Hi Kasey, mine are outside also. I have them in a 4x8 wired wrapped dog run on sand/sweet PDZ. From what I have always heard Coturnix Quail only lay when they get 14 hours of light. It makes survival sense, in the wild it would be the best time for them to raise a brood of chicks. Warmer, more light for foraging, lots of seeds and grain, plentiful vegetation and active bug populations. The shortening days would signal to their bodies that the lean times of winter were coming and the time to make babies has past. They are one of the oldest domesticated breeds, if not the oldest, but this light trigger hasn't been completely lost. In my experience, if I forget to set up a light when the days are shorter, the eggs production starts to fall off, than stop. It also triggers a hard molt and they spend a lot of energry reserves regrowing all of those feathers. My hubby Poo Pooed the light thing at first, but stopped when we saw the same results, time after time. When we added light they started laying again, sometimes it took awhile. This is just my experience, hope it helps.
