Do your Quail Lay late at night?

[mochicken]

I have noticed my Coturnix hens dont seem to lay till late evening or early night, not sure why but thats what they have been doing since I got them Tuesday

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Probably messed up from the move

 

[The Critter Place]

Mine will lay eggs as late as 10-11pm! But they are in my house, in a bird/laundry room and the light is never a set time.

I have found eggs as early as 5 am too.

I'm not sure these crazy birds sleep either. lol... their room is just off of my room, and I hear them snack in the middle of the night!

 

[chickbird]

Mine Lay The Most In The Evening Between 4-6 Pm.

 

[Ugo]

my buttons lay at about 2pm to 6 pm

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Same all my birds lay between 4_7

 

[The Critter Place]

I called it a night at 2 am.. no eggs, woke at 5 am and found 2.
My birds must have a really messed up schedule.

 

[mochicken]

I got 7 eggs three days ago, 5 eggs two days ago and 1 egg yesterday, my birds are all kinds of messed up from the move but hopefully I will get them settled down this weekend when I get their housing all done and get them separated

 

[syble]

mine tend to favor night laying also, probably more then 3/4 or them

 

[kahlertm]

Yes Coturnix quail lay at night. According to some research I have looked at: "Most females lay eggs several hours before dusk"
(Konishi, 1980).

In the same article :ENVIRONMENT, WELL-BEING, AND BEHAVIOR, G. B. Chang ,*1,2 X. P. Liu ,†1 H. Chang ,* G. H. Chen ,* W. M. Zhao ,* D. J. Ji ,* R. Chen ,* Y. R. Qin ,*
X. K. Shi ,* and G. S. Hu *

"Egg-Laying. Domestic quail and F1 often lay eggs
in the afternoon, mostly after 1530 h. No egg-laying
behaviors were observed in wild quail at daytime with
a harvest of 30 eggs, indicating that they lay eggs at
night."
2009 Poultry Science 88 :1137–1142
doi: 10.3382/ps.2008-00320

They are also referred to as nocturnal vs diurnal. More active in evening than day. Interesting birds to say the least. I love them.