Advise needed

[slw0233]

Hello all! I'm new to backyard chickens and relatively new to raising coturnix quail. I bought day old chicks from a breeder and they began mating and laying in May or June. I hatched out three batches of quail, the oldest ones are now 10 weeks old. Well, my original females stopped laying (except for one), and none of the 10 week olds have started laying. Also, I haven't seen any mating behaviors. Any advise?

 

[slw0233]

I feed them lay feed and sprouted barley for extra protein, I have an appropriate amount of space per bird, 5-6:1 ratio of females to males, dirt to play in. I live in Southern California where we are still experiencing temps in the 70-80's.

 

[beakmaster]

I think they have stopped because the days are getting shorter. They need about 14 hours of daylight to lay eggs. If you put a light near them for 3-4hrs extra it will make them start laying in a week or so. A standard house bulb will do it. I have a light on a timer that comes on about an hour before dark and stays on till around 1030 or so.
From what I have read quail have 1 yr of max egg production and then it tapers off. Using a light will burn them out faster but it beats not having eggs for 6 months (or so)...... if you keep track of your bird ages and cull out when they burn out it will save you feed, space and time in the long run. You simply hatch more birds to replace the culls.

 

[slw0233]

I have a light on them! They actually stopped laying before daylight decreased. My oldest birds are 6 months old (at the most) so that shouldn't be a problem. The three rounds that I incubated had amazing hatches, well over 80%, but now only 1 egg per day!

 

[beakmaster]

maybe they are on strike! How many hours of light are you giving them? Are you waiting till sunset to turn the light on?

 

[slw0233]

I have solar lights on them, so they turn on automatically and die sometime during the night. But they are still getting a good amount of sunlight here in Southern California. They stopped laying before the start of fall though. I'm about cull all of them! Lol. I have a 3 story "condo" with 35ish birds and some babies in my brooder.

 

[Quailsong]

Barley isn't sufficient protein. Quail are not vegetarians. I'd suggest you provide them with animal/bug protein instead & keep that around 26%-28% (some would say more or less). Do you have calcium for them? Eggshells (baked), oyster shell, even yogurt will help them.

They could be stressed if they're not mating. Are the boys calling a lot? What do they do when they think you're not there? Birds are naturals at hiding illness. I'd recommend sitting nearby for 10 mins perfectly quiet, and THEN watch their behavior as it'll be more true to what's going on.

Do they look bored? What type of litter/ground are you utilizing? Do they have loud/unpredictable sounds in the area that make them stand perfectly still?

How many adult quail do you have in total & how many per square foot? Per cage? Are adults mixed with younger teens?