My quails are laying but the ones I sold from the same hatch are not??

JenandHerQuails

Chirping
6 Years
Oct 5, 2013
132
17
61
Derby, CT
I hatched 30 quails on July and sold 15 to a lady who works at a farmers market. My quails have been laying since September but the quails I gave the lady haven't laid one egg yet.
barnie.gif
I know she has 8 females so she should be getting eggs. Why would they not be laying? She keeps them in a large protected dog crate with a tarp over the top and feeds them game bird feed. She keeps a light on most of the night so they are getting enough light to lay eggs in the winter. I would love to know so I can tell her!
 
My 15 quails started laying in September without a light but hers did not. She hasent gotten a single egg the whole time shes had them. I gave them to her when they were 3 weeks old. It might be stress like you said as she does have a outside dog who walks near the quails.
 
I hatched 30 quails on July and sold 15 to a lady who works at a farmers market. My quails have been laying since September but the quails I gave the lady haven't laid one egg yet.
barnie.gif
I know she has 8 females so she should be getting eggs. Why would they not be laying? She keeps them in a large protected dog crate with a tarp over the top and feeds them game bird feed. She keeps a light on most of the night so they are getting enough light to lay eggs in the winter. I would love to know so I can tell her!
I have the biggest dog crate available for my dog. It is not big enough to keep 8 quail in, let alone 15. Stress can be a huge factor in not laying and if she has 15 quail in there 7 of them being males there are 5-6 males too many in that group. Keep coturnix ratios between 1:4 and 1:7 rooster:hens.

What type of light bulb is she using? It may not provide the correct spectrum of light.

Honestly with what I'm seeing in your post, give them more space (1sq ft per bird minimum) and take out some of the roosters so that there is only one or two and they will probably start up.

The dog shouldn't be a factor once the birds are used to them. One of my dogs lives for birds so she is constantly checking around the cages to see if one got out. Once they get used to her it doesn't bother their laying.
 
Thank you for your advice! I did think a dog cage was a little small for the quails. The don't have much room to walk around. I'm not sure what light bulb she is using.... I will advise her to separate them into smaller groups and see what happens. Would what she is feeding them be a factor? She gives them game bird feed but relies on me to get the feed from Agway store whenever I go ( every other month ) so I'm not sure what she feeds them when she runs out of food. They are on the ground so I think they would be able to eat grass and dirt. She also mentioned giving them worms.
 
Feed could play a role if it was severely deficient to their needs. They need a lot of protein so if they aren't eating a ton of bugs or something with protein this could be a factor.
 
My 15 quails started laying in September without a light but hers did not. She hasent gotten a single egg the whole time shes had them. I gave them to her when they were 3 weeks old. It might be stress like you said as she does have a outside dog who walks near the quails.


I have a GSD and she is fine with them, but it can vary with different dogs and quail
 

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