Texas quail appeared in Russian farmsteads relatively recently and quickly fell in love with poultry farmers due to the quality of the product obtained. Representatives of the breed are raised mainly to obtain good dietary meat, since quails gain weight well and sometimes weigh more than half a kilogram by the time of slaughter. Breeding Texas Pharaohs for the purpose of obtaining eggs, on the contrary, is not advised, since layers will not be able to please you with their productivity. Despite their good health, these birds are prone to various diseases at an early age. Read on to learn how to grow a strong herd of viable Texas quails.
Texas quail
How to tell a female from a male
It will be difficult for an inexperienced poultry breeder to determine the sex of the young by the voice and nuances of appearance, as professional breeders can. It is better to use a universal method that allows you to identify males by the presence of a cloacal gland.
To do this, the bird is turned with its belly up with one hand, and the cloaca is probed with the other, spreading the feathers under the tail. The tubercle, which, when gently pressed, secretes a white, frothy secret, is the very gonad that only males have.
Useful Tips
In matters of breeding, it is necessary to heed valuable advice.
- Take care of the optimal size of the room. If there is not enough space, biting begins. With its excess, egg production decreases. One bird has approximately 50 cm 2 area.
- Egg collectors should be installed in cages to avoid crushing and contamination of eggs.
- Drinking bowls, feeders are best placed outside the cage. This reduces the spread of the feed and makes harvesting easier.
- For the same purpose, manure trays should be installed under the slatted floor.
- For optimal egg production, female and male Texan quails should be bred in a 2: 1 ratio.
- Incubator eggs must have been laid within the last week. The hen should be no older than 10 months.
- Immediately after birth, feed the chick with finely chopped eggs, a little later with cottage cheese. Grind all food thoroughly in the very first days.
- When purchasing individuals, pay attention to the number of black specks. If there are fewer of them, the skin of the plucked carcass will look more aesthetic.
- To avoid stress, do not let other animals into the room.
- Sex determination is best done by professionals. However, it is quite possible to determine by voice. The female chicks rather quietly, while the male reproduces loud sounds.
Productivity
When breeding the white Texas breed, Japanese, English white birds, as well as representatives of other species were used. It was from the "British" that the Texas pharaoh received a snow-colored outfit and high meat productivity. The final characteristic of the Texas white quail breed is such that:
- the body weight of an adult laying hen is from 400 to 450 g, and the weight of a male is from 300 to 360 g;
- meat yield at slaughter - not less than 250 g;
- egg production - 120-160 pcs. in year;
- egg mass - from 12 to 14 g.
Individuals-record holders can weigh up to half a kilogram, and sometimes more, but such birds are considered unsuitable for breeding. The carcass of the Texas quail has an excellent presentation. Her flesh is light, and her skin is a pleasant yellowish tint.
The nutritious meat of the white pharaoh contains more than 20 vital trace elements and vitamins, with a minimum of cholesterol. It is ideal for a children's menu, as well as for those who suffer from allergies, pathologies of the cardiovascular system and digestive organs.
Behavior
It is known that Texas quails are distinguished by their phlegmatic disposition. From the outside, this behavior can be mistaken for apathetic or to recognize possible signs of illness in it, but all these assumptions are erroneous.
The Texas quail is a very calm and balanced bird, it will not break the silence with its cries in vain or run around the yard, giving the poultry farmer a lot of trouble. However, this trait also has its drawbacks, which are manifested when trying to cross birds. Males rarely show initiative, so they have to be guided and stimulated.
Texas pharaohs are distinguished by their calmness and do not rush to interact with each other.
Where to Buy White Texas Quails
It is better to turn to trusted breeders who have been professionally dealing with meat quails for a long time and have a high business reputation. It does not hurt to first familiarize yourself with customer reviews, if possible, talk to them personally.
If you take birds on the market, it should be borne in mind that there is a high risk of buying a cross of dubious origin that does not have the required productivity. One of the signs of this is the greatly undervalued price of the bird, despite the fact that the Texas white quail breed is popular, and its cost is considerable.
Breeding, features of incubation
Due to the fact that the birds are kept in captivity, in cages, they have completely lost their hatching instinct. Even if grown in open-air cages, 1 to 3 percent of hens can become brood hens. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that without an incubator, the breeding process simply will not work for you.
On a note! The incubator can be purchased or made by hand. Choose eggs no older than seven days, from birds up to 10 months old.
Before putting eggs in the incubator, keep them cool and dark, but only outside the refrigerator. The incubation period for Texas quails is 16-18 days. After the chicks have hatched, leave them for a couple of hours in the incubator, they definitely need to dry out.
If the quail that hatched are immediately moved to a brooder, then in dry air their feathers will quickly dry out and cover the body with a dense crust. After two hours, you can transfer the chicks to the brooder, with the temperature already set, which is appropriate for age (see above).
Advantages and disadvantages of the breed
Completing the description of the Texas white quail breed, we can highlight its main advantages and disadvantages. Among the first:
- rapid maturation;
- rapid weight gain;
- excellent consumer qualities of meat and eggs;
- housing conditions and diets standard for broiler quails;
- excellent presentation of the carcass.
The second, albeit very conditionally, include:
- low egg production;
- a small percentage of fertilized eggs;
- high feed consumption.
Speaking about the unconditional disadvantages of the breed, we should mention such as the weak sexual activity of males and the absence of the instinct of incubation in females.
What you need to know about growing
If you choose the right room for keeping quails and at the same time observe all the subtleties of care, then it will not be at all difficult to breed Texans.
Temperature indicators
They are one of the most important factors due to which the bird will gain weight as needed.
After the young are born, the quail must be transplanted into a box or cage, where a temperature regime of at least +38 degrees is maintained. The temperature of the space surrounding the cage should not fall below +28. In such conditions, young animals are kept for up to 10 days.
Young growth
From the next week, a gradual decrease in temperature indicators begins. In the box, it should not be lower than +32, and in the room it should be set at +25.
Then, by the 25th day, the temperature should be +25, and then it is brought to +18.
Today the farmer does not need to calculate the diet on his own, all this has already been done. Foods are selected based on breed and age characteristics. It is important that the manufacturer is good and responsible for the quality of his products. There are a number of subtleties in feeding quails that the owner should know:
- from the first week, meat broilers should be given boiled eggs, bone meal, yogurt, curd products. All of this contains the protein that birds need. All feed must be thoroughly chopped;
- it is important not to forget about green fodder. With the onset of the winter period, you can give vegetables, boiled potatoes, beets, carrots;
- be sure to have mineral supplements in the diet: crushed egg shells, chalk, bone meal, gravel or shell rock;
- it is possible to increase the growth rate with the help of waste from fish production.
Installation options for feeders and drinkers for quail
Texans need drinking bowls with fresh water that changes every day. Otherwise, the liquid will heat up and have harmful effects on the digestive system.
Lighting requirement
Texas quails shouldn't be brightly lit. If the room is small, then 60-watt lamps will do. The bright light in these birds causes aggression, attacks on each other can begin, which lead to injuries, besides, the females begin to rush much worse. For newly hatched chicks, lighting is done around the clock, from the second to the fourth week no more than 20 hours, then reduced to 17.
Disease prevention
Texas quails are not very healthy. In order for them not to get sick, the birds should be regularly shown to the veterinarian, and the herd should be vaccinated. In addition, it is important to maintain cleanliness in the walking enclosure, as well as in the cages, monitor the condition of the birds and immediately remove from the flock representatives with low weight or visual signs of infectious diseases.
Also read about quail diseases in this article.
To increase the immunity of these birds, it is recommended to give them drugs such as Chiktonik from the third day of life. They must be used strictly according to the instructions, observing the dosage and timing of each product.
Quails NPO "Complex"
At the production-experimental factory of NPO Complex, a separate population was bred, which is already classified as a breed (so far without a name). It was obtained from crossing meat pharaohs and marble quails. This is a universal type of meat and egg direction - they give up to 260 eggs per year, and live weight up to 200 g for the female and 170 g for the male. They are similar in appearance to the Japanese breed.
Quail NPO Complex is an already established separate breed
How much the laying hen will give depends on the lighting and the number of birds per 1 sq. M. When crowded, productivity drops.
Feeding
A balanced and nutritious diet is the key to getting a good carcass. This is especially true for beef breeds. Quails become interested in food when they dry out and warm up after hatching. There are two approaches to feeding day-old chicks. Some farmers give babies a crushed boiled egg mixed with corn grits. Others believe that this is fraught with the death of the entire brood, and prefer to feed the quails with starting compound feed for chickens, ground into flour.
If chicks are fed with eggs, then feed is given 6–8 times a day. 30-40 minutes after giving food, the feeders are cleaned and washed so that the chickens do not eat spoiled food. When using compound feed, it is poured in sufficient quantities once a day. Drinking bowls should always have water.
For chickens aged 2–7 days, cottage cheese, herbs, yogurt are introduced into the diet, which are added to eggs and cereals. It is imperative to give a premix to the young. In two weeks, cake, bran, chalk, fish meal, shell rock appear in the diet. Grains of corn, peas, buckwheat, wheat are given in crushed form.
When feeding an adult bird with self-prepared feed, nutritional mixtures are prepared from the same ingredients as for young animals. Feed yeast and salt are added, and the proportion of minerals is increased.
It is recommended to feed broiler quails at the age of 20-25 days 3 times a day, adults (45-50 days) are fed twice. The norm for one head is 40-50 g of compound feed per day.
Broiler Virgin
Quite large poultry of the broiler type - live weight up to 300 g, low egg production - only 60 eggs per season. We have this species is not widespread, more often this beautiful bird (especially cute cockerels) is bred as an ornamental breed. Contained in zoos. In the USA, chicks are raised on farms and released into the wild, where hunting for this bird is very popular.
Virgin quails are still a rarity here
Decorative
In addition to obtaining dietary meat and healthy eggs, quails can also be bred for decorative purposes. Birds of this direction are rarely used for meat or eggs, they are completely unsuitable for industrial breeding. Most often, quails are bred in pairs. They are rarely found in ordinary farms, mainly at large exhibitions.
California
California quail will decorate any personal plot
It is considered an exclusively decorative breed. The most unusual and beautiful variety of quail domesticated in the United States. Suitable for decorating garden and park areas. Breed advantages:
- decorative appearance;
- early maturity - chicks begin adulthood after 35 days of age;
- birds can be kept in aviaries;
- no special diet required;
- excellent immunity and resistance to disease.
In addition to the advantages, the Californian variety of quails also has disadvantages:
- high price;
- not suitable for meat products;
- low survival rate of young animals;
- birds need a spacious aviary.
Painted
Representatives of this species are kept solely for decorative purposes and are completely unsuitable for egg or meat production. These miniature birds are considered one of the most beautiful representatives of the quail breeds. This species was found in Australia and South Asia, where poultry farmers used its representatives for decorative purposes or as heating pads.
Separation of quails according to purpose
Like other poultry, quails are divided into several groups:
- meat-and-meat;
- egg;
- meat breed;
- decorative types.
Regarding the first two directions, it is worth noting that they do not have much difference. The weight of the carcasses and how many eggs a bird lays per day are almost the same. The difference can be noticed only if there are more than 10 thousand individuals in their content, that is, only on large industrial farms.
Characteristics of the main breeds - comparison table
But meat types of quails differ very noticeably - due to their size.
Pharaoh quail, weighs 100-150 grams more than wild species or the same Japanese quails. We offer you a description with a photo of the most suitable breeds that can be kept in an apartment and on a farm.
