Egg problems

[BMOLLEUR]

New to coturnix quail have 2 females and a male in a grow out/laying pen. Got lighting set up a couple weeks ago and just started getting "eggs". They are less than paper thin shelled over the membrane and are a olive brown color. Just wondering what is going on and what I can do to fix the problem

 

[robdog]

Called rubber eggs (fart eggs)
It usually happens one in awhile and if it happens often they need more calcium in there system and a better equal diet.
Add oyster shell or mix some laymash with your high protein feed to up the calcium

 

[Silk Madness]

That is the funniest thing I've ever heard! My Texas A&M's first egg was like this but afterwards they had hard shells, but were white. They don't seem to lay as well as the Italian or Pharoh varieties. My pretty quail lay the best eggs, I don't really care for the white ones so much.

 

[lomine]

To clarify, a fart or fairy egg is an egg that has no yolk. They are much smaller but should have a 'normal' hard shell.

It is common for young layers to take time to work out the kinks of laying. You can get odd eggs from them at first. It could also be, as robdog suggested, they aren't getting enough protein. I've found with mine that they weren't getting enough calcium from crushed oyster shell straight from the bag because they were only taking the smallest pieces. So if you are offering oyster shell now you may have the same issue I had. I switched them to crushed egg shells instead and they did much better. Whatever method you go with you need to offer a source of calcium.

 

[BMOLLEUR]

thanks for the replies. I have 24% protein layer feed and also offer free choice crushed egg shells and oyster. i figured it was just the hen trying to figure out how to get things done just wanted to make sure there wasnt some kind of illness or something i was missing

 

[Wayback]

If they are being picky about the size of crushed egg or oyster shells. I have found a coffee grinder works wonders. I have made a powder to sprinkle over the feed and it mixes right in, even with chicks.