How to stop pet quail from laying

[someusername]

How do you stop pet quail form laying? I have 1 male and 2 females, and I give them cuttlebone, do I have to stop giving them calcium, or will tht just damage their bones and they will still lay eggs? I don't want to stress them out too much, thanks. How should I stop them from laying, because laying eggs stresses the bird and is bad for their bones and lifespan, right?

 

[Hope Hughes]

1st off you can not stop them from laying. It is a natural prosses. And if you keep calcium from them they will lay soft or shell less eggs if they dont have enough In their food.
To have them live a full life, keep their lighting natural. Do not provide artificial light. If they have normal days and nights, and seasons it will give keep them as natural as possible.​

 

[R2elk]

How do you stop pet quail form laying? I have 1 male and 2 females, and I give them cuttlebone, do I have to stop giving them calcium, or will that just damage their bones and they will still lay eggs? I don't want to stress them out too much, thanks. How should I stop them from laying, because laying eggs stresses the bird and is bad for their bones and lifespan, right?

Cutting off their calcium supply will only harm them. Laying eggs is what they do. You can remove the male so the eggs will be infertile but short of keeping them in the dark (not a good idea for their health) there really isn't anything healthy you can do to stop them from laying. Laying eggs is a natural function of being a female bird.

 

[le_bwah]

Anything that you try would certainly stress them out more than letting them lay throughout their lives. Starving them and keeping them in the dark might keep them from laying, but it's also an awful thing to do.

You just have to accept your pets' natural lifespan. Let them live as close to "wild" as possible, and take joy in making them comfortable.

 

[007Sean]

As others have said, you can't keep them from laying, even if in reduced lighting, they will still lay...I know, I've tried it, they still lay eggs.

 

[someusername]

thanks, I was thinking of parrots, which usually when kept as pets, are not supposed to lay. What is the difference between parrots and quail then? why are parrots not supposed to lay eggs(and people use dummy eggs for that purpose) and quail supposed to? How often do they lay in the wild? If they do lay too many, then would dummy eggs work?

 

[townchicks]

I would try dummy eggs, and see if she will then go broody. That's what I do with my ringneck doves. After a while, she gives up on the fakes and lays new ones, but it slows her down. You can order some off the net, or do as I do and make your own from Fimo or Sculpy clay

 

[le_bwah]

Most birds do not lay once they go "broody" and are ready to hatch the eggs they've been laying. By giving a parrot dummy eggs, you are tricking them into thinking they have babies coming, so they'll set the fake eggs and stop laying.

This might actually work on some "wild" quail species, but probably not for Coturnix, who have been bred to be prolific layers. They lay regardless of most environmental stimulation, which is why they'll lay even in a barren metal cage, given enough light; they can't really help it. Non-domesticated quail lay much less often. Really no such thing as "too many eggs" when it comes to quail. You just have to find something to do with them.

I don't think it's a matter of "supposed to" as much as wishing to avoid the health risks that come with laying (egg binding in small, long-lived birds comes to mind). I get the desire to keep them safe but in this case it is safer, and kinder, to let them do what they do. If they go broody for real, that's another thing entirely.

 

[someusername]

Thank you. The egg has a less chance of beiing bound, since they have a bigger body relative to a parrot, right? And they live for shorter periods too, so less chance of being egg bound

 

[le_bwah]

Thank you. The egg has a less chance of beiing bound, since they have a bigger body relative to a parrot, right? And they live for shorter periods too, so less chance of being egg bound

I don't know how much body size has to do with it, since birds' eggs scale with the rest of them. They are more likely to get egg bound if they become obese, sedentary (not enough room to run around cage) or dehydrated. Quail do live for a short time, but they also lay more frequently. I wouldn't worry too much about egg binding; as long as you check on them every day, you'll be able to catch a bound hen before she gets too sick.