quail suddenly stopped laying!

[Fat Daddy]

In my humble opinion that's just horse feathers...... Young birds will lay on a horrible diet of chicken feed. If they are short of calcium, egg shells will be thin and their body will eventually steal it from their bones to continue laying... Needless to say it's not good, but a lack calcium in their feed won't make a young bird quit laying eggs .....

 

[TwoCrows]

In my humble opinion that's just horse feathers...... Young birds will lay on a horrible diet of chicken feed. If they are short of calcium, egg shells will be thin and their body will eventually steal it from their bones to continue laying... Needless to say it's not good, but a lack calcium in their feed won't make a young bird quit laying eggs .....

X2 Calcium has nothing to do with producing eggs. Protein is the main factor in the releasing of the yolks. The bird could be completely depleted of calcium and still release a yolk. The calcium needs to be present not only to put a shell on the yolk but to cause the contractions in the uterus and oviduct to push that egg out. It does not play a role in why the bird is not laying.

 

[thegawd]

delete

 

[TwoCrows]

ok then... I and other quail breeders i know must be doing something wrong by feeding our quail gambird layer, getting lots and lots of perfectly good solid eggs and never having a problem. by not providing calcium in the diet or by other means, robs the birds body of calcium from its bones to produce eggs. this creates metabolic bone disease and the bird has a short miserable life.

to each there own.

Al

Definitely. If a hen does not have enough calcium in her diet, she will get it out of her bones and organs. Can cause all kinds of diseases and weak bones. So it is very important to provide either layer feed or crushed oyster shell on the side for the hens that are on straight gamebird starter.

 

[Sill]

You can offer oyster shell free-choice to them It will greatly improve egg shell quality and their bones which they have been robbing calcium from to make egg shells. You may serve it them them by sprinkling oyster shell into their food and they can eat it that way. You can also use the shells from any eggs your family has consumed, just bake them a bit to dry them and blend them into tiny pieces. Never give them large pieces of shell or they can learn to eat their own eggs.

 

[felippe]

Quote: I m new to quails myself, but i can just share the similar experience i had with my coturnix girls this spring. They stopped laying.
Im feeding them chick crumbs, because that is what available here.20%, and crushed eggshell that i heat-treat in the oven to get rid of diseases. They did fine with it last year, and loads of eggs. Now after they stopped laying i gave them hard boiled eggs, and it seemed to bring back the eggs in no time. so obviously the protein i gave was not enough. hope this helps. good luck