Economy News Updates : Quail Farming Is a Lucrative Business

Quail farming can be a lucrative business like other farming ventures, such as chicken, turkey or duck farming in Nigeria. But rearing of quail is still an uncommon business in the country because the bird is one of the smallest poultry birds. 

Ironically, just few people are into the business of the ‘little wonder bird’, as many people called it, and making cool cash and smiling to their banks. This set of people are also enjoying both the nutritional and health values derived from consuming the meat and the eggs of the bird. It is on records that some farmers are making between N700,000 and N1.3 million every year from raising quail birds for meat, eggs and hatchery production.

Due to its nutritional values and health benefits, experts predicted that quail would soon take over the chicken poultry business.  Starting quail farming requires a little capital of N20,000. The low cost of investment of rearing quail and the high rate of returns are some of the reasons farmers are venturing into quail farming.

Without expensive items, a potential farmer can start with N20, 000, which means the farmer can kick-start with five males and 25 females depending on the age and specie. The birds can be reared in cages and small floor space. But sometimes, experts advise that potential farmers should always consider cages to rear their birds because it is more efficient than that of floor space.

Interestingly, quails take about five to six weeks to mature and their meat is highly recommended for people keen on boosting their immunity. Their eggs are wonderful super-food that can treat various ailments, which makes it more profitable to keep quails, as they are less demanding than chicken.

Presently, a kilogramme of chicken meat goes for N700 on average in Nigeria, quail, which hardly weighs half–a–kilogrammes at maturity attracts N800. The little wonder bird has the ability to lay over 300 eggs in a year and one egg costs N30 to N40 because of the health benefits, which include, treatment of anaemia, arthritis, gastritis, removal of toxins and heavy metals from the blood; strong anti-cancer effects, and may help inhibit cancerous growth, nourish the prostate gland and may help restore sexual potency in men, enhance good memory and brain activity, slow down ageing of organs and the eggs are used for facial masks and hair care.

Its major nutrition are Vitamin B-12 (Cobalamine) 0.14 µg (5.83 per cent), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) 0.071 mg (5.46 per cent), Selenium, Se 2.9 µg (5.27 per cent), Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) 0.158 mg (3.16 per cent) among others.

A quail egg, even with their small size, is packed with vitamins and minerals and its nutritional value is three to four times greater than that of chicken egg. If children eat at least two eggs of quail daily, they grow better and are less likely to suffer from infectious diseases.

Feeding quails has never been a headache for farmers because a quail eats 20 grammes of food per day and hardly requires any drugs unlike a mature chicken-hen that consumes an average of 150 grammes of food per day and requires a regular administration of drugs.

Before venturing into this profitable business, potential farmers have to prepare an effective business plan.  A perfect quail farming business plan should include almost everything related to this business such as your production purpose, products you want to produce, housing, feeding, breeding, health care and marketing.

Speaking with Daily Sun, the owner of FeedPlus, Sani Abdul, said there are varieties of quails one can rear. They include Bobwhite Quail, Button Quail, California Quail, Japanese Quail, Mountain Quail, Gambel’s Quail, Scaled Quail and Mearn’s Quail. He said the Japanese quail is more medicinal, which is common in Nigeria.

On their feeding, he said: “when we talk about poultry feed, all of them are the same. The different is the poultry content just like we have layers, growers and starters etc. quail can be fed with poultry feed but it depends on the stage they are. The only difference is marsh because quails are smaller birds. If you want to grind their feed, it has to be softer”. You know chickens are bigger than quail. If you are using chicken formula to grind quails feed, it has to be re-ground in order to be soft. If you are using quail formulated formula.”

He said the market for quail is available because Nigeria has the population except farmers don’t know how to do their marketing.  He added that quail is one of the easiest birds to raise.

He explained: “making cash with quails is not tough. They are straightforward to worry for and their products are straightforward to plug. In fact, raising dozen of quails in your backyard could be a good way to supplement your income, The basic business for creating cash with quails involves you purchasing baby quails from a hatchery and raising them till they are either laying eggs or mature for meat production. You will get additional profit by selling baby quails and compose quails manure.”