Quail won't lay. :(

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Put supplemental lighting on them... they need about 14-15 hours of light a day... 2 hours before sun up... then they have sunlight... then 2 hours of light after dark... put a plant growing bulb in the light and put it on a timer so it comes off and comes on when need be fore extra light... they are fine with shade... thats not a problem. The extra light will force them into laying. Any other reason for not laying is stress.... if they are stressed the wont lay... some hay in the cage and a sandbox helps a lot...


look at the very close and see if feathers are missing on their heads necks of backs.... that would indicate overbreeding or fighting = stress....
 
sniper338 said:
Put supplemental lighting on them... they need about 14-15 hours of light a day... 2 hours before sun up... then they have sunlight... then 2 hours of light after dark... put a plant growing bulb in the light and put it on a timer so it comes off and comes on when need be fore extra light... they are fine with shade... thats not a problem. The extra light will force them into laying. Any other reason for not laying is stress.... if they are stressed the wont lay... some hay in the cage and a sandbox helps a lot...


look at the very close and see if feathers are missing on their heads necks of backs.... that would indicate overbreeding or fighting = stress....
Click to expand...

I have no power near them :/ Could I use small solar lights?

Sandbox! Huh I don't have a sandbox from them. Whats the best thing to use in the box? Ash?
 
Try not to use more than one part ash to 10 parts sand because ash is very alkaline. You can use even less and still be good. Ash added to the sand is supposed to help keep lice and mites at bay, especially if wild birds can get anywhere near your domestic fowl.

Some lines of quail are more flighty than others, but raising chicks in close proximity to human activity can help them be calmer around people. Yours may have been too old by the time you got them to get used to being around humans, plus their lines may just be more flighty than others. My jumbo browns are very calm and friendly even though I don't do much other than feed, water and clean up after them.
 
Yes temperament can vary a lot, even amongst the same lines, I have one white hen that actually hangs around the door when I open it and others particularly the Roos that bolt to the other end of the pen!
 
yeah most of mine bolt to the other side of the pen too... as far as that goes I dont think it will ever change... I've only had one bird that ate out of my hand, then I ate her. solar light may help... worth a try... feed them some oyster shell crushed up at add that calcium to their diet, give em egg making material! Other than that there really isnt a whole lot you can do until the birds calm down enough to start laying... cant make a horse drink water, cant make a chicken lay... they do it when they want to... I've had to separate some hens more so they didnt have as much birds around them then they started laying too... its all an enviornmental thing imo...
 
I have a white hen that comes to the door to "flirt" she stands there nonchalantly pecking at something that is not there.

And I have a white hen that is completely psycho, she kept attacking the other hens and one day I was in a rush and she was bloodying

the others so I tossed her in the cage with seven or eight young roosters, only expecting to leave her there for half an hour.

Shes been in there for at least a month, she isn't being overbred, shes not missing any feathers and she lays an egg every day,

but I think she went in there and established herself queen right off the bat. At any rate she is an exception, I would NEVER have expected to get away

with such an arrangement, and doubt I will again.
 
I was thinking of about 7-10% seven dust in the sand but have not talked myself into doing it at this point...I hate the idea but cant get it out of my head; Besides, they are having to much fun in the sandy dirt.

Earlier in the thread I saw the issue with low protein in feed and issues with suppliers commercial feeds. A fix to that issue is to add soybean to the commercial stuff to up the %. After looking long and hard I hit the same brick wall......"I'm sorry sir this is the highest protein we have or can order.....blah blah blah. Really?.....!!!!!
I researched and then hit the local feed mill and started making my own Chicky chex mix.
I used these two links below as the baseline to get the grains protien content and then to calculate the lbs of each of the grains to mix and get the 28% and 32% I feed my quail .... its not that hard really and the quail seem happy and "FAT"!.
While my Quail may not be getting the meat protein, they are getting it in grain form....and i haven't had the birds attack me yet as a meat source for protein. I am sure my day is coming though!

Find the protein in Grains/seed/meats------------http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Protein_content_in_chicken_feed_ingredients/
Calculate the lbs of Grain needed of each--------http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=57
 

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