6 month old coturnix quail hens not laying??

[nataliab]

Hi there guys,
I bought two quail hens from someone about 5 months ago now and they were a week off being a month old. so basically 6 months. anyway, ive noticed coturnix are meant to start laying after about 6 weeks. I have an outside cage with a connected undercover room with straw and wood shavings, they have a layer crumble mix with crushed egg shells, lettuce, and sometimes a little bread each week, they have sand and dirt for dust baths and in one area i've let the grass grow so they have a nice dense hiding area. i've seen little dips in the dirt where they bury and i have one male and two female at the moment. i know their sex as he has mated with both and i have had to separate him for a week or so for their little heads to grow back feathers. But im not understanding why they haven't started laying yet. any ideas? are they just dud quails??

 

[HowieNZ]

How many hours of daylight at the moment where you live? 14 hours is the usual minimum for them to start laying,

 

[nataliab]

i've been waking up for work at 5am, sun usually rises at 6.45ish am and goes down at 5.30pm, 5.45pm. so they're only getting 11 hours or so? That would explain it. I guess i never counted that. I knew winter wouldn't be good but my chooks only stopped laying for about two weeks in winter, we're coming out of it in a few weeks, we've been getting above average temps and nice sunny days (australia) thought that might help but i guess ill have to be patient... thankyou.

 

[HowieNZ]

Being in New Zealand I am in the same situation, hard to be patient and the only way around it would to put lighting in but I have discounted that idea at point not wanting to falsify the natural way of things, having very little time for factory farming so to speak.