my coturnixs are laying now, a few questions

[scatteredeggs]

i picked up my first egg today.

1. i hv 8 quails, 2 whites, 3 golden, 3 browns. the whites, one is smaller than the other. does it mean one is male the other is female? i'm sure there's one golden male and one brown male. do i have too many roosters?

2. the golden male (he crows a lot) is a twisty. Is the twisted neck genetics or did he break his neck by boinking? i just saw one day that he's twisted. he eats and drinks so i let him live.

3. i saw 2 membrane-like shells. are these fart eggs? i also found one 'fart' egg, also membrane-like, smaller and softer than the normal egg, and covered with egg-white like substance. if they are fart eggs, is it a symptom of any deficiency (calcium?) or is it normal for starters?

these guys are in a temporary hutch and i'm building the real hutch as fast as i can, knowing that a change in environment will be harshly dealt with. i am expecting that.

there's just a lot of things to do.

if i get at least 6 eggs by sept 1, i'll join the hatch along! (or maybe i wait before i move them. it's just that the present coop is too unwieldy to clean. aarghhh! )

thanks,

emma

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Quote:

 

[JJMR794]

Twisted Neck Is Most Often A Caused By A Difficult Hatch... Too Long Crammed Up In The Egg. It Can In Acute Cases Be Caused By Vitamin Deficiency, But Usually Thats Sudden Onset As A Chick And Will Resolve If Treated With Vitamins... In Your Case Not Likely

Fart Eggs Are Normally Fully Formed Eggs Just Smaller And Often Times Round Like A Marble... In Most Cases They Are Either Missing The Yolk, Or Consist Of Nothing Else But The Yolk (missing The Albumen) You Are Getting Eggs Without Shells... Funny Lil Things Arent They

? This Is Many Times The Case With Young Hens Just Getting The Egg Factory Fired Up For The 1st Time... Just Takes A Lil Fine Tuning And They Will Be Laying Normal Eggs Like Mad Before You Know It. If You Are Feeding A Gamebird Formula Ration Then There Should Be No Calcium Deficiencies As They Are Much More Adapted For Absorption Form Diet Than Other Poultry, But By All Means A Lil Supplimental Calcuium Will Never Harm Them So Long As Its In A Size They Can Ingest

 

[scatteredeggs]

thanks Mibotsu and JJ.

i am feeding 30% GBS from the start but have begun with medicated one, as i got it for the guineas. now GBS is not medicated anymore. these guys were hatched June 25, so they're 6 weeks and 2 days. i guess the fart eggs are just expected. but then again, i got one full-fledged egg, so i hope to get more soon!

 

[snyd08]

youll get more. trust me. jj explained it perfectly...there may be no reason for the eggs to be different other than shes just starting the laying process. quail can give you many different varieties of eggs shape/color/size/SMELL?!? from what i'v read in here. (never delt with eggs that smell as bad as people say but they exist i suppose.) all of my quail eggs are usually to the norm. meaning they are what i expect them to be. some larger than others but all some in color and shape for the most part. just like chickens, you may get a reallly big one. or double yolker. but this is the fun of having egg laying birds!

 

[scatteredeggs]

and i guess i caught the same bug afflicting the guys in this quail forum - hatch, raise,build pen, get eggs, hatch, raise, build pen, get eggs etc etc

(i wonder if fatdaddy is still having facial twitches because of temporarily suppressing the hatching urge. last time i read, he saw an egg and went 'mowing'

)