I hatched out quail in September 2024 and they havent layed a single egg and the vents are tiny

[NickofromSouthFlorida]

Their vents will be small until they start laying. Once they start laying, their vents stretch out.

In my experience, chicks that hatch during spring/summer will start to lay a lot sooner than chicks that hatch in fall/winter. I have a batch of celadons that hatched about the same time as yours and they have not started laying yet. I don't expect them to start until spring since I'm not providing extra light.

Thank you so much for the help.

 

[Skankiewicz]

It sounds like it's insufficient light, then. If they're only getting 9-10 hours of light per day, that's not enough. They need 14-16 hours of light per day. The light doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something you can see reasonably well by.

We use string lights in the backyard and just leave it hem on past sundown, a floor or desk light may work too.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I live in Siberia (joke!) and haven’t had any trouble with laying or fertility in late fall hatched birds, even when outside temps are subzero and natural light is less than 8 hours a day. A string of led Christmas lights (on a timer) is sufficient for lighting (14 hours daily) to keep them laying and a 21 percent protein layer feed reliably produces eggs (or crowing) around 7 weeks of age. I used to feed a 30 percent protein starter and they’d start laying at 5 weeks but we had 30 percent wonky eggs for a few weeks, 21 percent seems to ease them into production a little more gently! Most chicken layer feeds run 16-18 percent protein which isn’t high enough for maintenance in laying quail let alone young growing birds. The result is slower growth and later sexual maturity. Sexual reproduction is a secondary process, primary things like moving and survival are prioritized if nutrients are limited (the birds will use limited protein for survival first and only produce eggs if there is something left over). The same with less than 12-14 hours of light, their little bird brains don’t become sexually active without it. Red or white light is best according to some interesting studies. Fix both issues and hopefully you’ll have eggs two weeks later!

 

[chickengr]

I am not an expert but a friend of mine is. she made a cottage where she keeps cages with quails. she heats it as she says quails need minimum temperature of 18 c (64.4 f) to lay. I had quails and fed them 14% chicken layer feed and they laid every day.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

I hatched my quail in October, I haven't seen any mating, crowing, proper fights between the males and still no eggs, it's probably the winter months that makes them lay later.