Raising gambel’s quail

[DylanP]

Hi everyone, i recently bought a pair of gambel’s quail and i was wondering is there a way for the hen to lay all year or are they a seasonal layer ?

 

[Ntsees]

Gambels quail are are seasonal layers. Some people use lights on chickens to cause them to lay year-round. I have not heard of anyone trying, but you may try using lights on Gambels quail and report back what you find.

 

[DylanP]

I read somewhere that any less than 12 hours of light makes em shut down egg production, so i bought a timer now im debating on which kind of light to use , i use a red led bulb on my coutrnix but i dont like how the red takes away from seeing their colors if that makes sense

 

[Chip76]

My gambel quail laid 58 eggs this year. She started in May when she was 11 months old and laid her last egg mid-July. I'm in Arizona where she currently has 13 hours of daylight (even more last month). I don't think gambels will lay year round. On the plus side, she is much calmer, friendlier, and less messy when she's not laying eggs.

 

[DylanP]

Ahh okay thank you I think so far i got 8 from mine since i got her , hopefully tomorrow i get another egg i never owned em long enough to get to see how friendly they get but they are my favourite quails i own by far

 

[Chip76]

My gambels are very sweet, lovable, and hilarious to watch, especially the babies! They are also a very beautiful quail. Keep us posted on how many eggs you get. Pedro may have stopped laying eggs in July because of the heat. I'm really not sure. I don't expect her to start up again until next spring, though. Are you going to hatch the eggs? I kept thinking Pedro would sit on them eventually, but she never did.

 

[Quaicken108]

My gambel quail laid 58 eggs this year. She started in May when she was 11 months old and laid her last egg mid-July. I'm in Arizona where she currently has 13 hours of daylight (even more last month). I don't think gambels will lay year round. On the plus side, she is much calmer, friendlier, and less messy when she's not laying eggs.

Wait... did you count every time she laid an egg?! That’s commitment! When one of my birds starts laying I’ll usually count how many eggs but when it gets past 20 I can’t be bothered anymore.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I haven't owned gambels, but I have californias (well, I only have one now ). They are also seasonal layers. There may be a way to get them to lay year round, but it's probably not good for them.

 

[Chip76]

After she laid 28 eggs, we marked them with an x, so we could start tossing the old ones if she didn't sit on them. Then I marked the new ones with a line and started throwing out the x eggs. Around egg 43, I figured she wasn't going to sit on them, so I started eating them. So it was easy to add up... 28 x, 15 lines, and I ate 15. She got very upset the day we covered them to see if she would miss them if we took them out, so we always left some out there for her. She and her partner would go check on them periodically and roll them around. It was very entertaining to watch. I really thought they would sit on them eventually. My niece candled the last ten and there was growth in six of them.

 

[DylanP]

Ahh nice thanks for the idea on marking the eggs I wasnt going to bother but im going to put the date and number on each egg if she lays again , its nice to know that they may lay eggs and sit on them , i put grass in her house last night and i went up today to find a nest