My jumbo's haven't laid yet. Any advice.

[Stlzs0813]

I have 12 Jumbo coturnix quails. All born around July 4. I have not vent sexed them but from watching back of neck feathers I would say I have 4 males. So why have I not seen any eggs? Is it the male/female ratio? Is it their enclosure? Could it be their feed?

I have my old small chicken coop set up for them inside a large hoop house enclosure. See pictures. Do they have too much room? One thing I noticed is that they will not go into any of the areas I have bedded for them. Even when it is cold they will stay outside all night. What gives? I have put a light in and have it on a timer to give them extra light but that hasn't helped? Where should I position the light and is there a specific bulb I should use?

I have been feeding them Purina Game bird feed for growth and plumage. The guy I got them from said to just feed them chick starter. Is the growth and plumage suppressing their hormones?

Any tips or advice would be great, until they start laying eggs they are not contributing to our home and are just 12 more beaks to feed.

 

[Dani xxx]

Quails don't like ramps especially large ramps they are unlikely to use the coop they like to be all on one level or a very small one is usually ok

 

[Stlzs0813]

I have noticed that. They will go up it but not often. I enclosed the bottom of the coop and gave them a barrel with bedding on ground level. They still won't go in at night. I have come to the realization that quail are not as bright as chickens by a long shot.

 

[Binki]

Hehehe they do like little ramps to "shelves" although they seem to have pretty diverse personalities!

Yeah they refuse to take shelter

I would make the top of the run rainproof although they will still manage to get splashed at the sides and probably not move

 

[geniash]

You have a lot of questions, I'll try to address them as I go down in your post.

- Coop/Birds. As others have said the coop will work for quails but they may not use the ramp/coop. I have tricked mine by putting sand all over the coop/nesting boxes and they happily run up the ramp to dust bathe in there. I also get an egg in the coop from time to time. Aim for 1 sq ft per bird and you will be fine. You also mentioned you most likely have 4 males. Get rid of the 3 of them or all, they might be stressing hens way to much. This is too late in the season to expect fertilized eggs anyways, you would be better off keeping just hens or hens + 1 male.

- Food. The one you listed seems fine, just make sure it's at least 24% protein (I feed mine 30%). Make sure to have oyster shells as well (ground up) to boost calcium for hens to lay eggs.

- Light. Doesn't matter where you position it, as long as it's shining in the coop. I have mine on the ground by the coop and it does the trick. Full spectrum light bulb is preferred (search it on amazon). To lay eggs they need 14-16 hrs of daylight. Put light timer before sunrise and let them experience natural sunset.

I am sure its just male/female ratio problem. Pretty easy fix.

Good luck, keep us posted!

 

[Wayback]

I have found , seperating them into one male with two or three females works well. Don't do away with the extra males. Hold on to them for backup. One group may not get along together well. Switch them out , find the group that works well together. Mianly the ones that produce the best. So far the one working the best for me is 1m / 3f. Boost the protien up to 28% - 30%, whichever you can easly get ahold of. I ground my oyster shells to a powder for a week and mixed it with the feed. Now it gets spread on feed not ground. Within 10 days they started laying. Just my experience.