Green and marbled quail eggs

[thinkloically]

Good Idea...

 

[USAmma]

I get the bluish eggs and normal eggs. They all have spots (except one that was white). I have some that are half Texas A&M and have random white feathers but are mostly brown.

Love the food coloring idea-- but I also figured out if you soak the eggs in vinegar water and they scrub with a nail brush the spots all come off and you can have white or brown or blue eggs that way. I was trying to just clean them extra good and discovered that. I imagine the next step would be to dye them like easter eggs.

 

[Lumlett]

Hello Folks. I'm new to the forum here. Actually joined BYC to ask this question:

I've got four coturnix quail. Three of them lay just fine. The fourth one lays less often, and the shells are always blue-green and very fragile (see photo). Any idea why this might be?

Of course, they're all eating the same diet. Is the blue-green egg safe to eat or is it a sign of illness?

Thanks very much!

 

[Sill]

Hello Folks. I'm new to the forum here. Actually joined BYC to ask this question:

I've got four coturnix quail. Three of them lay just fine. The fourth one lays less often, and the shells are always blue-green and very fragile (see photo). Any idea why this might be?

Of course, they're all eating the same diet. Is the blue-green egg safe to eat or is it a sign of illness?

Thanks very much!

She might just be one of those hens that lays thinner shelled eggs. Make sure you have oyster shell available to her free choice at all times. I blend it so the pieces are more quail sized.

Yes it's fine to eat. Egg color is just on the shell. Very pretty color though. Chickens that lay that color are called olive eggers.

 

[Lumlett]

Thanks for the advice, Sill. Unfortunately I don't have access to oysters shells because I live in Ivory Coast, West Africa. We just feed them regular layer hen feed, which mostly seems to do the trick except for our little olive egger. It's not ideal, but we do our best with what's around!

 

[Sill]

It helps to others to help you if you put your location under your avatar (you can list or change your location if you go to My Profile under your user name at the top right of the screen). Sorry you don't have oyster shell available.

You probably do have eggshells available if you eat eggs. Save all eggshells from eggs you and your family consume. Bake them in an oven at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes to dry them and kill parasites. Monitor them during baking so they don't scorch and give them a stir at least once. Take them out and blend or pulverize them into tiny pieces or powder so they are more easily eaten and so they don't look like eggshells anymore (to discourage future egg eating). Offer the eggshells free choice or sprinkle them into their daily ration. The nice thing about using eggshells is they already have the correct calcium to phosphorus ratio for the hens to use. I use a mix of ground eggshells and oyster shells for all my hens.

If you start to supplement your quail's calcium needs and this particular hen still lays thin shelled eggs you definitely don't want to raise any chicks from her since its probably hereditary. No sense passing that trait on to other hens.

 

[Lumlett]

Thanks very much for the tip, looking forward to giving it a try!