How much does egg productivity in quail go down after their first year?

[Joshaeus]

Something of a self explanatory post, but oh well...exactly how fast does egg production slow down in quail over about a year in age?

 

[chooks4life]

I don't know much about their lifespan or anything about quail, really, but there are some golden rules that apply to almost all species. Mostly, it depends on the breed you have and the most recent breeders of that strain of that breed, and the diet and environment they're kept in, and what their most recent ancestors had in terms of diet and environment also has an impact. It also depends on genetics, light, stress, disease levels, etc as no doubt you know.

If you have, for example, meat breed quail, that changes the answer. If you can provide the information on what breed they are someone might be able to give you some strong guesstimates.

Best wishes.

 

[Joshaeus]

I do not own the quail yet, but am considering golden quail due to their sexual dimorphism (I want to have a somewhat easier way to determine their genders than to wait for them to crow, which may take a while). Red and/or tuxedo quail are prettier in my opinion, but the fact I have to wait for them to crow to sex them means that they are close seconds.

 

[dc3085]

I do not own the quail yet, but am considering golden quail due to their sexual dimorphism (I want to have a somewhat easier way to determine their genders than to wait for them to crow, which may take a while). Red and/or tuxedo quail are prettier in my opinion, but the fact I have to wait for them to crow to sex them means that they are close seconds.

There really is no set answer to that question. Sometimes a two year old is still layin every day and sometimes by then its become 2-3 week. Sometimes they don't even live until two, some people have 5+ year old coturnix that still lay now and then.

I change breeders every year, but that is more for offspring quality than it is for egg production.

 

[luvburds]

Which breeders do you use, I've seen JMF here. Any others?

 

[dc3085]

Which breeders do you use, I've seen JMF here. Any others?

JMF is the one and only when it comes to large scale operations.

Most of us roll our own out of a mixture of ebay hatching eggs, JMF, and craigslist birds.

 

[luvburds]

Haha, roll your own. Are you in Colorado? Thanks.

 

[dc3085]

Haha. Close enough, the SF area of California.