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

[nayeli]

I live in Arkansas.

 

[dc3085]

Sorry I missed the part about their age. GIve it at least two weeks before you worry about your setup. I start raising my new layers between may and september to avoid this very thing. When they reach maturity in the winter months, it whacks out their laying gear and sometimes they hang up. Plus genetics can play a role I have some lines that don't start laying until closer to 3 months.

 

[nayeli]

Yikes, I hope it isn't genetics... although mostly I will be eating the future generations =)

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Interesting. I am playin the waitin game too. My chicks are about 6wks now, had em about a week. Still waiting a few weeks is better than 18 plus i think its for chickens!

 

[nayeli]

I got my quail and ducks the same time. I was heard they should both start laying anyday, call me crazy but I expected the quail to start first!

 

[foreverlearning]

3 months??? Wow, all mine started between 6-8 weeks and it seemed like forever after the first crow before I got them then.

 

[dc3085]

Is 12 weeks really all that slow? They will have molted for the first time just recently and will have finished that molt at a time when most birds aren't laying due to season. And again, in my experience some lines start laying later than others. 12 weeks would maybe be a bit late in the middle of summer, but entering spring is a different deal. Another factor is that young birds change cages at least once but often several times and therefore have a extra stress factors. It's also predator breeding season so everything that eats birds is pacing in front of any cage they find trying to feed their pregnant selves.

 

[WaterfowlWierdo]

Where do you live? The farther you are from the equator the later in the year your birds will begin to lay. Idaho and montana for instance may not be laying just yet.

I am in North Idaho, my quail are on Natural light and so far....my egg basket is filled with goose eggs

 

[nayeli]

@dc3085 mine have changed cages once, they are kept in the garage so there are no predators for them to worry about.

 

[dc3085]

My birds just started laying spotty two week ago and started full swing last week and they were mature going in to the winter season. I'm about the same distance from the equator as northern AK.

Another thing that holds up hens laying is artificial lighting. I let them lay their first eggs before I ever light them up, because the artificial light can cause an off-cycle molt but mostly tend to just generally confuse their laying machinery. Give it two weeks, I promise you'll have eggs, probably much sooner that even.