Raising quail, education and hobby

I am retired...and health problems... 4 years ago my lack of calcium headed to become a problem. Here the quails come in: consuming the eggs and the meat my calcium came back...Probably the outdoor avtivity with them did not hurt either.Now i am a big fan, and i would like all of you to consider to raise few quails.

Kids are curious, and the preschoolers and kindergartners listen with wonderment to the story of what is happening inside the quail eggs. Picture books and a color embryo development chart with photos help the children understand their science lesson on chick development. Students used the internet would research their new bird-related vocabulary word, "oviparous." Children will learn words like "habitat,predators native grasses ". After the big day when the chicks emerge from their shells, there is excitement and joy.
Quails extremely pleasant and intelligent birds. They can be trained, and they bound with us.Yjey teach us patience, responsability, love of nature. They are a link of the nature chain and helping to raise their number, teach us more about nature.

Each of us can do our part to further aviculture by quail eggs extending it to our next generation. When an opportunity arises, becoming a mentor or introducing a child to birds in some way more joy for you than for your pupil. We all are concerned with the bloodlines of our birds and their offspring, and we need to consider who will be raising those progeny--our own progeny. Teach them about birds by volunteering in schools and organizations .

To teach young students about aviculture and the care and nurturing of a species is a responsibility that we owe to future generations of our children and our birds. It is a responsibility that we have to assume if aviculture is to continue to improve in its caring for these creatures that we hold captive.A bird club should place an incubator in a nursing home. The hatching of quail and other birds will bring together various age groups from two years old up to one hundred years old to watch tiny chicks enter our world.

The initial aim of raising quail is to demonstrate the life stages of quail and to introduce an element of awe and wonder.
However, i see the educational value of raising quails especially in individual way, in the family where everybody takes part in the process. Like the parents are buying the eggs (you may find in the farm sites, they are expediing few eggs or on Ebay,) and an incubator for 7 eggs, made for educational purposes ) and again the whole family may initiate a DIY project for the cage.
Children should be teached about:
* Preparation and construction of the brooder
* Regular feeding and watering of the birds
* Cleaning the brooder and later the aviary
* Collecting eggs once the birds have reached maturity
Also they should get their first idea about a clean, healthy fresh food, and the nutritional value of the quail eggs, so later this will mean something to them.

How to organize your hobby quail raising module? i can tell what is did, talking even about my mistakes, so you do not need to experience your self again.
I started with 20 birds, bought from a serious farmer. He really delivered me the requiered number of females and males(15 females and 5 males). previously i did buy a cage (later i DIY myself, getting a package of plans about woodwork what helped me out with any knowledge problem. click on the photo to view more about.). And of course, i got an incubator, looking forward hopefully to have chicks, for my joy but to freshen up the quail content too.
I got there after 6 months, my initial birds turning to lay eggs in few days after i bought them home.
In the meantime i did feed them with a mixture from the vet-shop, but sometimes i did produce myself a mixture of grains, enhanced with sunflower bricks from the oil factory. It is important to keep in mind, this birds are game birds and require about 5% more protein in their mixture than chikens or poultry.

finaly i got to the importan moment of incubating eggs.
Incubators there are various.Which did seem the most exiting for educational purposes is the HOVABATOR INCUBATOR 1602N & AUTOMATIC EGG TURNER 1611 ( for about 130 eggs) or for an individual family project the RCOM Mini Incubator for Hatching Eggs(for 7 eggs)
After the chicks hatched they should be fed turkey starter foodor if it possible, quail starter food. The starters are having antibiotics. The turkey starter crumbles should be made smaller for the quail by crushing the feed with the back of a spoon in a bowl before feeding. Brightly colored marbles should be placed in the base of the chick waterers for two purposes. One reason is to attract the chicks' attention to the water to encourage them to begin drinking and the other reason is to prevent accidental drowning of the tiny quail.
You can use a cage or an empty fish aquarium to house the quail chicks. Both allowed easy viewing to watch the chicks grow. In each of these houses the temperature should be to the appropriate 95°F (36C) needed to start chicks.I did use red bulbs, directly in the place of the chicks, in a higher position what they can not reach.
In their first days the chicks are vulnerable, the food can be placed directly on their floor which can not be slippery, i used some textile.Later i used feeders, plenty of them on Ebay, and so the waterers.
In 4 weeks the ckicks will turn into cheeky, noisy teenegars, you have to move them in their second cage, what you made yourself or bought yourself. A 5 week old age, they will have to be separeted, too much males creating problems.
Choosing the males from the females, should be easy, looking at their behavior:males are noisy, aggressive, girls are nice...(LOL)
The colours are indicating for the coturnix japonica, the males having brownish brest, not clear design, females are havung spots, very clearly designed. And at least but not last, they have different sexual organ, males with a big bulb, with foam when eximaned, females are having just a small circle.
Now you set and waite for the eggs, and think about the supplementary male birds, would you sacrifice them, experimenting some real gourmet recipes? If so, just go on the next lens, with quails,recipes.

My friends often kept asking me if raising quail as a hobby would be worth their time.
I'm sorry but I really don't know how to answer your question. I have no idea what type of hobby you would consider to be worth your time.
If you are looking for a hobby that you will have to dedicate some time to, raising quail could be for you. If you are looking for a hobby that requires a certain amount of knowledge to have a chance of things going right, raising quail could be for you. If you can afford to get the equipment needed or you are handy enough and willing to build some of the items needed for this hobby, raising quail could be for you. If you would enjoy the highs of watching quail eggs progress from being just eggs to living small little creatures picking their way through the shell when the incubation period is over, raising quail could be for you.
There will also be times when you make mistakes or you still do not know everything about everything...so you can loose birds, watching them helplessly. If you caan put this behind you, raising quails is for you.
So basically what I am saying is that raising quail can be a very fun and rewarding hobby. It does involve time and knowledge. There will also be extreme highs but there is also a chance of complete devastation. You just need to take the time to learn as much as possible before you start. If you do this, you will get more enjoyment out of raising quail than disappointment.