First Coturnix eggs! And questions (pic added)

[Kim_NC]

Got our first 3 Coturnix quail eggs yesterday! What a pleasant surprise!

The quail were 6 weeks old Tues - first mentioned them in this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3816325#p3816325

We have 2 pens setup - one pen 5 hens/1 roo, one pen 4 hens/1 roo. The 3 eggs came from the group of 5 hens/1 roo. Hope the others quickly follow with more.

Two questions....LOL...most of my bird experience is with chickens....

Does the egg size start out a bit smaller (like chicken pullet eggs) and then increase? And what do you call a young female quail - a pullet? or?

Do you supplement calcium with oyster shell or egg shell (like with laying chickens)?

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

1: Yes, they do start small, then they get bigger in about a week or two.
2: I normally feed layer mixed with some kind of protein, then feed that, so I don't have to supplement. However, I forgot the layer for a couple days, and eggs went way down, so I had to supplement with oyster shell. I also had to crush it to tiny pieces because one of them choked on a bigger piece! (He's okay!

) But yeah, if you have layer, you are in the clear!

 

[Kim_NC]

We've been feeding them 24% game bird feed. It's not really a layer feed according to the bag. It's Dumor brand from TSC and is labeled for quail, chukar, turkey, pheasants.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Maybe you could check on the back of the bag? See if it has any calcium? And if it doesn't, add a little something? (Preferably chick grit so they don't choke.)

 

[PIXIEFARTS]

I just bough that bag of feed this weekend.

 

[kingmt]

Give them some sand to bath in & forget the grit.

 

[Friend2Fowl]

I give mine gamebird feed and they all have dishes with oyster shells in them. My experience, the game bird starter feed is best for egg production, the high protein really gets them going! I haven't noticed much size difference in first eggs and not-first eggs, some of my biggest eggs were the first eggs laid by some of my hens.

 

[Kim_NC]

Well, I know everyone says not to change feeds, but I found 28% gamebird at a $12.15/50# instead of $14.99 for the TSC Dumor. It's a bulk price for 8 or more bags of a local Mill brand that I've used before with turkeys. I'll be able to feed it to our other meat birds as well, so it won't have time to age.

Thanks for the suggestion on the sand bath/grit - we'd already been doing that since they enjoy dust bathing so much. So, I guess we're OK on grit then.

 

[Kim_NC]

They've been on the new feed for 5-6 days now and never missed a lick laying! So we're pleased. The eggs are also starting to get a bit larger.

I made Scotch Eggs from some of them.

The recipe is in this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=334283