Quail not laying, is something wrong with my set up?

[nayeli]

They were supposed to be 8 weeks when we got them.

 

[idhound]

@idhound if its outside it would be on the ground, and what about rain and predators? I'm thinking of moving them into the garage and providing artificial lighting.

ok mine are exposed to rain and snow after all they are wild birds that have been domesticated. as far as predators my set up is this<> house that is enclosed with 5x6 inch door for them to come and go, then i have a 5x6x10 foot flight pen attached to house they are on dirt for bottom and have wire across top so they dont fly out, around outside of pen i dug down 10 in and out 12 in wire is attached to flight pen and laid in L shape down and out from pen. then buried so if predators come and try and get them they cant dig under pen most arent smart enough to dig out farther other then right next to pen they hit wire and give up. i do have skunk, racoon, fox problems here house cats every now and then, i can tell when something is digging so i set trap and air rifle the problems. but i looked at your pen you had on your blog i recommend that you place it up in air on taller legs get it at least 3ft off the ground. place in direct sunlight. and maybe see if you can put some sort of little house on it to get out of weather. dont worry about cold to much as they can handle temps here that are down to 30 below zero fareheight. but some of my will go play in rain and snow and i have some of my old female lay year round. i was gathering eggs laid in snow and yes a lot were froze and broke so they will lay in winter. egg production does go down in winter but they still lay. how many quail do you have from looks of pen it looked like your pen is 2 1/2 feet wide 2 ft tall and about 2 1/2 long. if this is size of pen no more then 4 birds 3 females 1 male. some people put more in them but over crowding can upset egg production. best of luck

 

[idhound]

They were supposed to be 8 weeks when we got them.

do you have a way to wiegh your birds with kitchen scale. easiest way i found is to get old pair of panty hose cut one leg off and slide bird down it place on scale with grams for weight. birds should weigh around 275-320 grams depending on jumbo or standard. higher weight jumbo. if they are under them weights birds are not being fed high enough protein diet or younger then told. but if they are age you were told they should start laying if they are fed good feed, plenty of water, and happy with housing. (anything that can make them neverous kids, dogs, cats, moving etc) can upset egg production. feed is probably most important i feed a Turkey Grower mash its 26-28% protein i add about 5 cups of laying mash (non medicated chicken feed) to their feed with 5 cups of whole wheat, i feed 6 quart bucket of feed to 60 quail. night and morning. i have 2, 3 gallon waters per pen. change water night and morning. i have 60 quail per pen. give or take 10. also if you would mind take close up picture of your quail. i still wonder if they are crossed with bobwhites. they cross Asian Browns with Bobwhites to field train and they Dont reproduce. i am trying to think of any possible solution to your problem.

 

[nayeli]

I'll take a close up tomorrow. They look like courtnix though. I thought I had a roo and 4 hens originally (one died) but looking at them it seems to be 2 roos 2 hens by coloring so I seperated two of them. I'll take pics and show you tomorrow. 2 are in the garage under artificial lighting and I'll put the other 2 outside.

 

[joemorcos]

I bet your problem is too many roos. Leave the females outside with access to direct sunlight, and eat the males or put them somewhere else. One roo for each female was definitely causing too much stress.

 

[nayeli]

I'll post pictures to ensure there are two roo's. I have only ever heard one crow and the color pattern on one seems to have changed because when we got them there were 4 then 1.

 

[nayeli]

Well they laid the day I sold them HAHA!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i was close to eating my group. yesterday got my first egg, 12wks old. sometimes it just happens that they wait until ya give up to do anything! darn animals.

 

[nayeli]

We didn't love the meat anyway so its okay!

 

[Quail Jailer]

I Had trouble getting some started once, So I played dc3085's you tube video of how to slaughter a quail for them (Great Video, Don)

on a loop except I dubbed my voice over saying "This is what should be done to any quail that will not lay ENOUGH eggs..."

Now my best two layers are roosters!