[ANHBUC]

I collect my quails eggs as usual yesterday morning and they were fine.  When I was replacing the frozen water for the second time there was another egg which must have been laid since first collection.  When I picked it up I noticed it was split and had started to freeze!     We have had temperatures during the day of -5 degrees.

On the bright side the hens had a great time fighting over it.   

[darren64]

what do you feed your quail?all i seem to be able to get is chick crumb,do they need something with diferent protien,as mine do not lay eggs?

[splash101]

darren64, you can get quail food which i personally feel is a bit of a con because its basically only chick crumb and millet seed and the only one i can get from a shop is quite expensive

mine are in an aviary so they eat all the seed that the birds flick about and chicken pellets mixed with a bit of chick crumb. I also give them some egg food as they really like it but thats because we have a supply in for the aviary birds. Im not sure i'd buy it if we didnt have the birds.

Fruit and veg seems to be more of a miss than a hit and anything they do eat has to be micro chopped, they dont seem to peck at anything whole.

Are they definately female and how long have you had them?

[Debbieta]

Hi there,
We keep some quail (for eggs and sometimes meat).  We feed them on chicken layers mash, which they love and is easily available.  It also takes them longer to eat and they dont seem to throw it around as much as other food.  Then they have millet and green as additional feed.
They are all laying brilliantly with a little extra light.  We have also recently hatched 9 chicks which are all very healthy and growing quick (2 weeks old) and are on chick crumb for the moment.
Debbie

[Trillium]

I recently read an article where a lady found her hen eggs were freezing before she could gather them so she got an old heating pad and set it on low just under a layer of straw in the nest. Now her hens seem to prefer to lay there (rather than everywhere else) and the eggs aren't frozen before she gets to them.

[ANHBUC]

I recently read an article where a lady found her hen eggs were freezing before she could gather them so she got an old heating pad and set it on low just under a layer of straw in the nest. Now her hens seem to prefer to lay there (rather than everywhere else) and the eggs aren't frozen before she gets to them.

 

The funny thing was the eggs that had been laid overnight were fine.  It was around 11 am and the egg must have only been in the cold for around 1 hour. 

[ANHBUC]

I used to get Marriages micro quail pellets but it was a trek to the farmstore and the date on the sack was not always very good.  I feed them on chick crumb now and they are fine.  Mine like a chopped carrot but not at this time of the year.  They must know that they need to put fat on for the winter.  I have tried them on egg food and they weren't interested so now the hens get a treat every now and again.  They do like mealworms though.

I have a light on a timer so they get 13+ hours of light per day so they lay.  They did have a rest in October/November when they went through molting.  The freezing weather this week has reduced the egg production by half though.

[darren64]

my quail hatched in august,there are 14 of them,I'm now wondering if there isn't enough daylight hours for them to be laying eggs,I sometimes give them leftover maggots after I've been fishing and they love em.

[splash101]

Mine havent started laying again yet after their moult. They were laying well right to the end of November / beg' Decamber so the rest will do them good.
They should start laying again when they get more daylight.

[ANHBUC]

my quail hatched in august,there are 14 of them,I'm now wondering if there isn't enough daylight hours for them to be laying eggs,I sometimes give them leftover maggots after I've been fishing and they love em.

You might end up with over fat birds if they have too many maggots so best to just give them a few as a treat every now and again.

It will be the lack of light causing the lack of eggs but as splash101 says they will start when the days get longer.