Are we doing the right thing?

[Mocktheduck]

So we got quail around the beginning of October. We started with 4 females and 1 male. The a friend of ours said they also wanted quail and the breeder was running a special and so we were supposed to get another 5 but the friend backed out last minute and so we ended up with an extra 12.

All the quail were just over 8 weeks when we got them.

Our enclosure was not suited for so many and so we ate a couple of them. We now have 11 quail in total. 10 female and 1 male.

Recently the birds were sick, they were snotty and wheezing and I think it might have been coryx but not sure. The feed store recommended we use something called Bactofos plus and it seems to have helped them as they are not longer phlemy and have much more energy.

Now my question is as follows. In the 3 months that we have had the quail we rarely receive more than 1-2 eggs a day. Now I'm not sure if I got the wrong impression, but from what we researched and what the breeder told us they are supposed each lay an egg a day.

So the first problem was obviously the overcrowding which we dealt with. By culling some and building them a balcony.

Then we realised they needed light and so we added a light.

Then we had a bit of a heatwave and we put frozen bottles of water and a solar powered fan in their enclosure.

Now it was this sickness which they all seem to have recovered from.

They are still not laying. So I assume we are still doing something wrong? Or perhaps I am being impatient?

I've added some pics so then the more experienced could perhaps point out our mistakes?

 

[Nabiki]

That looks like a very nice enclosure.

You said that you added light. How many hours per day are they getting?
Are there any predators hanging around?
How long has it been since they recovered from their illness? It can take a couple weeks before they start laying again.
Have you made any changes to their home recently? That can cause them to take a break for a week or two.

 

[Mocktheduck]

That looks like a very nice enclosure.

You said that you added light. How many hours per day are they getting?
Are there any predators hanging around?
How long has it been since they recovered from their illness? It can take a couple weeks before they start laying again.
Have you made any changes to their home recently? That can cause them to take a break for a week or two.

Thanks! We made it ourselves with scrap. It turned out much better than I thought it would lol.

The sun rises at around 5am and then we supplement from around 6.30pm-10pm. so they end up with around 7 hours of light.

They recovered over the weekend.

We have the dogs in the back yard, and the neighbour has a cat. But they were laying the most when they were in the backyard with the dogs strangely enough.

The last time we made a change was about a month ago.

So perhaps I'm just being impatient lol

 

[Nabiki]

Thanks! We made it ourselves with scrap. It turned out much better than I thought it would lol.

The sun rises at around 5am and then we supplement from around 6.30pm-10pm. so they end up with around 7 hours of light.

They recovered over the weekend.

We have the dogs in the back yard, and the neighbour has a cat. But they were laying the most when they were in the backyard with the dogs strangely enough.

The last time we made a change was about a month ago.

So perhaps I'm just being impatient lol

I would give them a couple weeks to recover from their illness. I would also cut the light back to about 16 hours rather than 17 so they can get 8 hours of sleep.

 

[Mocktheduck]

I would give them a couple weeks to recover from their illness. I would also cut the light back to about 16 hours rather than 17 so they can get 8 hours of sleep.

Thank you for the advice! We have already started implementing it by cutting back the light. When you said that I realised when we started supplementing the light we did it because the sun was only rising at around 6.30 and setting earlier. We forgot to pay attention to the season change!