PIC of this morning's weird quail egg!

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

I had a quail do that when she got scared.. I guess she wasnt ready to lay the egg yet.. She was a newer one. I went to clean the cages.. It frightened her so bad when i picked her up.. She laid an egg just like that.. I made sure I moved slower around that one and I never got another egg like it from her again..

 

[Friend2Fowl]

Quote:
Gamebird starter is a complete feed as a starter, but not as a layer. It doesn't have the extra calcium that the hens need to produce shells. They do make a gamebird layer, Purina does anyway. The downside to that is the protein is only 19%. Gamebird starter is great for the protein level, but they really should have oyster shells free-choice to make sure they are getting enough.
Edit: I'm not saying anything about changing their diets, all I'm saying is offer free-choice oyster shell to them. I can count on one hand how many times I've gotten an egg like that, and I've had over 60 hens.

 

[worldling]

Quote:
Gamebird starter is a complete feed as a starter, but not as a layer. It doesn't have the extra calcium that the hens need to produce shells. They do make a gamebird layer, Purina does anyway. The downside to that is the protein is only 19%. Gamebird starter is great for the protein level, but they really should have oyster shells free-choice to make sure they are getting enough.
Edit: I'm not saying anything about changing their diets, all I'm saying is offer free-choice oyster shell to them. I can count on one hand how many times I've gotten an egg like that, and I've had over 60 hens.

Offering anything, I mean ANYTHING to coturnix is a change of diet. Even extra calcium. It will not hurt them, but is usually not needed. Shell-less eggs in coturnix is usually caused by the egg moving to rapidly through the various stations. The same way you get a white/brown egg that was rushed through the paint department. It just happens, and waiting a day or two sure beats the grief that can happen from a diet/anything change in coturnix.

Unless it's life threatening, do nothing, and maintain perpetual sameness for at least 3 days with coturnix and it should work itself out.

There is nothing wrong with offering free-choice oyster shell if you can find it in a small enough grind to be useful to coturnix.

 

[Friend2Fowl]

I give my coturnix the same oyster shell I give all my chickens and they have no trouble with it. The only ones that need it smaller are my buttons, who also benefit from extra calcium. If I don't give it to them, buttons or coturnix, their eggs are very fragile and break easily.

 

[JJMR794]

I have to agree with both Worldling and Friend2fowl here. Yes its fine to offer free choice oyster shell--- It will not hurt the birds in any way.. Yes it can be difficult to find the proper grind on the oyster shell so its small enough. Yes it is a change and thereby breaks the perpetual sameness rule. Also here's a lil tid bit.... I had a coturnix hen that would lay these from time to time thru her entire life. NOt very often mind you, maybe 2 times a year I'd get 1.... but it was a life long behavior/ occurance. Aside from decreasing your useful egg production its nothing more than a rarity.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Well, now that you mentioned perpetual sameness, I did move the whole cage to the lee of the shed the night before she laid the egg. Plus they all clamped down and are not laying as much. I suspect me rotating their whole world 180 degrees probably had a lot to do with what happened. I will look into oyster shell around here, I haven''t needed it yet here as my chickens eat a layer ration pellet food and have never had a skin egg here, back home in Oregon at mom's farm every once ina great while, one would pop out..

 

[ksukristin]

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the paint department!!! I love it!!!

 

[Overeasyplz]

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I bet I could beat it down with a hammer to get it to size..

 

[worldling]

Quote:
I bet I could beat it down with a hammer to get it to size..

Since you have chickens to eat the larger bits, I would suggest sifting it through a screen. Give the smaller bits/dust to your quail and the big stuff to your chickens. You may have to do some experimenting to figure out the proper screen size, but I'm guessing nothing larger than what will go through 1/4 in. hardware cloth.

 

[Overeasyplz]

What is really interesting is that I have four hens that lay in the morning and the other six lay at night.. I got a whole handful after their mini strike!