I had to go out for 10 days, at the start of winter break (21st Dec). I fed my quails and what not and left to Boston (from Canada by car) When i got back home (Jan. 1) i found out 1 out of 2 of my white hens had died. Also, my started feed had ran out and my mom bought some B.S 8% wild bird feed. My mom also said they stopped laying. (They still had mating colours on) I started feeding em, almond shells, almonds without shells (crushed), pears, yogurt, boiled eggs, and shells. Now today i saw my other white sitting on floor huddled up, i found out she was egg-bound, i helped her take egg out (first warm water for 1 min, then manually with 2-3 fingers for 10-15 mins), i kept checking on them and found another wild one in that state, helped her remove egg. (All the way, her cord-thing came out, both of their eggs were white) I checked some other quails, they had their eggs in about half-way, and right at the top. I tried to help some, they moved and squirmed and appeared as if they didn't need help. Should i put them off laying for couple weeks/months? (females have been mated too much also, lost head feathers) Is it a lack of protein, or calcium? Also my male button has 3 partners and has some feathers (bald spot) on top of his tail (more up from his tail, a little), what is this from? Thanks in advance.
Do they have access to extra calcium on the side...such as crushed or ground oyster shell, cuttle bone or kale? If they are laying every day and don't have enough calcium, this will cause a hen to become egg bound. A bad diet will also cause this. If a hen is not "putting on a hard shell", she will have a difficult time trying to move it thru her system if the egg has a soft shell. If you lower the protein level in their feed and shorten their day light, this will cause them to lay less and give them a break from laying, which it sounds like they need. Add more calcium.
Yea, need to stop for a while. Hard to drive an hour to get feed in this snow, hopefully it clears by February. Any who, thanks.
