new quail owner with questions!

[twinthink]

to cut a long story short, we recently re homed 6 quail from a lady who was unable to look after them, 2 button quail and 4 Japanese quail, of which 2 are light colored and the others are dark, she told us that the lighter ones were males but I am increasing coming to believe that they are all hens lol I researched the internet and found identical birds classed as Italian quail ( a colour variation not the opposite sex or a different breed!)
I am hoping someone with quail experience can give me some advice as we have had no eggs yet, (only been with us for 6 days so it might be early days)
they were being fed budgie food and I have put them on proper layers mash for quails from a local poultry food specialist. I have also given them oyster shell as this was recommended.
I brought some Millet sprays and new water feeders and they are eating well. they are currently in a hutch with a run and we are awaiting a lovely new aviary at the end of the month. Do I need to be concerned that they are not laying? will they get egg bound? they are very skittish and from what I can make out had very little contact with the owner apart from when she could feed them, when my friend picked them up there were over 50 eggs laying around the floor! we are not sure of their ages...under one year apparently.
any advice will be appreciated!

 

[Marigold]

Hi Twinthink, and a big welcome to the Forum. Weil done for rehoming these quails. As you suppose, the shock of moving home is quite likely to result in a reduction on egg laying, but if the birds are less than a year old, and were laying in their previous home, they should start again soon. I'm glad you've got them on proper quail food, it may be that they have grown short of essential nutrients if not fed on a diet with high enough protein for them to make an egg most days. In proportion to their size, quail eggs are larger than hens eggs and they do need proper nutrition to keep laying. They will welcome some soft green food every day as well - mine love crispy dark green lettuce or other salad leaves. I also give mine a daily small handful of dried mealworms, which are high in protein and therefore a good dietary supplement to laying. Mine are in their second hyear of laying and still producing an egg each nearly every day.
You can tell the sex of Japanese quail by the colour of their plumage if they are the 'wild' brown colour, where the males will have ginger breasts with no spots and the hens will have spotted chests. However, many quail have various other colours so this doesn't apply. To find out for sure, you either watch to see if the hens are laying, or you can sex the males by holding them upside down and gently squeezing their vent, whereupon a male will excrete a blob of foam, which isn't sperm but a sort of lubricant used when mating, However, usually in a mixed group one is in no doubt about who is male because sex and mating is their main interest in life! So if you haven't observed this going on, you may be lucky enough to have all girls, much easier to deal with as they're more likely to live harmoniously with each other with no fighting or injuries. I'm interested to learn that both sorts of quail live happily together, as I would have expected you'd need to keep the CPQs separate. You're right to suppose that Japanese quail are basically the same as Italian, ie Coturnix Coturnix, but the Italians are a little larger and come in many pretty colours and patterns. CPQs are a different species of quail.
If you're new to quails, you may find this book helpful http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00CF69SJ6/ref=sr_1_2_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376068750&sr=1-2&keywords=practical+quail+keeping&condition=new
And there is also a Kindle version at less than half the price., With lots of reviews
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Quail-keeping-ebook/dp/B00C2CJ0IM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376068986&sr=1-1&keywords=practical+quail+keeping
Sarah Barratt sometimes posts on here, and her book covers just about every aspect of looking after quail, with lots of pictures too. (Some of these are of my setup and birds.)

 

[twinthink]

thanks for your reply, I have given them a few meal worms and they seem to enjoy them, the little buttons were calling today which was lovely to hear! they are still very skittish and not used to us yet but at least they have stopped thrashing themselves against the pen when I try to put food in so there is improvement! lol I have been watching them for a couple of days, deff no boy girl action so I assume I was right and that apart from my little button boy, they are all hens.... thanks for the link to the book, I will investigate that asap x