Adult bobwhites not laying...ideas?

[pecksandkisses]

Hey, friends. I have 5 mature female bobwhites that hatched out in September. None of them have laid eggs yet. I was wondering since I got the "Georgia Giant" variety there may be something wrong in their genes since they were bred specifically to be larger. Once there were a total of 16 in the covey, but a few months ago they all got ill from Ulcerative Enteritis. Maybe this disease didn't kill them, but made them sterile? Or could it be that they don't get enough light. They used to get ~12 hours of light, but we've been letting them out earlier and putting them in later for the past week so that they get ~12-14 hours daily. Any ideas? We mainly got these birds a) for fun, and b) for eggs. If they won't produce it's not worth it for us since they're not breaking even with the amount of eggs they produce. Thanks in advance!

 

[feedman77]

Dont know about the disease you named. I have raised Georgia giants in the past. Hatched in January were laying in june/july.
But stress affects quail differently. I had some snowflake Bob's in the basement under light they started laying. Were laying good. Finally moved them outside they quit laying for over 3 months before 1 hen restarted. I have moved others and they quit laying til the following spring.

 

[pecksandkisses]

Dont know about the disease you named. I have raised Georgia giants in the past. Hatched in January were laying in june/july.
But stress affects quail differently. I had some snowflake Bob's in the basement under light they started laying. Were laying good. Finally moved them outside they quit laying for over 3 months before 1 hen restarted. I have moved others and they quit laying til the following spring.

Ok, thanks. Is there anything I can do to stimulate egg laying without providing extra light? Like a fake egg or something? Or should I just wait and see?

EDIT: Oh, my quail hatched in September, by the way.

 

[feedman77]

Keep them on the highest protein feed you can get.

I keep mine on purina turkey startena. I believe its 30 percent. Other than that it is just a wait and see.

 

[pecksandkisses]

The quail laid an egg today!!! Guess I just had to be patient.

 

[feedman77]