dominent female

[joey.webbo]

Is it possible that the dominent female is inhibiting egg production in the other females? Only she is laying on a regular basis,the others are very sporadic. Any clues???

 

[Marigold]

Are they all the same age, Joey? What behaviour is she displaying that makes you sure she is the dominant female, ie is she bullying the others at all, or chasing them away if you put treats in the cage? Have the others been laying in the past, but have recently slowed down or stopped? Are they all from the same hatch, or was the dominant one added before or after some of the others? Are you sure she's the one who is actually laying - (I find it imposssible to know which of mine has laid that day unless there are as many eggs in the cage as there are birds!) Is the cage all-females or is there a male in there with them? How many are in the cage, and what size is it, ie what area per bird do they have? When you say 'on a regular basis,' do you mean every day ATM? And how sporadic do you think the others are, ie a general idea/average of how many eggs per bird per week?

Sorry to be firing off all those questions, I'm just trying to think of aspects which might lead to this situation. Maybe a bit more information might enable someone to help you?

 

[joey.webbo]

Ooo..so many questions ,soo bad at typing!! Thanks for your reply ... Right where to begin? Yes she does see the others off if there are treats and/or she gets to the feeder 1st,she & another female are the same age,the other 2 are about a week -10 days younger,yes at one time they were all laying but I moved their accommodation and they stopped. The "dominent" female stared to lay daily after a couple of weeks,another has recently started but only every couple of days(hence the sporadicaly ) and I think it's the same bird laying 'cos they have quite distinctive patterns and sizes(not sure why?) only reason I know this is 'cos they lived indoors for a while and made such a noise whan laying,my daughter used to shoot to their cage to see what was happening and would point out who was who and laid what. Phew..time foe a pint I think and rest my poor typing finger... Cheers

 

[Marigold]

Any change to the flock, or to living conditions, will cause some degree of stress to poultry, inculding quail, and often this results in a temporary slowdown or stoppage in egg production, so as they have moved cages and are now living outside when they stopped laying, this may be part of the reason. It's been quite cold and miserable as well, so the younger ones in particular may have their systems 'on hold' dfor better weather. So long as bossyboots isn't actually pecking the others and injuring them, there's not a big problem with her being dominant, it's just a flock pecking order thing they have to learn to live with. Other factors that may affect egg production are diet and light levels. If one bird is laying regularly then probably neither is the cause in this case, but I expect you know that quails need 14 hours a day of good light in order to lay, and although the days are long enough now to provide this, if the cage isn't in very good light this may affect them, especially this dull cloudy weather we're having. A dose of brighter light might just tip them into lay, maybe. I've been boosting the light in my cages, so I can see the birds and it looks nice and sunny in there. I only have small LEDs which take minimal electricity and I've got them on a time switch to boost their 14 hours and they're all laying daily now I've started this. The other thing is diet - quail need a 22%+ protein level in their diet, and if you are feeding layers pellets these will on;ly have 15-17% protein. You might try supplementing with hulled sunflower seeds (25%) or mealworms or even chopped hard boiled egg, their own or hens egg (you can blend the cooked egg shell and all so they get the calcium in the shell.) Also they like daily greens, I expect you are giving them these, and cuttlefish bone is a good idea if you aren't giving layers pellets which have the advantage of providing the calcium they need for the eggs.