help a new quail lover please....

[diggerduck]

Hi, my name is Steve and new to this quail thing. I have some questions and figured I would come to the experts. A friend gave me 6 Texas A&M quail the other day, and that is where the questions start. She said that they had already been laying. I have them in a 2'x3' elevated cage with a 1'x2' shelter box on one end. I am feeding them game bird crumble and supplementing with oyster calcium. Now with the questions.

1. Could the shock of moving from their ground based pen to an elevated cage cause a delay in egg laying? If so, when should I expect them to start laying again?

2. Is it common for the males to peck at each others wings?

3. Guessing by who crows, I have three males and three females, will that cause any issues????


Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. Steve

 

[ChickenGirl3]

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[Little_Bigfoot]

yes the change in cages could effect laying prob not for more than a few days, the thing that troubles me is that you only have three females for three males with the 1:1 ratio you will prob have some pretty beat up ladies soon, you want more of a 1:2-4 ratio, you will still get fertile eggs but not have to worry about the males killing your females

 

[JJMR794]

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[mhwc56]

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X 2 you can ALWAYS depend on JJ having the most accurate info here....

 

[Fat Daddy]

Too many Roos = TASTY BBQ!!!

Bill

 

[thekid]

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Haha thats what I like to hear haha

 

[diggerduck]

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Didn't know there were quail laws when i agreed to adopt these things...

Thank you all for the advice, now the task at hand, explain to the 8 yo son why we are eating small chickens and I have no idea what happened to the quail, or build a bigger pen.....
Thanks again all

 

[Robo]

Get them some more hens!

 

[Boyd]

1 roo for 8-9 hens otherwise you will have lotsa problems. a 1-1 ratio = bad news for birds, hens are overworked, roos are under-sexed. 1-3 isn't bad, but I would consider keeping the roo away from hens if he keeps picking.

When I first started I purched 6 month old birds and they didn't lay for over 2 weeks while getting over the shock and new environment. Make sure if you changed up their feed that you give them time to adjust to that also...... One more thing... Coturnix quail lay best with 14 hours of light. You can make them lay all year with 12-14 hours of light either naturally/artificially.