Quail Egg laying time

[CliftonQuail]

I'm a newcomer to quail, or poultry of any kind, and have a silly question. I've always been under the impression that chicken, at least, typically lay their eggs in the morning. My Coturnix jumbos seem to lay mostly between 3 PM and 9 PM. They're in my garage along with an aquaponics system that gets 16 hours of light starting at 6 AM. More accurately, I have a programmable LED that comes on very low level at 5:45 and slowly brightens to simulate day break, then the aquaponics grow lights come on at 6. At 10 PM, the grow lights turn off and the LED slowly dims to off to simulate sunset. So I guess they're really getting 16.5 hours of light. I've considered reducing the amount of light, but don't want to reduce my garden productivity if I can avoid it.

My question is: what time of day do others on here typically find their quail laying? As a supplemental question, is 16.5 hours of light too much?

 

[nuthatched]

With chickens, egg laying is usually on a cycle, 26 hours, 40 hours, 30 hours etc, I'm being specific but chickens are not.
So it's as the birds lay cycle dictates. If they end up close to roost, they'll likely wait until morning. I have two birds that lay before i open the coop, 6 that are scattered through the day and one that waits until i close the coop.

 

[Kiki]

No set time of day. They will lay when they are good and ready. I usually collect more eggs in the evening compared to the morning time.

 

[Nabiki]

My quail lay in the late afternoon to early evening

 

[Huntmaster]

No set time of day. They will lay when they are good and ready. I usually collect more eggs in the evening compared to the morning time.

My quail lay in the late afternoon to early evening

X2

 

[Coturnixxx]

My quail lay too in the late afternoon to early evening.

 

[threeepeat]

3pm to 7pm for mine currently

 

[007Sean]

I have a few that lay early morning and some late afternoon. There isn't any set time for laying....no schedule!

 

[Alpine Bobwhite]

I'm a newcomer to quail, or poultry of any kind, and have a silly question. I've always been under the impression that chicken, at least, typically lay their eggs in the morning. My Coturnix jumbos seem to lay mostly between 3 PM and 9 PM. They're in my garage along with an aquaponics system that gets 16 hours of light starting at 6 AM. More accurately, I have a programmable LED that comes on very low level at 5:45 and slowly brightens to simulate day break, then the aquaponics grow lights come on at 6. At 10 PM, the grow lights turn off and the LED slowly dims to off to simulate sunset. So I guess they're really getting 16.5 hours of light. I've considered reducing the amount of light, but don't want to reduce my garden productivity if I can avoid it.

My question is: what time of day do others on here typically find their quail laying? As a supplemental question, is 16.5 hours of light too much?

Any time! Our Coturnix lay mostly evening and morning, but can do it anytime. One of ours keeps making a nest, and laying in it!

 

[CliftonQuail]

Thanks for all the replies. I figured there was some randomness to the whole thing.

I noticed that no one commented about the amount of light they're getting. Each of my hens is giving almost an egg a day, but I want to balance the needs of the birds with the needs of the garden. Should I cut back from 16.5 hours a day of light?