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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRI
BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY

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HINTS ON RAISING QUAIL.

Although numerous experiments in the artificial propagation O “ug
have been made in the United States, much remains to be learned before meth-
ods can be recommended which will insure success. Following is a compilation
of the methods used by experienced breeders of quail who have published ac-
counts of their work.

The proportion of young reared by the most successful experimenters
rarely exceeds from 30 to 50 per cent of the total number of eggs laid. The
greatest difficulties thus far experienced are connected with securing satis-
factory breeding stock, that is, birds that are strong, tame, and free from
disease; and caring for the young so as to keep them in good health. Breed-
ing birds should not be placed in coops or pens that have been used for
chickens or turkeys, nor should they ever be kept on ground that has been
used for domestic poultry.

Cages.

PED R ot Gm sng

In the construction of cages or runs two lines of procedure have been
followed. Large permanent cages have been used, and while they insure pro-
tection from enemies, they are more expensive and make it necessary to gather
and bring to the cages much green food, and weeds, etc., for their seeds.
Small cages are favored by most breeders. They are less expensive and are
easily moved, but they result in greater losses from natural enemies. All
cages should have the walls, up to at least 2 feet from the ground, made of
boards, or else of l-inch-mesh poultry netting lined with tarred paper.

This keeps the chicks from escaping; they readily go through inch mesh. It
also prevents the birds from taking fright at dogs outside the cages, and
foils cats which otherwise would catch young quail coming near the wire.

The tops of all cages should be covered with #-inch-mesh netting. (This
size used to keep out weasels.) The walls of permanent runs must be contin-
ued into the ground, about a foot, and it is better to have the buried por-
tion flare outward at the bottom, Brush or box shelters are necessary, and
a part of each run should be enclosed, excert the side toward the south, so
that shelter from storms and a dry dusting place may be had at all times.
When large permanent runs are built, they should be in pairs, one of which
will be in use while the other is burned over, or limed, spaded, and sowed
to grass, clover, buckwheat, lettuce, and the like. If small ceges are
used, they can be moved about from time to time on pastures or on cultivated
land sown as above described.

Breeding.

Quail should be kept in pairs, one pair to a pen. If the birds are
in good health and the eggs are gathered systematically, leaving at least
two nest eggs, from 30 to 50 eggs should be obtained from a single female,
Some have produced 100 eggs in a season. Records of the number of eggs per
Pe, and of the percentage of fertile eggs, should be kept, so that the

Panta gdach asw he galected.

Hatching.

Hens, preferably bantams, or incubators may be used for hatching.
Good hens are preferable as they require less attention than an incubator.
Some hens kill the young quail as soon as hatched or later eat their feath-
ers, so that eggs should be removed to an incubator or chicks to a brooder
@s soon as hostile acts are noticed. The period of incubation is 23k days.
The temperature of an incubator should be kept at 105° F. More moisture
should be supplied than is recommended for eggs of fowls, and longer cooling
periods should be allowed.

Care of Young.

Brooder system.--Remove chicks from incubator as soon as dry, put
in @ darkened brooder at 105° F,., and let them have a good long sleep.
When they begin to run about and call, give them access to a mixture of
fine grit, granulated bone, fine oyster shell and charcoal in equal parts,
and clean water in a very shallow vessel. The brooder should be kept--

From lst to 5th day at 100° - 105° F, (105° 7. at night).

" 5th to 15th" “* 95° - 100° F. { 95° F. * ae

“ 15th to 80th " * 95° Pot #
During this last period the brocders should be open by day, allowing the
chicks to leave if they wish. Brsoders must be scrupulously clean,
Scrub thoroughly, disinfect with fcrmalin, and fumigate both brooder and
the bed of pine needles, drisd grass, straw, or other litter, with sul-
phur. The brooders must have no chinks or cracks into which the little
quail can crawl. A tray of carefully dried, fine loam should be provided
for dusting.

Bantam hen system.--When little quail are to be left in charge of
a bantam hen they are first confined with their foster mother in a run
of half-inch-mesh netting for about a weak until they learn to follow the
hen and respond to her calls. They are then placed on the rearing field,
the hen in a slat fronted coop and the quail free to run at large. The
broods must be confined in the coops with the hens at night. Breeding
cages must be constantly shifted to fresh ground.

Feeding,

The young do not need food for at least 24 hours after hatching.
The first meal may consist of a netful of insects swept from weeds, or
some well-cleaned magzots; some begin with custard. For the first 10
days about six meals per day should be provided. Bulky and less nutri-
tious foods should be alternated with concertrated ones. Sour curds
(quite dry); a custard prepared with two eggs to a pint of milk, and an
ounce of shredded wheat, or bread crumbs; berries of the Ssason; maggots;
and meal worms are all suitable for this period. The chicks should have
a full meal of maggots or meal worms the last thing in the day. Weed
geeds and small grains should gradually be increased in the diet, and
green food such as clover, lettuce, etc., is very desirable. As the
birds mature, berries of all kinds and larger grains may be fed, but
they should always have an allowance of animal food. Dry bread crumbs
mixed with hard-boiled egss also are used, changing as the birds grow

os 206
to prepared pheasant meal. Food should never be allowed to become stale.
A supply of fresh water is always necessary; it must be kept shaded and
cool.

Winter feeding,

The openings of shelters should face south, and the center of the
cage should have one or more brush piles. Weed seeds (furnished by throw-
ing in the whole plants) and grain mixtures are good food, and an apple,
cabbage, or other vegetable should be placed where the birds can peck at
it. Water should be supplied when snow is not available.

Liberating.

Quail hatched early in summer should be fit for liberating in late
fall. Later broods should be kept through the winter. Patches of buck-
wheat, planted near or upon the rearing fields, tend to hold the birds in
the locality.

Diseases.

omc nan eet

For treatment of varicus quail diseases see Farmers’ Bulletin 390
issued by the United States Department of Agriculture.

REARING MAGGOTS AND MEAL WORMS FOR QUAIL.

Reering Maggots.

The system of maggot rearing followed at the Massachusetts Hatchery
is to place fly-blown meat in inclined barrels, and as thse maggots hatch
and consume the meat, to add a fresh supply, putting in dry sandy loam as
freely as is required to absorb the moisture and keep them covered. If the
number of maggots is not large they wild grow in the barrel until ready
for use, when they will crawl out and drop into a box underneath. If they
are crowded they will crawl up vertical surfaces and escapes. At such
times dust should be used freely. When grown they are screened into another
bux and given a liberal supply of fresh sand for scouring, which they do by
squirming unceasingly until they change intc the pupal stage. It is very
necessary to reserve a liberal number of maggots to change into breeding
flies, and this is rendered difficult at times by the activity of the
agencies that keep flies in check. At times there is an abnormal increase
of a small ichneumon fly, a parasite cn the meat fly, that destroys them
in the pupal stage. The maggots reserved for the adult stage must be Gov-

ered up to protect them from this fly.

Rearing Meal Worms.

Dr. C. F. Hodge says: Directions in the bird books for raising
meal worms are quite misleading, and in order to go to work intelligently
we must learn the life story from egg to egg. The first fact to learn is
that the insect is single brooded, that is, it requires an entire season

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to complete its growth. The beetles may be found laying eggs from May
until. freezing weather in the fall. ‘The early eggs will produce larvae
that are full grown by September or October of the same season, and larvae
from the late eggs do not attain their growth until about midsummer of
the next season. A female beetle lays from twenty to fifty eggs. While
practically any farinaceous material -- corn meal, ground feed, cracker
crumbs, bread crusts -- is suitable, feeding experiments have proved that
wheat, in some form or other, is preferable and yields the best specimens.
Fill a tight box or earthen jar half full of the food material, put in
scraps of old leather, cover with woolen cloths, and have a lid of wire
screen. Put in a few hundred larvae or beetles and leave undisturbed,
except to insert a raw potato from time to time. If this be done about
April, a good supply of larvae will be obtained for use the following
fall, winter, or spring.

Cornell University

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000051502

JAN, 21, 1908