decrease in egg production....why?

[chickenmommy25]

hi quail lovers!! i have Coutrinex quail, about 18 females and 6-7 males. the last 3 days we have gone from 12-15 eggs a day to 1-2 eggs a day. do quail have a "down time" for egg laying? if not, what could be the reason for the huge decrease in eggs?

thanks!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi Missy

Quail will stop laying for a number of reasons....so it will be up to you to figure this one out by considering these things....

Their diet needs to have high protein levels of 24% to 28%. Any less and this will slow down egg laying.

Excessive heat will cause the hens to stop laying.

Dehydration will cause them to stop laying.

Health of the birds plays a huge part in the egg laying...are they sick, do they have worms, are they getting older, etc...

Length of day light...this time of year the natural daylight hours are waning and this can effect the laying. Along with the waning of the daylight comes molting...some of my males are already starting to molt. Molting and replacing feathers requires a ton of protein and the protein in their bodies will go into feather making instead of egg laying.

Stress... and this is a big one...have they been moved recently...are they being scared by something either during the day or night...is the ratio to of male to female correct, (1 male to 4 to 7 females) as too little females and the male stresses out the females with too much mating...is there too much human traffic or dog traffic around the quail....anything that will cause stress will cause the hens to stop laying.

And of course the breeding season is coming to an end pretty soon and some hens will just have had enough at this point. So look over your situation and see if you can determine why they are not laying as well. Sometimes you can figure these things out, and sometimes your quail just play tricks on you.

 

[chickenmommy25]

hey leyla!!

hmmmmmm. well, we have had excessive heat, but they seemed to be laying fine during that. the last week the temps have actually cooled down to tolerable numbers and that's when they slowed down in egg laying. they seem to be healthy, no problems. my husband checks them everyday and he hasn't mentioned any problems or said anything about if they are molting. no new things to stress them out that wasn't already there when they were laying good. i know we need to get rid of some of the males. my hubby is going to give some, in trade, to a friend of his who also has quail. how would having WAY more females than males turn out? the hubby surprised me with quail, so i know very little about them...so i'm in the beginning stages of learning about them. on top of learning about my chickens!! i feel like i am back in college again!! *ugh*

thanks!

 

[TwoCrows]

If you have too many males, then yes, this might be the issue. Are they all mixed in together...all the males and all the females? Each group might need their own quarters to keep the peace. If you are not doing any incubation, then there is no problem with keeping excess females with the one male. However for incubation purposes, the fertility drops after 6 or 7 hens and one male. So if these birds are only for eating eggs or enjoyment, too many females will not hurt anything. Of course always watch females. They fight worse than the males do. So make sure all the girls get along. And if you are going to mix new birds in, make sure to do it slowly. Keep the new birds on the other side of wire where everybody sees everybody. Nobody touches. Keep them this way for about 2 or so weeks and then the mixing will go smoother. And always mix in at least 2 birds to an existing flock. There is safety in numbers.

Keep us posted!