It's 3:44 AM, and I went to the backyard to check on my quails and had to separate a male and a female, each in solitary confinement until dawn so I can understand if they got scared or if one of them had a nightmare.
As you might have already noticed, this isn't an article you'd read on the Globo Rural website, but if you give me a chance, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's very likely you'll find useful information here, both for professional and amateur breeders, or even for that uncle who enjoys keeping quails in his backyard as a hobby.
First, let's talk about the eggs.
They are quite peculiar, both in size, coloration, and appearance.
Birds that nest in tree trunks tend to have white or blue eggs, the same happens with nocturnal birds. The reason for this is quite simple: it helps the parents see the eggs in the nest.
On the other hand, quails camouflage their eggs with a stone-like appearance.
Biologically and physiologically speaking, it takes a quail approximately 24 hours to produce an egg, and another 3 to 3.5 hours to "paint" the egg and make it look like we all know it.
If, during the last phase when the egg gets its appearance, the quail gets "scared," the egg might hatch with a white or grayish coloration (without speckles).
So, if you occasionally find an egg without speckles, relax. But if it happens often, then you'll need to take serious measures, especially regarding feeding, lighting, and routine. (We'll talk about each of these subjects shortly).
And since we're talking about eggs, let's use this as a starting point to discuss choosing eggs for reproduction.
The first aspect is to understand that quails run an intense risk regarding inbreeding. (I'll continue tomorrow)
