My Quail Update

[sniper338]

Nothing - Zero - Nada


The full spectrum lighting hasn't done anything for them, not a single egg. They eat and poop and thats it. Little do they know they are making their way closer and closer to the dinner table. I'm not happy at all with these birds. They have become a complete waste of money, though they will eat good. No feathers anywhere to show any signs of molting, I cant see any problems with them at all... I don't know anymore. I'm going to separate three hens today to cages by theirself to see if they will do anything if they are by theirself and have no other bird to run into to make any kind of stress, cant get messed with or anything... see if it chills them out anymore to lay an egg... after that I'm hands up in the air with them.. Hopefully JMF eggs will be on the way in a few weeks.

As for the 3 chicks I did manage to hatch out of the few eggs they laid when I first got them they are growing fine. Turned the brooder off today. I got two hens and a roo out of them, easy to tell the coloring on them now. They are hoppy lil things, they love to hop hop hop around in the brooder. I will probably give them a chance to see if they produce since they have been raised by me here... worth a try at least.

 

[James the Bald]

Sniper, this is just blowing my mind away. I'm just curious as to how far away your light source is from the cage(s). If it is too close, it could be stressing them.
From everything I've read concerning your quail, you have stated that you know for a fact that they are older than 8 weeks... are they older than 2 years? I would find it reprehensible that a breeder may have "dumped off" his old age hens to make room for younger ones.
I'm all for tastey quail, but like you, if a hen doesn't produce eggs, it's a menu item.
James

 

[TwoCrows]

If in fact they were recently molting, it can take another month after they finish molting to get back to laying.

When you purchase adult birds from someone, you really don't know what you are getting. No one gets rid of great layers. They get rid of birds that don't produce or are ill in some way. There are many threads here on BYC from chicken owners that say they have 1 year old birds that have never ever laid an egg. It happens. And you may have birds that just don't lay. And if these birds are older than you think they are, and were "force laying" for a few years, they may well be out of eggs

And as James just brought up here, how far away from the cages is the lighting? It doesn't have to be in their faces for lighten to work. They pick up light thru their eyes and it should be quite a distance away from them or it can cause stress. Good thinking James.

I think you need to chalk this one up as practice birds and start fresh with some good birds or eggs.

 

[sniper338]

Sniper, this is just blowing my mind away.  I'm just curious as to how far away your light source is from the cage(s).  If it is too close, it could be stressing them.
From everything I've read concerning your quail, you have stated that you know for a fact that they are older than 8 weeks... are they older than 2 years?  I would find it reprehensible that a breeder may have "dumped off" his old age hens to make room for younger ones.
I'm all for tastey quail, but like you, if a hen doesn't produce eggs, it's a menu item.
James

Light is about 5 foot away. Its not close... yes I know they were grown... and I very well just got dumped on... lessons have been learned for sure... and I wouldnt make lots of mistakes if I did it over again as I did... I moved birds around today... put some hens by theirself so they dont have another birds to mess with them any and have plenty of room... see if that does anything in the next few days...

 

[sniper338]

If in fact they were recently molting, it can take another month after they finish molting to get back to laying. 

When you purchase adult birds from someone, you really don't know what you are getting. No one gets rid of great layers. They get rid of birds that don't produce or are ill in some way. There are many threads here on BYC from chicken owners that say they have 1 year old birds that have never ever laid an egg. It happens. And you may have birds that just don't lay. And if these birds are older than you think they are, and were "force laying" for a few years, they may well be out of eggs

And as James just brought up here, how far away from the cages is the lighting? It doesn't have to be in their faces for lighten to work. They pick up light thru their eyes and it should be quite a distance away from them or it can cause stress. Good thinking James. 

I think you need to chalk this one up as practice birds and start fresh with some good birds or eggs.

Only thing that blows my mind is I got a few eggs out of two or so hens the first 5 days I had them... then nothing since....

 

[sniper338]

Unless those were the last few eggs they were gonna lay...

 

[TwoCrows]

I still think they may be recovering from molting. Feathers are 85% protein. It takes huge energy to molt and grow new feathers. The birds do not bounce back quickly from molting. I have a chicken that waits 3 months after a full molt before laying. Molting is stressful on them. So I am banking on the molt and coming into lay late.