guide

Japanese quail have become an alternative poultry in Bangladesh alongside chickens and ducks, because they can be kept in little space and with little capital. Guidance published in Krishi Kotha, the monthly of the government's Agriculture Information Service (AIS), in January 2018 says eight to ten quail can be kept in the space of one chicken, and that an adult quail eats 20 to 25 grams of feed a day. Below are the essentials from government and university guidance.

According to AIS, the quail is one of eleven poultry species, a small domesticated bird. Of the 17 to 18 kinds of quail in the world, the Japanese quail is the origin of the farmed breeds. Quail start laying at six to seven weeks of age, suffer relatively few diseases and suit Bangladesh's climate. The Mississippi State University Extension Service in the United States notes that coturnix, or pharaoh, quail are raised mainly for meat and eggs and may begin laying at six to eight weeks.

A survey published in the journal Veterinary World in 2016 visited 52 quail farms in 14 districts of Bangladesh between July 2011 and June 2012. It found the birds laid their first eggs at 42 to 46 days of age.

AIS advises keeping one male with three females; 73.9 percent of the surveyed farms used that ratio. Eggs for hatching can be collected from the fourth day after the male is added, but eggs from the first two weeks of laying should not be set. A quail egg weighs 10 to 12 grams on average, hatches in 17 to 18 days, and the new chick weighs only 5 to 7 grams, so chicks need artificial heat (brooding) for the first weeks. The AIS brooding temperatures are:

• Week one: 35°C (95°F)
• Week two: 32.2°C (90°F)
• Week three: 29.5°C (85°F)
• Week four: 27.6°C (80°F)

AIS says cages are more profitable than litter floors for commercial farming. Each chick needs 75 square centimetres in a cage or 100 on the floor; each adult needs 150 square centimetres in a cage or 250 on the floor. A cage 120 cm long, 60 cm wide and 30 cm high is enough for 50 adult quail. The floor mesh should have 3 x 3 mm gaps for chicks and 5 x 5 mm for adults, and the house needs good light and ventilation.

On the floor, the deep-litter method starts with a 5 to 6 inch layer of rice husk, which must be kept dry. All the farms in the survey were rearing their quail on the floor.

Quail feed comes in three stages: starter, grower, and layer or breeder. AIS advises starting at 5 grams per bird per day in the first week and adding 5 grams a week until the birds eat 20 to 25 grams a day. Laying quail need 2.5 to 3.0 percent calcium in their feed, rising to 3.5 percent in summer. The Mississippi State extension guide gives minimums of 24 percent protein in a coturnix starter diet (0 to 6 weeks) and 18 percent protein with 2.75 percent calcium for layers. Extra grain upsets the balance of a complete feed, it says, and mouldy feed can kill quail. Before mixing feed at home, ask the upazila livestock officer which ingredients and proportions to use.

Clean water must always be available: AIS suggests one drinker per 50 quail, or one nipple or cup drinker per five adults. Laying birds need 14 to 18 hours of light a day; males raised for meat need only 8 hours.

AIS describes quail as having few diseases, but the 2016 survey found outbreaks on 92.3 percent of farms, chiefly diarrhoea, pneumonia, infectious coryza and Newcastle disease. Farmers named high feed prices as their biggest problem. The first two weeks are the riskiest time for chicks. For vaccines, medicines or signs of illness, consult the upazila livestock officer or a veterinarian rather than dosing birds yourself.

Photo: Kirill Tsukanov / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Sources: The Agro News, Agriculture Information Service (Krishi Kotha), Mississippi State University Extension Service, Veterinary World