A man in our area that husband knows got out of raising quails last year due to health issues. He offered to give us a couple of large 8 ft. cages he needed to be rid of. When we got there yesterday...both of the cages were covered in heavy carpeting...it was nailed on, completely enclosing the cages..even the doors. I asked the reason..he stated that's the only way to get quails to lay...total darkness. Since the cages were out in the middle of the yard IN FULL SUN...I asked if this was where the cages were when the quails were in them. He said yes...lots of heat is good for the birds. He says he always got lots of eggs....avoided the subject when I asked how many birds he lost on a regular basis. I picture this as a holocaust for quail!!!! I'm in Louisiana....heat indexes up tp 110 in June....how hot may those cages have gotten wrapped in carpet out there in the sun...those poor birds!!! I don't keep my birds this way.....I find it hard to believe that anyone would!!!
Dude had it all backwards... Quail lay more with more light not less, also the heat would put mine off the lay, (the heat here is only in the 90's and mine have slowed way down....) he's got it all wrong....
That's horrific!!! No, not common practice at all. The quail need light (his were probably getting plenty even through the carpet if they were in full sun), and they DON'T love the heat. Even though our temps are only in the 90s, the birds are well-ventilated and in the shade of a lean-to with plenty of water, they still spend portions of their day panting from the heat. I'm so glad you got those birds out of there!! He probably got out of the business because he couldn't keep his birds alive, and he's probably lying about their laying ability so you won't back out of the deal. The truth is, quail DO lay A LOT. And ours never seem put off by stress--they'll be in the isolation cage (where they go when injured or need special attention for some reason) with their eyes bleeding (from having been pecked brutally by a pen-mate) and still lay an egg. So his may have been laying despite the horrific conditions. But I'm glad you came here for clarification. Those birds are going to be MUCH happier under your care. Kudos.
Not only do they need light, they need vitamin D. Not going to get that without light. Any eggs these light deprived quail provided would be nutritionally deficient.
iamcuriositycat....there were no birds...he had gotten rid of them last year...only cages. If there were birds, I definately would have rescued them at any cost!! As it was, my husband ushered me out quickly when I said "how the h&%** would YOU like being wrapped in carpet & left out in the sun you dumb &%#@!!!!" I don't tolerate stupidity....there's too much information available on any subject so you can do it the right way and I definately do not tolerate cruelty to animals!
dear god, did the man has a brain illness causeing him to forget vital things like SUN!!! OMG, i would have really had to bite my tounge!!!!!!
for what the poor birds suffered under his "care", and that he no longer has any, and that he NEVER has the opportunity to "care" for any animal ever again.
Crying out loud, good for you to get them away from him, if his theory were true, they would lay more eggs in the winter. They usually need about 14 hours of daylight to lay eggs consistently (natural timing). Matter of fact quite a few breeders will have them inside with natural lighting so they can lay year round but they usually burn out their hens more quickly. The carpet thing sounds like he was trying to keep them hidden and keep the noise level down, if he had neighbors living close by this could probably be the case. My quail do not like direct sunlight, on their habitat I put a shade netting before I put chicken wire on top. They still get ample sunlight but not as harsh, and I also have little houses in their with big holes near the top for ventilation.
That sounds horrific!!! Quails need sunlight, the breeder I got my quails from, kept all his birds in dark rooms, but those rooms were ventilated, his reason was that since he was selling his birds for dog trials he wanted them to be as secluded from people as posibble, he also said that having them on the dark would prevent pecking, but he also said that they didnt lay like that, But what this other guy did is totally different and horrific! Good thing he has no more birds!
Some folks that darken the buildings quail are in do so to keep the birds from maturing sexually it makes a bigger bird. I have never heard of anybody using carpet like what was described. One of the breeders I bought a few bobs from had some birds that were truly Jumbos @6 months old but it was a really large garage 24 ft X 30 ft and well ventilated.
