Best Way To Help an all Female coop start laying again

[Grags26]

I have 4 female coturnix that stopped laying for the winter, which I hear is normal. I have tried a few things in attempts to get them going again. I just recently found a better food source on amazon that has 22% protein. I also add mealworms and oyster shell to the food mix every once in a while. I think my problem is proper lighting. I tried to use some solar powered light, but I don't think its powerful enough.

Has anyone have any other good secrets for getting females to lay again. Do I buy a male...even if I don't care about fertility? I've heard setting up white xmas lights around the inside of their cage can act as the additional lighting for the shorter winter days.

 

[WildBilly]

feed them corn

 

[bmmkh]

Laying has to do with the hours of light there are in a day. All you need to do is put a fluorescent light on in their pen, leave it on for 14 to 16 hours a day and they will start laying again.

 

[drewskimac]

I have 4 female coturnix that stopped laying for the winter, which I hear is normal. I have tried a few things in attempts to get them going again. I just recently found a better food source on amazon that has 22% protein. I also add mealworms and oyster shell to the food mix every once in a while. I think my problem is proper lighting. I tried to use some solar powered light, but I don't think its powerful enough.

Has anyone have any other good secrets for getting females to lay again. Do I buy a male...even if I don't care about fertility? I've heard setting up white xmas lights around the inside of their cage can act as the additional lighting for the shorter winter days.

1) Like somebody said above, feed them corn. Not too much, but some. I feed my chickens whole corn and it keeps them laying all winter long without any additional light. As for coturnix quail, i would recommend you buy whole corn and grind it up yourself. DONT BUY CRACKED CORN. Buy the whole corn and grind it right before you give it to the quail.

2) Make sure you are giving the quail egg crumbles, not egg pellets. Many people believe that the egg pellets are too large for the quail to properly digest and it keeps them from laying. I have experienced this, and switching to egg crumbles fixed the problem. As for your high protein feed, don't spend a lot on it, when people say that coturnix quail need a gamebird feed to lay eggs they are putting a bunch of bogus in your ears. And even if the feed is lacking protein (I highly doubt it is), the mealworms will give them more than enough.

3) I believe this is the most important, you need to have your quail on a light schedule. Check what time your sun rises, and what time it goes down. Go to Lowes, and buy a cheap $5 light timer. Keep your quail on a schedule that will give them 8 hours of dark, and the rest light. No need to do this all year long, just do it until they get started and by then the days should be long enough that you're good to go.

 

[dc3085]

If you are going to suggest someone change their feed, try not to make suggestions that can harm their birds. People come here for advice and often take it at face value, assuming anyone that would answer, would know what they are talking about.

Please note that corn is not water soluble like their gamebird crumbles, so if you feed something like corn you will have to feed digestive grit or you are only causing your birds digestive problems and potentially even harming them.

As the other have said, light hours are why your birds aren't laying, not feed. Coturnix quail will lay on 15% chicken food, so you can toss the not laying because of poor feed theories. They won't live as long, be as healthy, or have as nutritious of eggs on 15%, but they lay just fine so forget about that idea.

This time of year you probably only need to add a couple hour depending on where you are in reference to the equator. The light that animals perceive with their eyes triggers certain metabolic responses. Egg laying in quail is one of them. I'm sure you've heard humans "get vitamin D from the sun" we don't, but it's the sunlight our eyes perceive that helps us effectively process our vitamin D.

 

[drewskimac]

If you are going to suggest someone change their feed, try not to make suggestions that can harm their birds. People come here for advice and often take it at face value, assuming anyone that would answer, would know what they are talking about.

Please note that corn is not water soluble like their gamebird crumbles, so if you feed something like corn you will have to feed digestive grit or you are only causing your birds digestive problems and potentially even harming them.

As the other have said, light hours are why your birds aren't laying, not feed. Coturnix quail will lay on 15% chicken food, so you can toss the not laying because of poor feed theories. They won't live as long, be as healthy, or have as nutritious of eggs on 15%, but they lay just fine so forget about that idea.

This time of year you probably only need to add a couple hour depending on where you are in reference to the equator. The light that animals perceive with their eyes triggers certain metabolic responses. Egg laying in quail is one of them. I'm sure you've heard humans "get vitamin D from the sun" we don't, but it's the sunlight our eyes perceive that helps us effectively process our vitamin D.

My suggestion was to grind the whole corn. If you ask your local feed store what is in the feed, i guarantee it has ground corn.

 

[Grags26]

Couple things. I bought a fluorescent light a few days ago and have it on a timer. Any idea how long it should take to get them going again?

sooo when you say whole corn, what does that mean exactly? Just from the groccery store?

 

[drewskimac]

Couple things. I bought a fluorescent light a few days ago and have it on a timer. Any idea how long it should take to get them going again?

sooo when you say whole corn, what does that mean exactly? Just from the groccery store?

Well, I would reccommend going to your local feed store and asking them for whole corn. It's fairly cheap, mine sells it for 8$ per 50 lb bag. I give my chickens the whole corn as is and it keeps them laying all year long (I say this because each time i run out of corn they stop laying until i give it to them again, during the winter time. They might just be rebelling, but all i know is that it works for me). So, i'm assuming it would also help the quail. Obviously, it's not a good idea to give your quail whole corn, so buy the whole corn from your feed store and grind it yourself. And like somebody else said, i would reccommend giving them grit if you do this,

Also, you don't even really need to worry about that to be honest, because lighting is the main problem. Make sure they only have 8 hours of dark per night, make sure they ALWAYS have food and water, and in about 2 weeks or so you should start getting eggs. Probably not from all the quail in one day, it might take a month or two for ALL of them to begin laying.

Good luck

 

[Fat Daddy]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/952896/my-coturnix-wont-lay-any-eggs

Stay away from a lot of corn. Whole, cracked or nibblets from the green giant.... Yes quail need a high protein feed... They are game birds... Gamebird starter is ideal. That's why they call it that... With a quality gamebird starter you need nothing else. Iv raised 1000's of birds with no treats, no meal worms, no thistle seed ect..... Game bird starter and water... Set your timer for 15-16 hrs of light. you should start see'n eggs in about two weeks if your birds are not being stressed by cats or local children grinding corn at all hrs of the night! ;-) Good luck, Bill

Edited by Staff

 

[drewskimac]

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