quail mating

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cruisermedic

cruisermedic

In the Brooder
5 Years
Aug 11, 2014
64
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I have had my coturnix for a while. I have done one hatching. But I have a question for more experienced owners. How long do you guys wait until you start saving eggs for the incubator? And how long is a mating good for? I've been waiting a week after putting males with females, before saving them. And I leave the males in until I have enough eggs for my bator.

Can I start saving after just a day or two of breeding? Do I need to leave them in the whole time I'm saving?

Thanks in advance.
 
I have breeding groups with one male for every 2, 3 or 4 females. I leave the male with the females all year.
I'm thinking that the eggs would be fertile soon after mating, but I collect eggs for no more than 10 days. After that the fertility will drop. I remove the eggs daily and treat them as I would chicken eggs - storing them at room temperature on a 45 degree angle and "turning" the eggs several times a day until they go into the 'bator. I do this by using an egg carton to store them and raising one side on a stack of books. To turn the eggs, I simply switch the end of the carton that is on the books.
I'm not sure if this is the info you were asking about, but I hope it helps!
 
It is some. My males at a 1:3 ratio seem to over breed and injure the hens. My collecting process was similar. I put them together in the above ratio. I wanted a week. After 1 week I saved the eggs. I put them in a turner pointy side down, in my basement. Its pretty cool and constant. After 1 week collecting eggs were out into my GQF sportsman.

I just didn't want to have the hens really bred more than needed to prevent injury. And the roos, they seen to do nothing but breed. Some of them even seem to get head injuries as well. So if say 2-3 days of breeding was good for a weeks collection, I'd just separate them until next batch of chicks was needed.
 
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This round I put them in a 1:6 ratio and double the space they were used to. Hopefully the hens taking a whipping won't happen.
 
Fertility lasts for 7 days after mating so one rooster can easily keep 7 hens fertile. When they first start laying at the beginning of each season or when they first mature, wait about two weeks to start saving eggs so that they eggs are of the proper shape and size to promote hatching as well as being fertile.
 
You need to wait about two weeks after they start mating to make sure you have a consistent amount of fertile eggs and after this point, the hen will generally lay fertile eggs for about 14 days later.

Collect the eggs, date each one of them and store in a cool dry place. Somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees if you can. Store them in egg cartons large end up and give them a turn once or twice a day to keep the yolk from sticking to one spot on the inside of the shell.

I like to set eggs that are at least 3 days old, and no more than 7 days, although you can go as long as 10 max. (3 days because you want the yolk to settle and let the air sac start to develop at the top of the egg.

Good luck!
 

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