Male quail not mating

[Mithunesh]

I have 3 male quails for 13 female quails .....but they are not at all mating....but two females alone lay an egg every day.....I have lights on all night ....I feed them starter feed.....now they are about 7-8weeks old....I brought them at 4 weeks....on the first week they were mating .....the male male jumped on the female....but now for past 2 weeks it is not doing that....what to do......please help

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. I’ve suggestd that your thread be moved to the Quail forum where you are likely to get the best advice.

Good luck
Pork Pie

 

[feedman77]

Quail don't respond to stress well. Could be the move and they are still adjusting. But 3 weeks is usually plenty to get over that.

My guess is since only 2 hens are laying and they are only 8 weeks old they are just starting to come Into sexual maturity. Give them another few weeks and all should come together. Another thought is maybe they are shy and don't mate while your there but get the job done while you don't see them do it.

 

[anna-newhampshire]

Leaving the lights on at night is a TERRIBLE idea , VERY CRUEL and counterproductive. Darkness is required for a restful sleep, so the body can repair itself and do the maintenance necessary. You are stressing the poor creatures out, you need to turn off the lights at night if you want healthy quails.

 

[Mithunesh]

Leaving the lights on at night is a TERRIBLE idea , VERY CRUEL and counterproductive. Darkness is required for a restful sleep, so the body can repair itself and do the maintenance necessary. You are stressing the poor creatures out, you need to turn off the lights at night if you want healthy quails.

No no I keep lights only near the feeder .....they have plenty of darkness all around the cage....so no problem with the lights

 

[Mithunesh]

Quail don't respond to stress well. Could be the move and they are still adjusting. But 3 weeks is usually plenty to get over that.

My guess is since only 2 hens are laying and they are only 8 weeks old they are just starting to come Into sexual maturity. Give them another few weeks and all should come together. Another thought is maybe they are shy and don't mate while your there but get the job done while you don't see them do it.

Yeah.... surprisingly I got three eggs yesterday....hope so they are getting into the stream

 

[drumstick diva]

See they just need time. Welcome to Backyard chickens.(and quail)

 

[Acre4Me]

1. You don't need males to get eggs. You only need males in order to get fertile eggs if you plan to hatch or sell fertile eggs.

2. They don't need to eat 24/7, so having it naturally dark for 6-8 hours at night is perfectly fine for the quail.

3. Having all the quail in one cage could be stressing them out too. You might want to try 1 male per 4-6 females. This will still give you fertile eggs. If you keep them all together, then you should make sure they have a large cage and places to get out of the line of sight in case of fighting (males will fight males, females will fight females, and males will over-mate the females causing a lot of feather loss where they hold onto the neck feathers to mount the female). So providing areas to get out of each others way, out of the line of sight, is helpful.

My quail live in 5 cages. 1 male per cage and 4-5 females per cage. I tried combined cages of 2 males and 10 females, but too much fighting and blood. they are much calmer and happier in their little groups. They live in the garage near a window (which stays closed). The window provides natural light, however, we will also turn on the garage light in the morning and then shut it off in the evening, providing them with natural darkness.