Forced Resting Bobwhite Quail Breeders and Their Subsequent

ABSTRACT Three experiments were conducted to determine the influence of forced resting on the productive performance of Bobwhite quail breeders. In Experiments 1 and 2, breeders that were 60 and 54 weeks of age, respectively, were placed on a 5-week light restriction program. Light was decreased from 17 hr of light per day to 10.6 and 10.2 hr of natural light plus a "brown-out" condition for 6.4 and 6.8 hr in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. In Experiment 3, a conventional water and feed restriction method and low dietary salt method, both without light restriction, were compared. A cessation of egg production was effectively produced by the light restriction method used in Experiments 1 and 2 and the two dietary restriction methods in Experiment 3. However, post-rest production was slightly lower than that of unrested controls. Fertility was numerically higher for rested birds in all experiments. Egg weight, shell thickness, specific gravity, and albumen quality were not significantly affected by the forced rest. Feed consumption and body weight were re-duced during the rest period by both methods of forced resting in Experiment 3