Egg Breakage

[PatientType]

Our quail hens are almost 7 weeks old and beginning egg production. First egg was a week ago. Now, with 10 hens, we're getting 4-5 eggs a day. Hopefully, that count will rise as the days go by.

However, we're encountering an unexpected problem - egg breakage. Out of a total of about 12 eggs laid to date, three have been found broken. The eggs were laid in the sand box and look to have been stepped on - there is no sign of pecking.

One egg, and I'd not worry. But 25% of the eggs? That is serious.

I've watched a LOT of YouTube quail advice videos but this is a topic I've not seen addressed. Do others here have this problem? Is this a reflection of immature, inexperienced hens? Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice on prevention?

Background, these birds are in 4 foot x 30" cages. The eggs are being laid in inch-deep sand. We're checking the cages about 4x each day so the eggs aren't usually more than 2-3 hours old. Each cage houses 5 hens & 1 rooster (so crowding isn't an issue).

 

[Nabiki]

It's normal for new layers to have some issues, but this is more than I would expect.

What are you feeding them?
Are they getting enough calcium?

 

[Susan Skylark]

Early layers and low calcium can cause brittle shells, one time heals, the other needs more calcium in the diet. Another issue is laying in high traffic areas with awkward and curious birds, the sand box probably just gets a lot of bird time, and when they aren’t afraid of something they have to be curious about it, pretty easy for eggs to get trampled, pecked at, banged into one another. Time and experience are also your allies in the latter too, also statistics! When you are only talking ten eggs total, one egg makes a big difference! After a hundred eggs, you’ll get a better idea if it is fluke or problem. If you have jumbos or celadons, you may want to supplement with more calcium simply because they are bigger/higher maintenance birds. I also had issues feeding a 28% protein starter, birds grew amazing and had eggs at 5 weeks but 30% were odd. I switched to 21% layer feed even on the chicks and got eggs at 7 weeks but only rarely a weird egg. A high protein diet can push your birds into production before their repro tracts are mature leading to bizarre eggs, not necessarily bad but don’t be surprised, they’ll get the kinks worked out in a month or so!

 

[PatientType]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the thoughts.
These are jumbo brown coturnix. And, yes, two of the three partially crushed eggs were laid in a high traffic spot where the birds travel to and from the sandbox.
I'm using turkey feed crumbles because I've not found a lot of high protein game bird feed available in our area at reasonable prices. These crumbles are 26% protein and 2.1% calcium.
As the comments suggested, the calcium may be a tad low. My choice on the feed was a higher protein level general mix or a laying mix that was only 16% protein but higher calcium. Since the birds are still young & growing, I opted for the high protein feed.
I think I'll provide some calcium supplement and/or buy a higher calcium layer feed and mix the two.
That, and keep an eye on the birds and give it a little time.

 

[Nabiki]

The protein is a bit low for their age, but better than some I've seen. I would start offering them crushed oyster or egg shell on the side to let them get more calcium. They'll eat as much as they need.