That is great! I am so happy you did not give up on them!
Note, I forgot to ask what type of quail you have, and now thinking back on my first experience as a quail owner, I'm thinking you might not have coturnix ( those are the only quail that hatch in 16 to 18 days while the others take 21 to 24).
When I got on my idea of wanting quail for eggs, I read up on them, looked at pictures, and decided I wanted coturnix quail because they laid early, were friendly, and easy for a first time quail owner. I drove a ways to find them, and when I did, they were itty-bitty and looked like what I thought I remember in pictures I discovered online. I only got 6 of them and hoped majority would be female. After 8 weeks though, they were not laying eggs like I read they would. However, they were very nice to look at with their beautiful coat and confidant stance. By 12 weeks, they were super chunky and getting taller. I figured if they grew anymore, the pen I bought for them would be too small. As they got bigger, I gave away one...then another, as the ratio of six in the cage and run I made did not seem sufficient for them. By five months I was down to three birds and still no eggs! After I got rid of the remaining quail when they were around six months of age, I found six eggs when cleaning and taking down their coop. I gave incubation a shot. It took 23 days for those six eggs to hatch. The family was super excited as we never had anything born or hatch in home before.
Perhaps you have a different type of quail? What color are their eggs? Do you have pictures?
