How long until I get fertile eggs?

[Griffin Nest]

I have button quails and they lay one egg a day. I have 1 male and 2 females, and I just saw them mating this afternoon. The eggs haven't been fertile so far, but I think they will this time. How long will it take until the eggs she lays are fertile? I was thinking 2-3 days, but I'm new at this so I'm sorry if I ask stupid questions

 

[shelleyd2008]

If they are mating the eggs should be fertile.

 

[Griffin Nest]

Quote:
Are you saying that they could already be fertile?

 

[shelleyd2008]

Probably. Usually the males mature faster than the females in button quail, so they start breeding the hens before they are actually 'ready'. So they should be fertile from egg 1 if they've been with a male the entire time. The problem people have with early eggs is that they are usually smaller than normal so it either makes the chicks too small to survive or too big inside the shell to hatch on their own. But I've not noticed any fertility issues with first eggs on my buttons.

 

[Griffin Nest]

Well they are 11 months old and both of the females have been laying regular sized eggs for a while.

 

[shelleyd2008]

How long have they been with the male?

 

[Griffin Nest]

all of their lives. they hatched from the same incubator and i've kept them all together ever since. i used to have two more males but I gave one away and the other was killed by my cat. the male I have is a silver i THINK. he seems interensted in one of my females only, and she's a wild type (normal colors)

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, they usually do choose one mate though sometimes they will take others. If you need another boy I have several, though I don't have any boxes at this time. If you want a male for your other girl, you can send me a chick box (like you'd get from a hatchery) and cost of shipping (usually $25 - $35 depending) and he's all yours

I have several colors but most of them are some variety of cinnamon.

If they have been with the male their entire lives and you are still getting infertile eggs at 11 months old I would wonder if the 'male' is actually a dominant female. Mine are usually fertile from the time they start laying....around 8-9 weeks old.

ETA: do you have pics of your birds?

 

[Griffin Nest]

Quote:
im very sure he's a male. he has red feathers around the vent and males of his color have that. he doesnt lay eggs and i know that for sure because my blue faces female lays green eggs and the wild-type female lays brown ones. i've even seen both of my females lay eggs and they go broody sometimes. my male also makes a low growling sound sometimes that i've never heard the females make.

Here are some pics!!

This is my male. He's my little baby and I love him! He lets me hold him and he relaxes when I'm around. He likes the Wild-Type female, but I have seen him grooming and feeding the Blue-faced female.

Wild-type female. she goes broody more often than the blue-faced female. she lays brown eggs

Blue-faced female. lays green eggs, and likes to groom the male a lot

They live in a large 2' by 4' home-built cage that's 15" high. it has many plants and hiding places. i feed them gamebird crumble and off to the side I have a bowl of oyster shells and some finch seeds. they have a big pan of sand that they love to bathe in.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yes, I see the vent feathers. Your male is a silver blue face (aka 'slate' or 'smokey').