Is there an easy way of finding out which quail is laying?

[tumra]

I am looking at processing 10 quails that i have in a pen this weekend, but today i found an egg in the pen. I would like to separate the egg leayer from the rest and add her to my breeding flock but i cant figure out which one it is. Besides separating each feamale and looking at who lays the egg is there a way to check which one is laying? Is there a venting method that lets you know if the female is laying eggs?

thanks

 

[monarc23]

if these are young hens, then yes it's possible. Two things you can do

well three

1. listen for the "egg call" the hen that does this is about to or is laying eggs (search egg call on here it should come up)
2. look at the vent if the vent itself is HUGE stretched looking then she's layed eggs
3. tomorrow before the hen is expected to lay for the day pick up each hen and feel right behind the pelvic area right after the wing tips point back to the vent...feel for the egg...yep you can feel the egg as the flesh there is very thin on the sides of the body the hen will hold the egg right behind the vent for hours everyday until she is ready to lay them

 

[Emilys3guppies]

Very interesting! Good info!

 

[tumra]

thanks for your help monarc. I will try it out tomorrow.

 

[monarc23]

happy to help let me know how you find out