How Many Eggs do California Quail Lay a Year

[tricid]

You can certainly eat the eggs if you like. They're a little smaller than coturnix.

Fyi in case you haven't gotten to that point yet, mated valley quail become aggressive/territorial, especially towards their own sex, during the breeding season. Depending on numbers and space.

+2 on them getting aggressive once paired up. Me being caught off guard by just how aggressive they get is what nuked some of my plans this year. I had one male with 4 hens, it's just kind of what I ended up with in my large aviary. The male chose his preferred mate this year and they would team up and attack the other females to the point I almost lost a couple. I had to isolate/separate the paired couple from the rest.

Something I'm going to test next year is if they're in their large aviary and everyone has a mate, if that behavior isn't at least more tolerable. Maybe 2v2 spats rather than outright 2v1 murder. No clue if that'll work the way I hope.

 

[Emerson DeCurtins]

I have quite a few valley quail and just want to add that my egg numbers are probably closer to the 200+ a year point. It could be my climate. They don't get any intentional artificial light, but I do get some "light pollution" from a school nearby.

Mine seem to mostly lay year round with a few random breaks of a couple weeks here and there.

This year I think I'm starting to notice a trend that any female that's isolated with a male for breeding starts laying a lot less. I'm not yet 100% on that though.

Edit to add: I haven't yet had any of mine go broody, but they have a 500sq ft aviary where I'm hoping to see that happen next year. I've seen a couple act like they were going to start to, but any tiny disturbance seems to make them buzz off and forget it. Also early days on those experiments so I'm not 100% on it

I have one mated pair and am hoping to keep some of their hen chicks next year. They are in a 300sq ft run that is 7ft tall. Their coop is 32 sq ft. My hen will try to lay on her eggs, but the male will bug her therefore she will stop. I think next year when he is more mature he shouldn’t do that anymore. I would like to put a few Coturnix in with them. They haven’t been aggressive yet and are two.

If I keep a few of their hen chicks in with them will the male try to mate with his chicks or will he only mate with his mate? Should they be fine with Coturnix with this large space? Does laying 200+ eggs a year shorten there lifespan? I had originally read that they lay 200 eggs a year without a mate present, only hens. Thanks!!

 

[tricid]

I have one mated pair and am hoping to keep some of their hen chicks next year. They are in a 300sq ft run that is 7ft tall. Their coop is 32 sq ft. My hen will try to lay on her eggs, but the male will bug her therefore she will stop. I think next year when he is more mature he shouldn’t do that anymore. I would like to put a few Coturnix in with them. They haven’t been aggressive yet and are two.

If I keep a few of their hen chicks in with them will the male try to mate with his chicks or will he only mate with his mate? Should they be fine with Coturnix with this large space? Does laying 200+ eggs a year shorten there lifespan? I had originally read that they lay 200 eggs a year without a mate present, only hens. Thanks!!

That is the exact behavior I saw. I never considered it being an age thing! I'm adding that to my list of things to test for next year.

With what I saw having 1 male with 3-4 hens (valley) in a large aviary to themselves, the male will pick his preferred hen. Then that hen will get very aggressive towards any other hens. Then the male joins in, and you have a male + female whipping up on a single, unpaired female. To the point I'd see one of the 2 hold it down while the other just pecked the hell out of it, completely blocked it from getting to food/water, and nearly killed it before I even realized how bad it was getting. I took their seemingly preferred target out, then they did the same thing with another. Finally I isolated the pair. No clue how much of that is "normal" but its what I went through earlier this year.

Last year a mix of coturnix (I forget how many, close to 10 maybe), 2 bobwhite and 4-5 valley's spent the entire year in my 8x8 pen. The only fighting I ever saw was coturnix on coturnix.

My current theory is its a numbers game + pen size. When I had more numbers, even in a smaller space, I saw less fighting. When I put far fewer quail in a larger pen, all hell broke loose. So my thinking is I didn't have enough birds to dilute the aggression, spread it around enough that not one or two birds are constantly getting their butts kicked.

I have enough aviaries, pens and cages to separate any single, pair, or group from one another when problems arise. My hope/goal is having a mix of "pretty" birds in one large aviary just to enjoy watching them derp around and hear their calls. It might not work but I'm stubbornly going to try it. And I guess that's also my main advice. Have backup plans if you're trying something questionable.

 

[Emerson DeCurtins]

That is the exact behavior I saw. I never considered it being an age thing! I'm adding that to my list of things to test for next year.

With what I saw having 1 male with 3-4 hens (valley) in a large aviary to themselves, the male will pick his preferred hen. Then that hen will get very aggressive towards any other hens. Then the male joins in, and you have a male + female whipping up on a single, unpaired female. To the point I'd see one of the 2 hold it down while the other just pecked the hell out of it, completely blocked it from getting to food/water, and nearly killed it before I even realized how bad it was getting. I took their seemingly preferred target out, then they did the same thing with another. Finally I isolated the pair. No clue how much of that is "normal" but its what I went through earlier this year.

Last year a mix of coturnix (I forget how many, close to 10 maybe), 2 bobwhite and 4-5 valley's spent the entire year in my 8x8 pen. The only fighting I ever saw was coturnix on coturnix.

My current theory is its a numbers game + pen size. When I had more numbers, even in a smaller space, I saw less fighting. When I put far fewer quail in a larger pen, all hell broke loose. So my thinking is I didn't have enough birds to dilute the aggression, spread it around enough that not one or two birds are constantly getting their butts kicked.

I have enough aviaries, pens and cages to separate any single, pair, or group from one another when problems arise. My hope/goal is having a mix of "pretty" birds in one large aviary just to enjoy watching them derp around and hear their calls. It might not work but I'm stubbornly going to try it. And I guess that's also my main advice. Have backup plans if you're trying something questionable.

Ok, so you would not suggest keeping their chicks in with them once the female chicks mature? And each of the single female hens lay 200 eggs a year?

My plan would be to divide the coop and run so the mates have their own space. The hen was so broody that she was digging a hole for the eggs too, I really hope the male won’t be an issue next year. Do you any experience with Mountain Quail?

 

[tricid]

Ok, so you would not suggest keeping their chicks in with them once the female chicks mature? And each of the single female hens lay 200 eggs a year?

My plan would be to divide the coop and run so the mates have their own space. The hen was so broody that she was digging a hole for the eggs too, I really hope the male won’t be an issue next year. Do you any experience with Mountain Quail?

My situation could have just been weird, but with what I saw, no I wouldn't recommend it. But I wouldn't push against you trying it either if you had a back up plan if fights break out. Edit: and yea I'd guestimate around 200 a year with how mine are set up and where I live. They lay near daily, year round, with random week or two breaks scattered about.

lol mountain quail was on this years list. After spending a small fortune on 3 batches of mail order eggs, I have 0 mountain quail. I had great hatch rates but no matter what I tried, they didn't live past a week. I've read a mountain's (lol) worth of conflicting information about them being near impossible to get to eat on their own without a momma hen, to being "just like any other quail". For me, it was the former. Or some other issue I failed to spot. Edit: my plan is to maybe try them again next year under a broody silkie. Or say screw those and add blue scale or something else

 

[maadroj]

I have 4 pairs in about 230 SQ ft aviary. They still fight each other and will kill if you don't intervene. They seem to chase their target down until it's too tired to flee anymore. Any unmated birds would be targeted first, but they will also attack other mated birds. Pairs appear to mate for life but will take up a new partner if they lose one. I believe they need much larger territories during breeding season and the violence is due to being unable to get away from each other in the enclosed space. We've resorted to separating them during the breeding season. In fall and winter they get along better. I don't know how they'd do with other kinds of birds. I also haven't let them raise any chicks so can't say how they treat their own adult offspring. Try it only if you have a back up plan. I believe @007Sean is able to keep a large number of females with a small number of males.

I think they would only lay eggs year round if they have lots of light (whether natural or artificial), and I'm sure it will shorten their lifespan.

 

[Emerson DeCurtins]

I have 4 pairs in about 230 SQ ft aviary. They still fight each other and will kill if you don't intervene. They seem to chase their target down until it's too tired to flee anymore Any unmated birds would be targeted first, but they will also attack other mated birds. I believe they need much larger territories during breeding season. We've resorted to separating them during the breeding season. In fall and winter they get along better. I don't know how they'd do with other kinds of birds. Try it only if you have a back up plan.

I think they would only lay eggs year round if they have lots of light (whether natural or artificial), and it will shorten their life span.

Ok, so during mating season I just section off part of it just for the mates, but during fall/winter they can all live together; singles and mates.

Thank you so much for the info!

 

[maadroj]

How many eggs they lay depends on whether you pull the eggs. If you pull eggs, they'll continue to lay (don't know how many but I will go with what others have said: 25-40 eggs per year). If you don't pull the eggs, they'll stop at around 15 eggs and start incubation (provided that they content in their environmental). They do not lay year long, they start in the spring and stop sometime in summer. I don't know how long California quail actually live in a healthy and safe environment, but they should continue laying for the majority of their lives.

I've always let my hens hatch their own eggs year after year, and they incubate only because I give my birds my entire yard to roam. If they are confined in a coop, don't expect them to sit. They need to be comfortable with their living conditions (i.e. no pacing back and forth).

I know someone who lets her (handraised) valley quail out to free range under supervision and then calls them back in to their aviary. Is that what you do, too? I've done this with chicks, but I'm too scared of hawks to try as they get older.

 

[Emerson DeCurtins]

I know someone who lets her (handraised) valley quail out to free range under supervision and then calls them back in to their aviary. Is that what you do, too? I've done this with chicks, but I'm too scared of hawks to try as they get older.

I am giving mine a 250sq ft run, but I would love to have them free range! If anyone has information on this please share!

 

[tricid]

I have 4 pairs in about 230 SQ ft aviary. They still fight each other and will kill if you don't intervene. They seem to chase their target down until it's too tired to flee anymore. Any unmated birds would be targeted first, but they will also attack other mated birds. Pairs appear to mate for life but will take up a new partner if they lose one. I believe they need much larger territories during breeding season and the violence is due to being unable to get away from each other in the enclosed space. We've resorted to separating them during the breeding season. In fall and winter they get along better. I don't know how they'd do with other kinds of birds. I also haven't let them raise any chicks so can't say how they treat their own adult offspring. Try it only if you have a back up plan. I believe @007Sean is able to keep a large number of females with a small number of males.

I think they would only lay eggs year round if they have lots of light (whether natural or artificial), and I'm sure it will shorten their lifespan.

Thank you so much for this info. This is near the exact set up I was aiming towards next year. I was hoping if they were all in pairs the violence would be better, but it seems that won't be the case.

I do have breeder pens I can separate them in to during that season though, so maybe my aviary plan will still mostly work with a breeding season interruption.