My quail coop’s not working! - Coturnix Quail

[CostaMesaQuail]

Hi Dave! Nice pen!

It's probably not the intensity of the sunlight that is the problem but the length of the days. Sunrise is at about 6:30am in Costa Mesa today, and sunset is at about 5:30pm. That's not long enough by about five hours.

If you add light on a timer (even something small, like a short string of Christmas lights), they should come around.

Thanks, Plip! I’ll try to rig something to it this week!

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Plip hit it right on the head, its not sun intensity but duration. I think +uail start laying around 14 hrs of daylight. Naturally. You can googlwe daylight duration for your area and it will give you date and sunlight duration for the entire year. You can see egg laying peaks and lulls as the seasonal calender progresses.

Thank you. Looks like April-June is prime time. Meanwhile, I’ll experiment with additional light sources. Thanks!

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

My quail cages are stacked like yours with a solid roof, and only the front of it has wire across 2/3rds of it - the rest is solid. When it's the right time of year they will lay like nobody's business.

Once you hear the roos crowing eggs won't be far behind. Coturnix males aren't active during winter/when the day length is too short, and neither are their girls. Hopefully you'll be enjoying some tasty little eggs soon.

Thank you! I did not know the males slow down as well.

 

[Diamond Dan]

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_durtablew.pl?form=1&year=2018&task=-1&state=MS&place=hattiesburg
Quail need about 12 hours of daylight per day (some say 14 hours) and without more than this amount of daylight their laying mechanism shuts down.

 

[Diamond Dan]

Daylight or Darkness Duration Table for One Year

Correction for last post this table is for costa mesa Cali

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Daylight or Darkness Duration Table for One Year

Correction for last post this table is for costa mesa Cali

Very helpful! Thank you!

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

I added some clear lights and will run them 4 hours after the sun starts to go down. Should give 14-15 hours of light. Do you think this is enough light? The string is long enough to go around the top again. The image makes it look a bit brighter than it is.
Thank you!

 

[Plip]

View attachment 1268274 I added some clear lights and will run them 4 hours after the sun starts to go down. Should give 14-15 hours of light. Do you think this is enough light? The string is long enough to go around the top again. The image makes it look a bit brighter than it is.
Thank you!

Yes, I think it is enough light. I hope you start seeing some eggs soon!

 

[CostaMesaQuail]

Yes, I think it is enough light. I hope you start seeing some eggs soon!

Thanks, Plip!

 

[MainelyQuail]

Have you thought about a little solar led strip? Its probably because they need more light.