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On Russian birding forums there are endless battles on the topic “does the Golden Phoenix quail exist or is it a myth”? Some believe that this is an invention of sellers in order to increase egg sales and that in fact it is a Manchurian quail. Others, citing the breed standard for the Manchurian quail, which weighs about 200 grams, argue that the Golden Phoenix as a breed of quail exists, since birds of this breed weigh twice as much as the Manchurian.
In reality, the golden phoenix quail is most likely a French broiler branch of the Manchurian quail.
Description of the Golden Phoenix breed
The Manchurian phoenix has in common its beautiful light yellow plumage, which in certain lighting gives the impression of gold, but the phoenix weighs 400g and is a broiler breed.
Like any broiler breed of bird, the golden phoenix has a fleshy chest and powerful legs.
Females are 50–150 g larger than males. Although quails grow to full size two months after hatching, females begin to lay eggs after a month and a half.The average weight of an ordinary egg in this breed is 15 grams, but according to reviews from owners of these quails, if you feed the birds with broiler feed, the eggs you get will be more than 20 g. This egg size does not have a very good effect on the health of females and the production of young animals, but it all depends on the goals : sale of eggs or quail breeding.
Productive characteristics
Consuming 40 g of food per day, female phoenixes, according to advertising, lay 300 eggs per year. True, the owners of these quails claim that the Manchurian quail has a higher egg production, and the Manchurian quail lays 220 eggs per year. It is possible to establish where the truth is only by experience.
As is easy to understand from the situation around the “nest”, the photo is advertising. In fact, domesticated quails lack the brooding instinct and the Golden Phoenix is no exception. With a high degree of fertilization of eggs, offspring from them will have to be obtained in an incubator.
Fortunately, quails are unpretentious not only in keeping, but also when hatching chicks. Quails manage to hatch well even in a primitive “basin with a fan” class incubator, which requires manual turning of the eggs and does not have a temperature regulator. The hatchability of quail in such an incubator with eggs turned twice a day is about 50%. This is despite the fact that this model is only suitable for chicken and quail eggs; eggs of other types of poultry simply go rotten in it. In a normal incubator with automatic egg turning and temperature control, the hatchability of quails is 85%.
Another advantage of the breed is their light plumage, thanks to which the carcasses do not have a dark shade of skin and meat, which scares off uninformed buyers.Carcasses of dark-colored females also exhibit blackening on the belly, which is not present in the golden phoenix. When slaughtering dark quails during molting, after plucking, dark stumps of feathers that have not yet grown will remain in the skin. The phoenix has a light feather that is unnoticeable in its equally light skin.
Keeping Phoenix quails
The density of quails per unit area varies depending on the purpose of their keeping. To obtain an edible egg, 135 square meters are required. cm for one quail. To get a hatching egg, one quail is planted per 150 square meters. cm.
To obtain food eggs, quails are kept separately from quails.
How to distinguish a male from a female
It is possible to determine the sex of quails from about a month, when the young animals are completely covered with feathers. Cockerels have a dark mask on their heads and an orange chest without dark spots. Sometimes, as in the photo, there may be white eyebrows.
Females have a light head without a mask and a chest close in color to the main plumage with dark specks.
Therefore, after two months, when selecting for a tribe, it is better to make sure that there will be full-fledged males in the herd. To do this you will have to look under the tail.
How to distinguish a female from a male by the cloaca
For determining the sex of quail Based on the appearance of the cloaca, you need to move the feather between the tail and the cloaca and find out if there are any tubercles there.
The male has a secretory gland between the cloaca and the tail, which, when pressed, releases a foamy white secretion. The male cloaca looks like this:
This dark pink ridge just above the cloaca is the secretory gland. When you press on it, the picture will be as follows:
Sometimes the gland may look like a lump in the cloaca.
The female does not have such a tubercle.
There is no cushion above the cloaca.
You can watch the video to see how quail sex determination looks in dynamics.
Feeding quails
From a biological point of view, quails are the same as chickens and any chicken feed and bait are quite suitable for them. Just like chickens, quails need lime supplements and sand to help them digest their food.
The only difference: it is better not to give them whole grains for reasons of better absorption of feed. Quails have small stomachs; large grains will take a very long time to digest. But millet and any crushed grain will suit them well.
Like chickens, quails love greens and vegetables, which can be given to them finely chopped in the morning or at lunch.
If it is possible for quails to walk on the grass, they will provide themselves with green food. At the same time, either because of their small size, or because of their more intelligent manners, quails do not have such a destructive effect (empty land) as from chickens. Quails, of course, will destroy tasty berries and leaves, but they will not touch the roots and earthworms.
Reviews from Belarusian owners of golden phoenixes
Conclusion
Quail breeding is very profitable in terms of production output per 1 feed unit. In addition, quails grow much faster than chickens and require much less space, and meat and eggs are more expensive than chicken eggs. Broiler breeds such as the Golden Phoenix can almost completely replace chickens.
Very useful and interesting articles Thank you.