14 Female quails 1 Male and one egg per day?

[Oshi55]

Hi BYC community! I've recently run into a strange issue. I decided to hatch more Coturnix quails since my others were quite old, and now, 3-4 months later, I have vent-sexed them:
14 females
1 male
I have never had this happen before. The one male and 2 of the females were from a previous hatch, so I actually just hatched 12 females -- but still. The issue now, is that I only get about 1 egg per day. They are not stressed, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no way a rodent could get into this pen I have. I'm convinced that:
A. I just suck at vent-sexing and am not doing it right.
B. My quail ARE, in fact, stressed, and I'm not acknowledging it.
C. My one male is either too old (he's around 1 and a half years old now) or doesn't mate enough so that the females don't "feel the need" to lay eggs.
D. Maybe I need to switch up their food?? They refuse to eat scraps as well, and I feed them 17% protein game bird mix (crumble), with scratch (finely crushed) and tiny amounts of crumble layer feed.

If you have any advice, please help me! I can also attach some pictures, if needed. I have no idea if these guys are feathers identifiable, either, as they are a mixture of many colour varieties. Thank you!!

 

[nuthatched]

It's likely the feed or maybe light, females don't need to ever see a male to lay.

 

[Nabiki]

How many hours of light are they getting per day? They need 14-16 hours per day to lay.
Are you offering calcium on the side? If not, does their feed contain around 3.5% calcium?

The feed does not contain enough protein for quail, so that may be part of the problem. Scratch is also junk food for them, and should not be more than 10% of their diet.

They do not need a male at all to lay, so that is not the issue. If they are not sexually active, it can be hard to vent sex them. Commercial breeders replace their males at about 1 year, but your boy should still be mostly doing his job at 1.5 years.

 

[Oshi55]

How many hours of light are they getting per day? They need 14-16 hours per day to lay.
Are you offering calcium on the side? If not, does their feed contain around 3.5% calcium?

The feed does not contain enough protein for quail, so that may be part of the problem. Scratch is also junk food for them, and should not be more than 10% of their diet.

They do not need a male at all to lay, so that is not the issue. If they are not sexually active, it can be hard to vent sex them. Commercial breeders replace their males at about 1 year, but your boy should still be mostly doing his job at 1.5 years.

Thank you for all the great information! I definitely need to install some sort of skylight for them indoors, as their outdoor area is more limited.

I also had no idea they needed so much protein! I'll check the game bird food amounts for protein, and the scratch will definitely be limited from now on! And it's great to hear that my boy is still capable.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

In the animal kingdim, females ovulate (produce eggs) whether there is a male present or not. All a male does, if he has viable sperm, is fertilize the eggs. Unless you plan on hatching the eggs, you do not need a male at all.

 

[Finchbreeder]

Females produce eggs without males.
Human and chicken alike.
They just don't turn into 'little ones" without a daddy.

 

[Appledaisy]

I had the same thing happen and it was my feed. I was using an all flock food which did not have the correct protein and calcium. Then I switched to a quail layer feed with at 3% calcium and at least 20% protein and everyone lays every day within 4 days of the new food!!! Good luck!!