Where are the eggs?

[Acameron]

We have successfully hatched 10/12 quail. Making our total 14. They are 8 weeks old this week. When should we start to see eggs? So far only two of our females are laying that we purchased from someone. We have 3 older females and a male. The one Texas A&M female won't lay. She laid 1 egg the first week we got her. Nothing since.

We plan on eating the males and just keeping the females. We are thinking of keeping the biggest male with the rest of the females in case we want / need more.

They have plenty of space, food, water, shade, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[Nabiki]

You should be seeing eggs any time. Some start earlier than others. I've had them start as early as 5.5 weeks and as late as 16. Stress will delay their laying, so if you have too many boys, predators, moulting, or anything like that they won't lay.

 

[mdees88]

I got my first egg from my 25 hens at week 7.5, week 8 I was getting about 6 eggs, they are around 10 weeks now and I'm getting around 22ish. You should be getting some from your chicks in the next 2 or 3 weeks I would think It's a guessing game anytime you buy hens that were already laying. They usually stop laying when moved to a new home and can take several weeks, even a month or more to start back laying. Best thing you can do is buy quail that are around 3-4 weeks old.....

If yours are not laying after 10 weeks you may need to add some artificial light to extend the daylight they're getting....