Cot. Quail egg bound?

[shrimpsilkies]

One of my Italian coturnix hens who is too good of a layer for her own good (1 a day since early May) just quit laying. However feeling her vent/belly area she still seems to have an egg there for the last two or three days. Usually when I pick them up in the morning their belly has a firm lump there where that day’s egg is waiting to be laid. However hers feels soft-shelled or something, there’s no shell feeling when I press gently, and it’s felt this for 2 days. She gets plenty of oyster shell and their gamebird breeder pellets have some calcium in them, none of the other birds have any problems in the same conditions and she didn’t for several months until now.
Any ideas? She also isn’t acting that odd, not straining to lay and still eating/pooping as far as I can tell. She does sit in one place a little more but it’s also getting colder here and many of them are a little more sedentary.

 

[Nabiki]

If she's pooping, she's not egg bound. It's quite likely that she's slowing down because the days are getting shorter. Coturnix quail need 14-16 hours of light per day to lay regularly.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

If she's pooping, she's not egg bound. It's quite likely that she's slowing down because the days are getting shorter. Coturnix quail need 14-16 hours of light per day to lay regularly.

Yes, four or five of mine have stopped to molt, including her siblings. I suppose it could just be her internal organs are still swollen from laying. I just felt her tonight and the lump seems a little smaller, so maybe as she’s gearing up to molt the egg laying machinery is shutting down. It just felt odd compared to the hens that were not laying, whose vent area is very bony and empty, clearly no eggs in there. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Nabiki]

Yes, four or five of mine have stopped to molt, including her siblings. I suppose it could just be her internal organs are still swollen from laying. I just felt her tonight and the lump seems a little smaller, so maybe as she’s gearing up to molt the egg laying machinery is shutting down. It just felt odd compared to the hens that were not laying, whose vent area is very bony and empty, clearly no eggs in there. Thanks for the tip!

Hens always have eggs in various states of development in them. If she's moulting, though, that's another reason she's not laying.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

Hens always have eggs in various states of development in them. If she's moulting, though, that's another reason she's not laying.

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Oh for sure, I’ve sadly had to see stuff like this before when i took a look inside a dead chicken hen. But in quail since they’re so tiny it’s very obvious when they’ve got an egg ready to come out in a few hours, and this hen in particular makes her eggs very fast—always laid at noon or just a little later, so her “chamber” always felt full in the morning. I’m glad she’s taking a break though, can’t be easy on a tiny bird.