Japanese Quail Husbandry Flashcards
(36 cards)
How should fertile eggs be shipped and stored?
Need to ship freshly laid eggs. Low fertility may result if eggs are exposed to high temps during transport. Eggs should be transported in cooled containers. Eggs should be stored immediately upon receipt in a refrigerator kept at 13C and humidified with an open tray of water. 4C refrigerator is too cold and will kill them.
What are advantages and disadvantages of battery cages and aviary style cages?
Indoor floor pens allow expression of natural behavior and support animal welfare, but risk exists for resource competition. Birds housed in deep litter floor pens had higher cortisol and mortality due to increased disease.
Battery cages facilitate egg collection but result in an impoverished environment. Percentage of foot lesions, bone fractures, beak deformities, and eye and head pecking were higher.
What temperature are quail housed at?
22-25C
Why is cage height important in quail?
Natural upward escape behavior that may lead to serious head injury. Recommend either <25cm tall or >30cm tall.
Describe the diet of quail.
Omnivorous, eating primarily seeds and plant matter with invertebrates in the summer.
How must starter diet be provided to chicks in the first two weeks post-hatch?
Powder form.
What blood collection sites exist in quail?
Brachial, ulnar, jugular, caudal tibial, external dorsal thoracic, and heart.
What analgesic was associated with injection site muscle necrosis in quail?
Meloxicam
How does photoperiod impact breeding in quail?
Breed in response to increasing day length. Will breed year round when housed under artificial light for 12h or more.
When do quail reach sexual maturity? When do they start laying? How is egg production impacted by age?
Sexual maturity at 6-8 weeks of age. Hens begin laying consistently at 8-10 weeks of age. Egg production gradually decreases with time.
What is the impact of continuous light on quail?
Gain weight faster and reach sexual maturity earlier than birds housed under 13h of daylight.
What ratio of males to females provides optimal fertility? In what caging type?
1:3
Fertility increased in birds housed in deep litter floor pens compared to battery cages.
What is the proportion of the egg mass to the hen’s body weight?
8%
How many eggs does a hen typically produce?
10-12 eggs every 2 weeks. Year round in captivity under controlled light cycles.
Why do hens not incubate eggs in captivity?
Persistent male copulatory behavior presents brooding.
How often and when should eggs be collected?
Collected and stored daily, best performed early as most eggs are laid in the late afternoon or evening.
How should collected eggs be handled?
Washed with lukewarm water to remove debris, then egg air dried.
How are fertilized eggs stored?
Large end up or on their side.
How should collected eggs be stored?
Stored in a refrigerator at 13C with 65% humidity. Turned once daily to improve hatchability. Prior to incubation, refrigerated eggs should be maintained at room temp until condensation on the egg shell has dried.
What is the ideal type of incubator?
Forced-air incubator that uses an internal fan to circulate air inside the chamber. Should include an automatic egg-turning option that can tilt egg trays through a 90degree angle once an hour. A separate hatching incubator with hatching trays and matching wire mesh lids will be needed.
What is the ideal incubation temperature and humidity?
38C and 50-65% relative humidity
Up to what stage of development should egg trays be rotated?
Every hour until E13.
At what day can viability be reliably determined? When are peaks in embryonic mortality expected?
7 days
Peaks in the first 3 and last 2 days of the 16-18 day incubation.
