Lighting for quail

[wbtexas13]

Hello everyone. Im raising jumbo brown coturnix. Iv heard that male to female ratio 1 to 3. I use 1 to 2. Any thoughts on this other than losing production sooner?

 

[Em Ty]

The ratio won't affect their laying duration, just fertility and how much they're harassed. With coturnix quail you'll see suggestions for ratios of 3:1 to 6:1. I'd stick with 4 or 5:1 as you should have no issues with fertility and you'll give your hens an easier go of it.

Providing artificial lighting will shorten a hen's productive laying time as you force her to keep going. Birds are born with all the ova that they'll use in their life and they can't make any more. If you allow them to take a break from laying, they'll lay for more years, but you won't get any more eggs out of them than if you gave them artificial light.

 

[wbtexas13]

Great information. I am using artificial lighting. Should i give them a break so often or if i do it means that they will produce for a longer period of time but won't produce more eggs?

 

[Em Ty]

If you do give them a break, it should be in the fall, when the daylight naturally wanes. That will allow them to moult and give them a rest. You certainly don't want to be forcing them into moult more than once a year.

I keep mine on light for two reasons. If they have sufficient light you can get regular laying out of them, which makes it far easier on you if you are selling eggs as it's easy to know what your productivity is. Lighting also prevents a long off-time, where you're feeding your birds with no eggs. If you want to keep them for two or more years, and you don't mind feeding them in the winter when they're not laying, go nuts. They're your birds and you should keep them however makes you happy.

If you use them for production, I'd suggest keeping them laying for 6 months, until they're about 8 months old, then sending them to freezer camp. They won't be as tender as an 8 week old bird, but they're still a high quality meat bird, much higher quality than a spent chicken hen. You just get the next batch of layers ready to take over from the last, and keep going all year long.

In the end, it all comes down to your goals. If you like them as pets, don't want to incubate or brood, or even send them off to camp, you can keep them laying for 2-3 years if you let them rest once a year. Your egg numbers will drop off as they age, and you won't get any as they moult, but if you're OK with that, that's what matters.

 

[SuseyQ]

EmTy,
I was under the impression that hens could lay fertilized eggs for one year. Is this when they are one year old or is this when they begin laying eggs, at about 6-8 weeks. If the later than why don't they go to freezer camp at 14 mos. rather than 8 mos.? Is it related to the tenderness of the meat? When is the best time to harvest meat for selling purposes? When do quail become too tough to eat?

Thanks for sharing the great insight seen above,
SuseyQ

 

[wbtexas13]

I keep for egg production and rotate out. Just wasn't sure if keeping them in artificial light for 8 to 10 months would do any bad. Thank you for the information. Em Ty

 

[Em Ty]

EmTy,
I was under the impression that hens could lay fertilized eggs for one year. Is this when they are one year old or is this when they begin laying eggs, at about 6-8 weeks. If the later than why don't they go to freezer camp at 14 mos. rather than 8 mos.? Is it related to the tenderness of the meat? When is the best time to harvest meat for selling purposes? When do quail become too tough to eat?

Thanks for sharing the great insight seen above,
SuseyQ

They'll lay for 2 years or more, but the quality of the eggs declines and you'll get a corresponding decline in the quality of the chicks. You can keep them until they stop laying, but you're better off hatching eggs from birds that are between 10 weeks and a year old.

Meat tenderness declines with age. Veal is very tender but doesn't have much flavour. Cornish cross chicken meat is tender because it's slaughtered at 7-8 weeks. Heritage birds take 18-20 weeks to flesh out, so they're tougher, but you can get better flavour. Same thing happens with quail. They're best at 7-8 weeks for meat, but still good at 8 months. After that, I've been told that the meat quality declines, though they'd made fantastic sausages, I'd bet.

If you want an extreme comparison, buy a 2 year old rooster and cook it (don't really do this). If it was pasture raised, it'll be very tasty, but tough as boot leather.

 

[SuseyQ]

Em Ty,
I hear what you are saying. This is really good to know because I was thinking of waiting to cull the hens until they were about 18 mos. Now I know better. I've had a tough rooster and they are nasty. We grew and oversized one once, 4' no joke. It was mean as all get out. We finally had to cook him and it was nasty meat. So clearly with quail a lot of timing is involved and you need a calendar to track things and understand where you are in the process. More to think about when planning all of this.

Thank you so much for clarifying,
SuseyQ

 

[JetCat]

Providing artificial lighting will shorten a hen's productive laying time as you force her to keep going. Birds are born with all the ova that they'll use in their life and they can't make any more. If you allow them to take a break from laying, they'll lay for more years, but you won't get any more eggs out of them than if you gave them artificial light.

that is incorrect, a hen is born with many thousand ova, she would never run out, or even come close to it, even if she laid an egg a day for her entire life.

 

[Em Ty]

that is incorrect, a hen is born with many thousand ova, she would never run out, or even come close to it, even if she laid an egg a day for her entire life.

Chickens are born with about 1000 ova, ducks with 1500. I can't find the number for quail; do you have a source you can point me to?