Quail to lay again in the winter

[Hurley]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but those sound delicious!

 

[JetCat]

DANG I need a smoker!

Sorry to hijack the thread, but those sound delicious!

they are!!

 

[Em Ty]

It can be a shock to the birds if you just start giving them 16 hours of light a day. It's better to ramp them up to your final lighting conditions and most of the literature (I'll use the term loosely since it's mostly been from the interwebs) I've read suggests increasing the light by an hour a week, though I'd guess that an hour increase every 3-4 days would be fine. You probably also don't need more than 14 hours a day for any animal whose natural habitat is south of Moose Jaw.

 

[Twoandhelp]

Em Ty- our lighting right now is a red heat lamp for the quail but it stays on all night. Is that bad? Most have boxes or areas to "hide" from the light if they like. Also- a few of our birds are new and were on a different system. Could the light being on all night cause their egg production go down? Or just stress of moving could trigger the slow down for a bit?

 

[JetCat]

............. Could the light being on all night cause their egg production go down?

No, i know quiet a few quail breeders who leave their lights on 24/7, i myself didn't see any benefit from it, with 14hr/day i get an egg a day from all my hens. with lights on 24/7 the only thing i noticed different was feed conversion, those 10 extra hours of light they ate a LOT more without adding any extra weight or increase in egg production.

 

[Twoandhelp]

No, i know quiet a few quail breeders who leave their lights on 24/7, i myself didn't see any benefit from it, with 14hr/day i get an egg a day from all my hens.  with lights on 24/7 the only thing i noticed different was feed conversion, those 10 extra hours of light they ate a LOT more without adding any extra weight or increase in egg production.

Ok thanks- we've noticed they're eating a TON. Their light is their red heat lamps. At what temp do you decide they need a lamp? I'd love to save electricity and feed!

 

[JetCat]

Ok thanks- we've noticed they're eating a TON. Their light is their red heat lamps. At what temp do you decide they need a lamp? I'd love to save electricity and feed!

Quail I start in the brooder at 100° (rather then 95° like chickens) and then drop that 5° about every 5 days till they are 4 weeks old then they are feathered and can usually do fine without it unless there's a big temp change from where they are brooding to grow out pen By 6 weeks they have no problems at all in outside temps as long as they stay dry and out of wind.

 

[dc3085]

Coturnix should be brooded starting at 95 bobwhites and other new world birds 97. If its too hot they get aggressive and it can build cannibalistic habits.

 

[JetCat]

Coturnix should be brooded starting at 95 bobwhites and other new world birds 97. If its too hot they get aggressive and it can build cannibalistic habits.

Maybe in your setup but myself nor any of the many other breeders I know have ever had any such issues. They are smart enough to regulate theirselves to the heat and they stay in the 100° area unless feeding/drinking. It's a big shock for small quail to change 5° straight out of the hatcher but you're welcome to do yours however you wish.

 

[Em Ty]

I'll second JetCat on the light and heat. I think a red light is better if you're going with 24 hour light, but you can get ceramic coils that provide heat and not light if you want to heat them. I personally believe that birds need downtime and a dark period every day. I provide supplemental light fro 14-15 hours total, but no more. I live in Canada and, while this winter's been remarkably warm, the last two got down to -25 to -30 F and stayed there for days or weeks. I don't give my birds heat because they can handle the cold if they've got good ventilation to get rid of the moisture and no drafts. If you give them heat and the power goes out, they big change can kill them. I heat my water but that's it.