# japanese quails



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 24, 2010)

hello, 
ive had my Quails for a couple of months now and they are yet to lay eggs.
Ive built a wire floored 3 walled inclosure with a roof. about 1.5 m x 1 m.
i put an empty beer cartoon or cardboard box which i replace regularly.
DO i need to make a nest box for them? what do they lay eggs in?


----------



## hornet (Mar 24, 2010)

they will just nest on the ground, naturally in clumps of grass but in captivity just in the corner of the avairy


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 24, 2010)

so if i cut some long green grass and put in in the corner of my inclosure they might nest?
I thought they lay infert eggs regulary. I have one male and two females. the male is real flighty.


----------



## Guest (Mar 24, 2010)

jap quail are very flighty, bob whites are alot calmer and will incubate their own eggs too 
just be patient they will lay when their ready and I use an upside down pot with a hole cut in the side but the jap quail dont always use it to lay in


----------



## Pythonking (Mar 24, 2010)

You tend to find most jap quails don't nest as such you'll find there eggs here there and everywhere. What feed are you giving them and how old are they?


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 24, 2010)

I was told these jap quail can incubate there own eggs. can i make an icubator? bob whites sound good. they look like big fellas. Is there any incubators you recommend? brookfields poltory have them.
how and when can i tell if the eggs are fertile or infertile?


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 24, 2010)

Pythonking said:


> You tend to find most jap quails don't nest as such you'll find there eggs here there and everywhere. What feed are you giving them and how old are they?


I feed them crushed pellets i got from the stockfeeds as well as finch seed. they waste alot of it. i dont know ther age. i think they are fully grown but not sure.
What do you feed them?


----------



## Pythonking (Mar 24, 2010)

Its pretty rare to have jap quails that incubate there own eggs and an incubator is the best option, And yes brookfield have the hobavtor that would suit. The Advantage with jap quails is that they grow really fast and they can start laying at approximately 6 weeks but I've found the ownes i've owned before don't start laying properly till 7-8 weeks. You will only know if they are fertile Upon either candling which is hard with Jap quail eggs because of there speckling or until hatching. Best advice would be 3 females to one male as far as pairing for fertility.


----------



## Pythonking (Mar 24, 2010)

I feed mine barastock chick starter, They shouldn't be wasting hardly any have you got a poultry feeder that hangs of the ground?


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 24, 2010)

yeah i might hang my poltury feeder from the roof tomorro. that will stop em. everytime i feed them i have to unscrew the mesh from the cage. it takes awhile and they get abit spooked. could this be a hinderence to their egg laying activitys. Have you ever killed one? how? i might have to chop one up. I could chop one up, but i dont like the idea of killing one. they look at me funny.


----------



## Pythonking (Mar 24, 2010)

they should be alright I used to scare the hell out of mine everythime I went near them and they kept on laying, I've killed plenty for snake food, I don't bother with quails to much anymore all my snakes are big enough for chickens, It isn't uncommon for the jap quails to pick on one bird till they kill it, they can act this way towards new birds introduced quite often aswell.


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 24, 2010)

yeah, i brought them home in a cardboard box and one of the hens was bauld from the others peaking her. her feathers have grown back now. well ill give them a few more months. after that if unsucessfull i might try a different quail species. thanks for the advice. cheers.


----------



## Pythonking (Mar 24, 2010)

if you don't have any luck let me know, Is your male producing foam yet? From the sound of you mentioning brookfield poultry your in brisbane?


----------



## BJC-787 (Mar 24, 2010)

you said that they are in a wire floored cage, quails of any species should not be kept on wire floors they need a solid floor, and this would be upsetting them and is more than likley the reason they arn't laying.


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 25, 2010)

Pythonking said:


> if you don't have any luck let me know, Is your male producing foam yet? From the sound of you mentioning brookfield poultry your in brisbane?


 NO i havn't noticed any foam. i didnt know they foamed.
thanks BJC i might put some cardboard down to make the floor more stable.


----------



## beeman (Mar 25, 2010)

BJC-787 said:


> you said that they are in a wire floored cage, quails of any species should not be kept on wire floors they need a solid floor, and this would be upsetting them and is more than likley the reason they arn't laying.


 

Sorry but you couldnt be more wrong!!!
All commercial Quail are kept on wire for breeding/laying, the chicks spend the first 2weeks on a floored pen then they are placed on elevated wire floored cages to grow and in a dark room.
Breeding birds need 18 hours of light to maintain good fertility and be kept at a constant temp and are kept on sloped wire floored cages.
But hey i wouldnt know much about them, my family produced these birds commercially for over 30 years producing on average 2000 birds a week.

Just as a side note ther is no"S" in QUAIL it is both the plural and the singular in the one word.


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Mar 25, 2010)

beeman said:


> Sorry but you couldnt be more wrong!!!
> All commercial Quail are kept on wire for breeding/laying, the chicks spend the first 2weeks on a floored pen then they are placed on elevated wire floored cages to grow and in a dark room.
> Breeding birds need 18 hours of light to maintain good fertility and be kept at a constant temp and are kept on sloped wire floored cages.
> But hey i wouldnt know much about them, my family produced these birds commercially for over 30 years producing on average 2000 birds a week.
> ...


hi beeman 
i have mine at the side of the shed where they get sun light shining through the front of the cage during the morning hours. I think the cage maintains a constant temp. I might add a thermometer to get some readings tommorro. i guess it stays at 30 degree all day as it has good shade in the afternoon. my floors arnt sloped they are flat. Im glad the wire floor isn't a problem. Mine isn't sloped, its flat mice wire. it is elevated 5 foot off the ground. it is 4 foot x 3 foot. 2 foot high.
Today i flaten out a beer cartoon for them and cut long grass and floored the cage. i also put one beer cartoon in their half full of grass for them for them to hop in. 
the male tryed to escape. he jumped out of the cage. i grabed him and he leaped straight out of my hands i grabbed him again and thats when i checked for foam at his anus. there was some there. which iam happy about.
Do they breed all year outside? what temps can they withstand? i live near proserpine on the coast.


----------



## cris (Mar 25, 2010)

Are you supplying the correct amount of light? As mentioned they need a long period of light to breed well. As adults they seem to be fine all year in Brisbane without any heating. Apart from the light they also need suitable food to breed, i use chicken laying food with good succes. The slope in the floor is only to make the eggs roll to one spot, being flat is ok, just takes more time to get the eggs.

For an incubator i use a fridge, heat cord, small computer fan and dimming thermostat. I used to use a foam esky to start with but it started to stink and was too hard to clean after a few months.


----------



## Lonewolf (Mar 25, 2010)

You must drink a lot of beer.. 

We have only just got into quails so can't offer much info sorry.


----------



## beeman (Mar 25, 2010)

NoURdeadRight said:


> hi beeman
> i have mine at the side of the shed where they get sun light shining through the front of the cage during the morning hours. I think the cage maintains a constant temp. I might add a thermometer to get some readings tommorro. i guess it stays at 30 degree all day as it has good shade in the afternoon. my floors arnt sloped they are flat. Im glad the wire floor isn't a problem. Mine isn't sloped, its flat mice wire. it is elevated 5 foot off the ground. it is 4 foot x 3 foot. 2 foot high.
> Today i flaten out a beer cartoon for them and cut long grass and floored the cage. i also put one beer cartoon in their half full of grass for them for them to hop in.
> the male tryed to escape. he jumped out of the cage. i grabed him and he leaped straight out of my hands i grabbed him again and thats when i checked for foam at his anus. there was some there. which iam happy about.
> Do they breed all year outside? what temps can they withstand? i live near proserpine on the coast.


 

They will breed all year round if kept in a climate controlled shed situation, Once the temp gets over 28dg C the fertility and egg production drops off and its the same on the other end of the scale with the cold
There is a Game bird breeder ration available from several manufacturers i would suggest
you try and find it as its a proper balanced ration for breeding birds.


----------



## Pythonking (Mar 25, 2010)

beeman said:


> They will breed all year round if kept in a climate controlled shed situation, Once the temp gets over 28dg C the fertility and egg production drops off and its the same on the other end of the scale with the cold
> There is a Game bird breeder ration available from several manufacturers i would suggest
> you try and find it as its a proper balanced ration for breeding birds.


 
Thats interesting beeman I have a friend who lives around the corner from me who has also breed quails for a living and he swears by chick starter, he did mention sometimes he adds some extra kind of meal for extra protien but when i was keeping and breeding I never had a problem with them laying so didn't bother.

Can we get some pics of the birds?


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Apr 4, 2010)

*eggs!!!*

hey i got sone eggs. I dont know how long they been there. I might try slap an incubator together tonight with a esky. Do i put the eggs in a container like snake eggs?? Any instructions please?
What temp?


----------



## Lonewolf (Apr 4, 2010)

I'm still learning myself, but the info worked for me. 

I was told to incubate them for 18 days at 37.5 degrees celcius. Turn 180 degrees at least twice a day. On the 15th day stop turning and wait for them to hatch. 

We also read that humidity should be around 70%.

It was our first time incubating anything and the temps and humidity kept fluctuating heaps but they still hatched 

We didn't bother with a tub we just dumped them in the incubator lol


----------



## Pythonking (Apr 4, 2010)

quail eggs need to be turned its probably easier buying a incubator with a self turner


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Apr 4, 2010)

I made an incubator with a styro box, a urs heat mat inside the box. thermostat and water container. I candled the 6 eggs i could see red in 3 of them. they have probably been left in the cage for a couple of nights.
thanks for the temps, i couldn't find them anywhere.
i'll give them a couple of days, then candle them again. The eggs felt cold when i picked them out of the cage. It will be a miricle if they hatch. I poked some holes in the box for ventilation.


----------



## Lonewolf (Apr 4, 2010)

I've been going between the advice i was given by the guy i buy the eggs from and this site i found THE JAPANESE QUAIL a.k.a. COTURNIX Has some really good info on there


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Apr 4, 2010)

Pictures of my Improvisation incubation device i just made. I wish i collected the eggs earlier I dont know how long thay sat in the cage. last night was pretty cool. what do ya's think.

I added a container with vermiculite on top of stainless steel screen that is ontop of a water bowl that is ontop of the heat mat. the fan is abit of an over kill cause it cools the box down. Its a heater fan but i dont put the heat on. might melt the box. Im still checking temps. How important is it to get those eggs straight into the container?


----------



## Pythonking (Apr 4, 2010)

looks ok i guess never incubated quail eggs with verm before but hey you never know so your going to turn them manually a few times a day?


----------



## NoURdeadRight (Apr 4, 2010)

Yep. I wanted vermiculite to stop them rolling around. I put hot water in the vermiculite. Only a bit. Might be crazy enough to work. If i turn that heater fan on they'll be cooking. its like a blow drier. the coil might get wet but. Dont want to wreck my fan. 
I'll check for eggs every day now. I wasnt even going to check them but my neice wanted me to.
I got two beer cartons full of grass in there now. I'll save up for a hoverbator. Better get a job.


----------

