Quail farming
After several unsuccessful trials on various projects in his life, Clement Kotonya finally settled on keeping of ornamental birds. This is the success story of Kotonya, who has moved from being a salesman in Nairobi to keeping quail birds which has proved quite rewarding just like chicken and Guinea fowls.
Kotonya who granted KNA an exclusive opportunity to delve deeper into the unique project that has seen him standout among farmers in Yimbo village, Homa Bay county now speaks with pride, having become a reliable supplier of the ornamental birds not just in Nyanza region, but also beyond.
Ornamental birds are usually intended for many other purposes including consumption, pets, and birds for breeding. The birds are rich in proteins and have ready market on the global scale. Kotonya revealed that they not only sell, but the family of six also usually eats three birds twice a week, which have become the preferred as more reliable delicacy compared to other source of proteins.
“I have been able to sell each bird at a cost of Sh200 and we have projected as a family to sell 400 birds every month going into the future, he explained, during the interview early this week.
These guinea fowls are also being kept by Kotonya as one of the ornamental birds of choice. Photos by Joseph Ouma.
It all started way back in Nairobi, where Kotonya worked as a salesman and bumped into a fellow farmer who reared the Japanese quails, and having gone for bench marking, he took a decisive move to venture into this kind of farming as a source of food and business.
Kotonya explained that quails lay eggs very fast just as they grow rapidly, adding within one month the birds will be ready for sale, and has so far proven to be a reliable source of income for the family.
Asked to explain the kind of feed he gives the birds, he stated that the birds eat same feed like chicken and guinea fowls, that he keeps as well.
“I started this kind of farming with 57 birds, we ate four reducing the number to 53, and this is the number that managed to grow, and so far the unique project has enticed the local community to consider keeping the birds,” he revealed. Kotonya said he was aware the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is usually very particular on those keeping ornamental birds, revealing that he is in the process of acquiring the certificate to legally continue with the project.
He explained that the birds are fed twice a day at 9:00am in the morning and evening, and also consumes some litres of water. The farmer pointed out that with 10 kgs of feed, the birds could be fed for two weeks at a cost of Sh1,200. Research has since established that it’s very easy to maintain a quail farm, since the birds are the smallest species of poultry, with the farmers terming it as “very easy, lucrative and entertaining.”
Commercial quail farming started in Japan before it spread out to other parts of the world, where it thrived and also quite profitable, just like other farming ventures such as chicken, turkey or duck farming.
Almost all weather conditions are suitable for starting quail farming business. Their meat and eggs are very tasty and highly nutritious. Quail eggs are very nutritious compared to other poultry eggs. Since quails contain comparative proteins, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, B1, B2 quail farming can therefore play a vital role to meet up demand of food and nutrition.
Similarly, quail farming business has been singled out for requiring small capital and labour, where the birds can be raised along other poultry for meat and eggs production. An adult quail weighs between 150-200grams and an egg weighs between 7-15grams, with female quails starting to lay eggs within 6 to 7 weeks of age and continuously lay an egg daily.
Clement Kotonya holding one of the birds during the interview at his home in Homa bay recently.
According to www.roysfarm.com/2012/03/quail-farming.html the birds lay about 300egss in their first year of life, after which they produce 150-175 eggs in second year, when egg production gradually decrease up to their first of laying period.
Quail eggs are very suitable for human health, contains 2.47% less fat than chicken egg. Many people believe quail eggs help to prevent blood pressure, diabetes and panting among other complications, Quail meat is very tasty and nutritious with very low fats in their meat, which is suitable for blood pressure patients.
The eggs are very beautiful with multiple colours, this is one of the reason they are referred as ornamental birds, the quail doesn’t incubate their eggs and so the farmer has to use an incubator or broader for chickens to facilitate hashing of the eggs.