Recall the quails craze? Here’s man making money from little birds

After several unsuccessful attempts at various projects, Clement Kotonya finally settled on rearing ornamental birds.

It has turned out to be a success story. Kotonya has moved from being a salesman in Nairobi to keeping quails, which has proved quite rewarding just like chicken and guinea fowls.

He stands out among farmers in Yimbo village, Homa Bay county, and speaks with pride, having become a reliable supplier of the ornamental birds in Nyanza region and beyond.

Ornamental birds are reared for food, as pets or for breeding. The birds are rich in proteins and have a ready market.

Kotonya not only sells them, but his family of six usually eats three birds twice a week, which have become the preferred choice as a more reliable delicacy compared to other source of protein.

“I have been able to sell each bird at Sh200 and we have projected as a family to sell 400 birds every month going into the future,” he said.

It all started way back in Nairobi, where Kotonya worked as a salesman, when he bumped into a farmer who reared Japanese quails. This pricked his curiosity and he visited the farm. Thereafter, Kotonya took a decisive move to venture into this kind of farming as a source of food and as a business.

He said quails lay eggs fast just as they grow rapidly, adding that within one month the birds will be ready for sale. The venture has so far proven to be a reliable source of income for the family.

The birds eat the same feed as chicken and guinea fowls, which he keeps as well.

“I started this farming with 57 birds. We ate four, reducing the number to 53. 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 said.

Kotonya said he was aware the Kenya Wildlife Service regulates keeping of ornamental birds, revealing that he was in the process of acquiring the certificate to legally continue with the project.

The birds are fed twice a day at 9am in the morning and in evening, and drink several litres of water.

The farmer pointed out that with 10kg of feed, the birds could be fed for two weeks at a cost of Sh1,200.

Research has established that it’s easy to maintain a quail farm, since the birds are the smallest species of poultry, with farmers terming the venture 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 alongside other farming ventures such as chicken, turkey or duck farming.

Almost all weather conditions are suitable for starting quail farming. Their meat and eggs are delicious and highly nutritious. Quail eggs are more nutritious than other poultry eggs.

Since quails contain comparative proteins, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A, B1 and B2 quail farming can therefore play a vital role in meeting food and nutrition needs.

Quail farming requires little capital and labour, as the birds can be raised together with other poultry for meat and eggs.

An adult quail weighs between 150 to 200 grams and an egg weighs between seven and 15 grams. Female quails start laying from six to seven weeks of age and continuously lay an egg daily.

The birds lay about 300 eggs in their first year of life, after which they produce 150 to 175 eggs in second year, when egg production gradually decreases.

Quail eggs are ideal for human health as they contain 2.47% less fat than chicken eggs. Many people believe quail eggs help to maintain blood pressure and control diabetes, among other complications.

Quail meat is delicious and nutritious with low fat.

The eggs are beautiful with multiple colours, which is one of the reasons they are referred as ornamental birds. The quail doesn’t incubate its eggs and so the farmer has to use an incubator for hatching.