Hi there, I just ventured into quail rearing and they have been rearing for the last two months and things have been going well, until last two weeks when suddenly reduced there laying by over half the number they were producing before. I just posibly don't get it as only there people visit them daily. This comes at a crucial moment as was about to expand into large scale production. Currently have 97birds sincce I lost 3birds. I don't know the cause of this sudden change because its stressing me alot.
Laying quails.
- Thread starter nickndoli
- Start date
- Messages
- 8,130
- Location
- Hampshire, U.K.
Hi nickndoll, and welcome to the Forum.
Could you tell us a few more details about your birds? I presume they're Coturnix. Did you hatch them yourself, if not, how did you buy them? How many weeks old are they now, what ratio of sexes have you got if you intend to breed them for fertile eggs, how long have they been in lay, what housing do you use and how much floor space per bird is there? Quails are smelly birds -how clean is it possible to keep them, ie what is your regime?
One would imagine that, with young birds, lay would improve as the days get longer, so as you say the change is strange if they were laying well. Do they have any artificial light? I suppose they have small sized grit, daily greens, and a good water supply?
What could have upset them? Any signs of fighting? I got fed up with keeping males and going down to find a bloodbath in the morning so in the end I kept only females and lay improved. Are the cages at ground level? I just wondered if a predator had been eying them up through the mesh. Are they kept indoors, and if outdoors, could the nasty cold windy wet weather be affecting them? Do you use any supplementary lighting?
When you lost the three birds, why was that, did they fight or were they ill? I've found that quails do sometimes just drop down dead unexpectedly -I had one beautiful young male who one day was shagging all the girls like mad and next day, he expired. A lovely way to go I suppose. Main thing to watch out for is a lack of balance in any of them, which might indicate possible Mareks disease.
Sorry about all the questions, I was just thinking through possibilities.
Could you tell us a few more details about your birds? I presume they're Coturnix. Did you hatch them yourself, if not, how did you buy them? How many weeks old are they now, what ratio of sexes have you got if you intend to breed them for fertile eggs, how long have they been in lay, what housing do you use and how much floor space per bird is there? Quails are smelly birds -how clean is it possible to keep them, ie what is your regime?
One would imagine that, with young birds, lay would improve as the days get longer, so as you say the change is strange if they were laying well. Do they have any artificial light? I suppose they have small sized grit, daily greens, and a good water supply?
What could have upset them? Any signs of fighting? I got fed up with keeping males and going down to find a bloodbath in the morning so in the end I kept only females and lay improved. Are the cages at ground level? I just wondered if a predator had been eying them up through the mesh. Are they kept indoors, and if outdoors, could the nasty cold windy wet weather be affecting them? Do you use any supplementary lighting?
When you lost the three birds, why was that, did they fight or were they ill? I've found that quails do sometimes just drop down dead unexpectedly -I had one beautiful young male who one day was shagging all the girls like mad and next day, he expired. A lovely way to go I suppose. Main thing to watch out for is a lack of balance in any of them, which might indicate possible Mareks disease.
Sorry about all the questions, I was just thinking through possibilities.