Can a light burning all night stress or kill a Quail ?

[mindwalker]

Hi guys,

I have a question for the ones here more experienced with growing Quails. I don't own any Quails, but my neighbour does. We both have small gardens in the back of our houses, and he's growing quails on his garden. I, however, have a security light (9 watts) burning all night over my back door, for security reasons - it's actually triggered by twilight so it turns on automatically some time after sunset.

My light is in direct view of the quails. My neighbour is asking me to turn off the light at night, because he claims the Quails are very stressed and one of them has already died (according to them, due to my light)

I'm wondering if this is possible or if there's any reasoning to his claims ? It's not like the light is bright as the sun, but you do have to squint your eyes slightly to stare at it.

Thanks a lot for any insight or pointers!

Cheers!

 

[Fr quail]

I think your neighbor may be right the light is stressful to the quail, though I dont know if it would cause them to die. When raising chicks they will start to cannibalize each other if the light is left on 24/7. Though the quail owner is responsible for the quails well being, not you. He should either face the cage away from the light or lay something over the front of the cage at night to block the direct light so the quail can sleep. Maybe a sheet of coroplast or some tarp would do the job.

 

[mindwalker]

Thanks a lot for the info!
Sadly, my neighbour's cage has been built from scratch and I think it's attached to the garden walls so it's not very easy to change it's direction, therefore as you say, the best solution is for his cage to have some sort of shutters.

Is that even common practice, that you would build a cage for Quails and not install any shutters at all ? I could imagine in countries up North (I'm in Europe actually) where the sun only sets for a few hours, if at all.. that it's mandatory

 

[Fr quail]

I don't know if it is common practice. I wouldn't do it because I don't have that kind of issue, but I'd think it would be obvious to people to make a way for their animals to have a dark place to sleep.

 

[Jolly Roger]

Quail, like other birds, have a reproductive system that bases itself off the amount of hours in a day. Shorter days (daylight) generally means less eggs. Many people do keep lights on to "extend" the day by a few hours to keep up laying production, but if you keep them under continuous light it can damage their reproductive cycle and drive them nuts. Fighting will increase because they are stressed.

 

[Jolly Roger]

Being that your light is 9 watts and obviously not directly near his birds makes it ridiculous. Does he ask the moon to stop shining on his birds? I'd tell him to take a hike.

 

[KrisandLuna]

I have quail that are afraid of the dark, the panic when lights go out, and my hens stop laying, getting really sketchy. Compared to LED Xmas lights that mimic the moon at night (they have their boxes to go into if they want the dark, while natural indirect sunlight during the day.

 

[JoeFlyer7]

+KrisandLuna

I sort of have the same thing going. So far the brooder I have has a 'main' box with food, plenty of betting, and a 75watt heat lamp (they are chicks). On the outskirts of the box it is darker, and there is also styrofoam cup (which they don't really show interest in) if they care to seek more shade. This main box is attached to another box (with a doorway sort of thing connecting them, with no door) that has no light in it, and also has the main source of water right next to the opening. They seem to have adopted the gradient and adjusted to it quite well, having food available in the main box and most of the time in the dark box.