How many hens do I have?

[Little-Farmer]

I'm kind of confused. Looking at the marking on my ten coturnix quail, it seems that I have right hens and two Roos.
They started laying a couple of weeks ago, in consistant of coarse. Two weeks into now, we typically get 3 or 4 eggs a day. One day, we got 6 eggs, so I know I have six laying hens but what about the other two? Is it possible that I have two hens not matured yet or that they are Roos? I don't expect to get eight eggs a day but should t I be seeing more than 3-4 eggs daily if I have eight laying hens?
All the quail are11 weeks old.
Any thoughts?

 

[Sill]

If they are new layers they might not all lay daily. Even mature hens will skip a day here and there. But once they are fully mature and they are getting enough light they will lay most days.

What color are your quail? I'm assuming they are coturnix?

 

[Little-Farmer]

Yes, they are jumbo coturnix.

So when should I expect them to be fully matureso I can tell how many are laying.

The reason I ask is becaus they used to be very docile and they have become quite finicky in the last week or so. I have seen one if my Roos breeding them but I'm not sure what's changed there behavior and I'm hoping they aren't getting overbred. I'm really hoping we don't have too many Roos in the cage.

 

[cotquail]

I find light, temperature and protein are qualifiers for laying.With light I find duration is most important,intensity is less important. To intense, bright light will create agitation, 16 hour duration works best for me, I use very low light led lighting. With temperature the cooler the less egg frequency from 55 to 65 fahrenheit works best for me, With feed higher protein means frequent and larger eggs, with less protein eggs seem smaller and less frequent. Lots of water and adequate calcium supplement are mandatory. I also find vitamin and mineral supplement as well as acid buffering the water , with apple cider vinegar, whey, or some Lactic Acid Bacteria LAB ,yoghurt helps in digestion and well being.As omnivores its hard to expect them to excel on cereal and legume(corn and soy) diets but they do, omnivores get alot of mineral and vitamins from other feedstock that they prey upon,both vegetable and creature.In order to reproduce , lay eggs , they have to be well fed, if any of the above is not adequate you may not see daily eggs.I find as well that for egg laying a space of .75 sq feet each helps, I also find large groupings dictate less feeder space, I keep a 3 to 1 ratio of hens to roos for breeding, That way I can tell who's who and what's what, in large groupings it's hard to identify production traits. Also in large groupings social order can be imbalanced and hard to identify and rectify problems. Breeding, selecting traits that you want to encourage or breed for requires some controls and data acquisition and recording. say size or body condition ,skeletal features, early maturity, body mass, or reproductive virility, if your breeding you may find attention to individuals is important.Identifying ancestors and lineages.

 

[Little-Farmer]

Thanks cotquail! You just gave me a load of information to go through! I just turned their light off so that they were getting 13 hours. I might should turn it back on for a couple more hours. I live in south Florida so it is quite warm here right now- 70 at night, up to 90 in the day but oddly they are still going up into the nesting box during. The day and laying down some. The rest of their space is all wire and well vented for our hot summers. I have them all together.
I'm spending a fortune in their food as it is important for our family to have clean, organic eggs. (Medical reasons for my youngest child) so I'm adding quinoa and chia seed to their organic feed, probably more then necessary, to bring it up to 30% protein. I also add in the oyster shell and chicken grit to their food. Should it be served seperate? Also, our local oyster shell products for chickens is quite large Nd I notice they sift through eating the smaller prices and leave the bigger ones so maybe I need to crush it or add more. I didn't think of adding nutrients to the water though.
I've bought meal worms once for them, but I was reluctant because I don't know how they were farmed as far as food, hence not organic for us. If live to give them grass hoppers just to watch them chase them around.
I'll look into the vitamins!

Thanks again!

 

[cotquail]

Not a problem to add oyster and grit to their feed , I grind the oyster shell sometimes in a coffee grinder. An adult quail will consume about 70 grams of feed per day. Vitamins etc are available for poultry TSC stores is a good bet for off the shelf.Often the feed and calcium leaves behind a dust ,finings, they can only consume particle, If you have a spray bottle with water and wet it down a bit that helps bind and make it available. Roasted organic soy meal is an excellent supplement 36 % protein, .Its quantity vs quality if the protein source is 15 % they will have to eat twice as much to get the 30% protein that is best. Lowest common denominator prevails, higher protein will produce with less feed , they will take what they need , in the lower feed quality you cant expect them to eat twice as much. I feed unmedicated pheasant gamebird starter purina and masterfeed make it , can't say its organic though. Flax is 22% in protein but no more than 10 % should be added as feed ,it is used to produce alpha omega 3 eggs. Quail being ground dwellers like a hide, they don't like to get noticed,fair reason they use the nest box to get off their feet.They also love vegetable scraps and meat trimmings. I have scratch boxes that they dust bathe and do the boogywoogy in they can act as catch all's for grit,wood shavings, oyster shell, sand , they love to shake rattle and roll.Put a tray of grit or sand in and watch the performance. In season I hang bunches of greens in there and they hoover the leaves. good luck with your flock .

 

[Sill]

Thanks cotquail! You just gave me a load of information to go through! I just turned their light off so that they were getting 13 hours. I might should turn it back on for a couple more hours. I live in south Florida so it is quite warm here right now- 70 at night, up to 90 in the day but oddly they are still going up into the nesting box during. The day and laying down some. The rest of their space is all wire and well vented for our hot summers. I have them all together.
I'm spending a fortune in their food as it is important for our family to have clean, organic eggs. (Medical reasons for my youngest child) so I'm adding quinoa and chia seed to their organic feed, probably more then necessary, to bring it up to 30% protein. I also add in the oyster shell and chicken grit to their food. Should it be served seperate? Also, our local oyster shell products for chickens is quite large Nd I notice they sift through eating the smaller prices and leave the bigger ones so maybe I need to crush it or add more. I didn't think of adding nutrients to the water though.
I've bought meal worms once for them, but I was reluctant because I don't know how they were farmed as far as food, hence not organic for us. If live to give them grass hoppers just to watch them chase them around.

I'll look into the vitamins!

Thanks again!

Don't worry so much about the heat, they do better than chickens with heat. Mine lay consistently all summer with our lows over 90 and our highs up to 110 or more. When its good and hot give them shallow trays, saucers, or whatever you have on hand with water in them. They love to play in water when it's hot and will bathe in it too.


In summer they also love to roll around like dogs on wet greens or grass. I give mine wheat grass fodder and they eat it, play and lay on it. They seem to eat more green stuff in summer, maybe for the water content or just because it tends to be cool. Anyway, they love kale, collard, moringa, finely grated carrot & squashes, summer fruits and cucumber rounds. It's fun to experiment and see what they like.

I raise my own meal worms so I know what my birds are eating. There are many threads here about culturing your own meal worms so I won't go into detail here. It's a cheap source of protein but serve them as treats or a supplement as there can be issues with them eating too many.

If you have a roo feed the oyster shell separate so he can opt out of eating it. Too much oyster shell is not good for the rooster's kidneys, but the hens do need it so offer it in a separate dish or feeder so the roo doesn't have to eat it. See my signature on options for making the large pieces of oyster shell edible for quail. Remember that coturnix hens rival the best chicken layers for egg production and they really need the extra calcium.

 

[cotquail]

Sill ,Fine looking quail , they look like silver grey a rare colour type Kudos to your culture techniques , fine to hear of someone so kind to their birds.Cheers

 

[Sill]

Sill ,Fine looking quail , they look like silver grey a rare colour type Kudos to your culture techniques , fine to hear of someone so kind to their birds.Cheers

It must be just the lighting, they are normal browns.