- Mar 29, 2010
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We are new to raising quail and our hens have just started laying. They'll be 6 wks tomorrow. We have (or at least we think we have!) separated the males/females into separate cages. Will the hens continue to lay with no roo in with them? Out of the 23 birds we have, 15 are female and 8 male and we're in the process of getting breeding cages set up. Now for what might sound like a real stupid question to you all that are more experienced. Actually 2 questions. Will the hens continue to lay with no roos in the cage? They're in a cage right next to each other, but they've got no view of each other. So far we think only 3 of the females are laying, 2 have been laying for 3 days and a 3rd started laying today. This is on our assumption it's the same birds laying each day. Once they start laying, it's common for an egg a day isn't it? Now the 2nd question which may go to show you just how little we know about what we're doing... When they do get integrated into the breeding cages and start mating, will the hens be laying all fertile eggs? Do the quail actually have to mate every day to have every egg be fertile? Or is my hen fertile for several days after mating? I'm thinking I'm the only person who would fail quail sex ed class, as I didn't find a similar question in the forum!
