First time quail owner got Coturnix Sunday... no eggs yet?

[fiddleblue]

I am a happy new quail Mom, having brought home 5 live Coturnix japonica quail from San Francisco's Chinatown on Sunday. 4 females and 1 male. In the cat carrier on the way home, one of them laid an egg, but in the 2 days since they've been put in their new home, no eggs have been laid. Is this normal? Are they adapting to their new home? Is there perhaps a problem? I read that quail typically lay 1 egg a day, and I believe they are all egg laying age. Also, one of the females seems sick: she's got her feathers all ruffed up looking like a ball and is sitting still a lot, inactive, while the others are normally active. I hope she gets better but she may die: I had two chickens who acted like this before they died of unknown causes.

I have put two 6 by 10 inch plastic containers with hay in the cage as nest boxes, but I don't see any quail setting in there.

Deborah

 

[fiddleblue]

You aren't saying they only lay an egg every 2 weeks, are you? Do you mean that it takes them 2 weeks to settle in to their new home and start laying again?

 

[bingrancher]

Yes they are settling in. They don't use nest boxes. Fill the container with sand or dirt and watch them play.

 

[fiddleblue]

Thanks for the feedback! One day later, and I found two eggs in the cage! (Out of 3 healthy females). ONe egg was in the sand dish, another egg was in one of the nest boxes I set in there.

 

[Barn Yard Birds]

My Coturnix lay in there feed dish, next to it, in the corner and where ever the mood strikes them.
My boys are not shy they dont mind mating in front of me while feeding them. and yes when they get moved from one place to another they tend to stop laying even when i change cages to clean there cage it takes them sometimes 2 days before they lay again and sometimes it doesnt bother them. I look at it this way birds are like humans it bothers some and some it doesnt.

But good luck these little birds are friendly and walk all over my hands while feeding and come up to the cage door to see what I am doing when I am opening it. sometimes they even get out and walk around the room and walk right up to me..