quail egg laying question????????????????????????????

[chickenguy1998]

i have 4 coturnix quail(3 hens and a rooster) when they wer about 5 weeks i looked into their small pen and there was 3 eggs. a few days later i moved them to a new pen and got about 6 more eggs, since then i added a red light that stays on continuosly. they just stopped laying about 4 days ago. i feed them a mixture of scratch and chick starter.

oh, and i also found a quail egg that is bigger than the other. I think it might be a double yolked, am i wrong or right???????

what could i feed them to make them start laying again??? or is it the red light???


Could someone please tell me what the problems is because i wanted to incubate some of them.

 

[TwoCrows]

When you say chick starter, are you talking about quail starter or chicken chick starter? Quail need about 24% to 28% protein for good egg laying and health. If they are eating too much scratch, they may be lowering their protein intake. And if they are eating chicken chick starter, they are not getting enough protein to produce eggs.

Also...these quail sound very young. They are not yet geared up for heavy egg laying yet and forcing them with added light can lead to egg bound issues. So it might be best to stop with the light until they are about 8 or 10 weeks old and have naturally laid a few more eggs or they have matured a bit more.

They will also need crushed oyster shell to make hard egg shells. If they do not have added calcium, they will get it out of their feathers and bones, which will deplete them. Soft egg shells get stuck in the oviduct very easy, causing them to become egg bound.

 

[steveovergard]

There is a lot of buzz around that quail will start laying around 7 weeks, which is true. However, they don't start in high gear. It has been my experience that they will lay very few eggs when they are that young and gradually lay more and more and should be at full capacity when they are about 3-3.5 months old.

We use Purina Game Bird Layer - Layena . That made a HUGE difference for us when we switched to that food.

Light is important but leaving it on all the time is not good. I recommend a white light to supplement natural daylight. The birds should have 15-16 hours of light per day to maintain egg production.

The oysters shells are best provided by buying several dozen live oysters. Make a nice batch of Oysters Rockafella for you and your family to enjoy. The next day, crush the shells and let the birds peck at them at will, seperate from their regular feed.