lighting and other ?'s

[Giveneratry]

So I built me a pen(2x8) and its raised about 3ft off the ground.. I'll post some pics when I figure out how. Got me some quart watering thingamajigs and a aluminum feeder with the holes. Found a lady on craigslist who had 12 quaill that she said were about 6 months old so I snagged em.. Pair of bobwhites(male and female) 6 coturnix(2 male-4 female) and 4 english whites or texas a an m's that could be either but they are good size and larger than the coturnix.. I have have had em about a month. ..The feed store only had an unmedicated all purpose feed which if I remember correctly was 19 0r 20 % protein... Is this good enough for em? Also got some scratch to throw in. Should I get some oyster shell for em? Also I put a light on em about 2 weeks ago. It is 75 watt and I only use it when it gets dark outside. Is that bulb big enough an also here in Portland its cloudy about all the time and drizzly so do i have to leave it on all day with the clouds and all ? When I built my pen I didn't add a shelf for the crap since I have it over my garden so I threw a scrap plywood sheet I had lying around under it to catch some crap for my other beds and I go lift it up and there were like 4 large ****** rats under it. So I scratched that idea but I believe they transitioned there living area under my shed. Got some poisons and traps and have went to war with em.. My ? here is when I first got the Quail they were mellow and now they seem to fly and run back and forth and are pretty active. I'm not sure if cause of the lights or if they are wigged out by the rats. I have noticed that at least one of the white ones is trying to hump and chase all of em so that leads to the next ?'.. I can't tell which ones are male with the white ones all though I know one( due to his behavior) is so I believe I have to many males in the pen. What do ya think. I was going to whack him but just whacking one wouldn't be much of a meal even though I am dieing to try a few.. I have never had em. Last is how long till ya thing they will start laying? I'll kick around this sight for answers just thought I would throw some out there. sorry in advance for the grammar and all that B.S... Have a good one and cheers

 

[dc3085]

Protein should be 24% for adult quail. feed oyster shells freely. Chicken food aside from being too low in protein is bad for your roosters kidneys, it has too much calcium.

A&M and English white are just different color phases of coturnix. THey are the same species and can breed freely.

Your coturnix will need 14-16 hours of full spectrum light per day in order to lay. Do not give them heat. They won't properly feather for winter if you do. Your bobwhites are seasonal birds and won't lay again till may without lighting, if lit they will go into season again and lay about another 100 eggs. I don't recommend this for a beginner as you can force molts or cause a lot of aggression messing with lights.

You can light them all up to get more eggs but beware that any time you force egg production your directly shorten the life span of your birds.

You really need to get a handle on what you actually have. Vent sex the white coturnix, color sex the others or whatever but make sure that you only have one rooster per pen or youre just going to be fighting problems the whole time.

Try to keep the rats as far out of the equation as possible. They will chew the toes off your quail if they can reach their toes and also carry many diseases and parasites you don't want to be dealing with.