Getting quail to lay eggs?

Hey guys, so I just got two quail hens that are of laying age, however I haven't seen an egg yet. Is there something in particular they might be lacking? They've got fresh water daily. They eat game bird chick crumble with ground eggshells. They have a little basket as a hide.
Could they be too stressed? I don't know if this is what quails are like normally but they seem paranoid. They hide in their basket all day and scoot out real quick to get food and water, then back in. If I approach the cage they run around freaking out, pop corning and pecking frantically at their wire. Kinda sad, cause I wanted them to be my outdoor buddies. I've had them for a week tho, so maybe they have to get acclimated?
Some things that could be causing stress/causing absence of eggs, let me know if I hit on something:
The bottom of the cage is wire, maybe they don't like the feel on their feet?
The cage is raised, maybe they don't like being 2ft off the ground?
Not enough hide areas? They have a small basket laid on it's side the two of them fit into, also a black plastic pot one hides in sometimes. Maybe they would like more brushy stuff?
Not dark enough? I built the pen with a clear acrylic roof because I kept reading about daylight hours needing to be long for them to lay. But they seem to feel that they're all out in the open. I did put a black towel over half of it today (of course they were hiding in it)
Dust bath? I haven't gotten their dust bath set up yet, could they be upset about that? Lack of grit causing them to not digest properly? The eggshells ought to take care of that, right?

Hey almond!

What type of quail are they? My coturnix always took about 6 weeks longer than I expected to start laying and they laid more it seems when I had groups of at least seven in a smaller cage.
They got really stressed out when they were in what I thought was a healthy environment but once I put them in a small commercial rack cage system they nolonger fought or lost feathers and the egs came more frequently!

Good luck!

They are coturnix, ones a Pharaoh and the other is a Falb Fee. I had planned on getting some celadons but waiting on my breeder It's a pretty small cage, or maybe it's too big for just the two of them- 1 1/2 ft by 2 1/2 feet. I have a dog crate I'm going to try putting them in under some trees for a few days, maybe they'd like the cover.

I've kept them successfully in a similar size cage but it was not so tall. How old are they?

The height of the cage is a foot, and then it's about a foot and a half off the ground. They are a month I think?

Don't sweat it then. Mine never lay until 6-12 weeks

Their cage is so small... What happens is when we start with quails we all watch those youtube channels that show these poor birds being kept in battery cages, meaning awfully exploitative conditions, and we think this is normal. God forgive me, I did it too for a week or two in the beginning (many years ago). But these are very active, curious birds, with lightning fast reflexes, they need to forage and explore. The second cruelty of the battery cage practice is the wire bottom- scratching and pecking at the ground is their natural behavior, what they do when they aren't resting. So, the wire not only is unnatural and probably unpleasant for their feet, but it deprives them of their favorite past-time, scratching.

I think it would be easy and inexpensive to greatly improve their living conditions. But more urgent is their food situation.

Eggshells and grit are two different things. Eggshells are a calcium supplement, something crucial for laying hens, that should be offered always separately from their food. They'll know instinctively how much they need and help themselves. But until they lay their first egg, they don't need eggshells.

"They eat game bird chick crumble with ground eggshells." So the ground eggshells are mixed into their food? They shouldn't be, because too much calcium is very toxic. They don't need all this calcium because they're not laying yet. This can lead to kidney damage. Even after they start laying, the eggshells should be offered separately, or 'free choice', because they know better than us  exactly how much they need. Also, hopefully the chick crumble is not medicated?

Grit is something crucial for their digestion, it acts like 'teeth' in their gizzards, grinding down their food. If they're fed only commercial crumbles, they don't need grit, because the crumbles are water soluble, 'pre-masticated' so to speak. But they shouldn't be only on processed, feed store 'feed', because it generally lacks phytochemicals. Phytochemicals (beta-carotene, lycopene, quercetin, capsaicin etc), meaning the plant chemicals that have disease preventive properties, are essential for their health and the quality of their eggs. My quails were used to eating only crumbles when I got them, I successfully moved them to a more complete and healthy diet, I'll write down the 'how to' in the next post if you want.

But for now it's very important that they get unmedicated crumbles, WITHOUT eggshells.

Are they secure at night? Do you have a dog or a cat?  

It's definitely not an aviary but I wouldn't say it's a battery cage. There's only two of them so there is room to run around if they want. They just seem to want to hide all the time, though. I am worried about the wire on the bottom. Today they're on the ground in a dog crate with very wide bars so we'll see how they do. But anywhere they are 24/7 or at least overnight is not going to be able to be wire-free because we have a weasel problem.
I didn't know about the eggshells. The person I got them from has been raising q's for ten years and it's just what she told me to do. I will provide some grit for them. No, the crumble is not medicated, it just has more protein. What is your recipe?

I started with an aviary and the Bob whites did really well but the coturnix always killed eachother in the large space. I would love to figure out how to get them into a larger more natural space with some garden beds mixed inside some day.

I always used chick starter feed (higher protein) and commercially available grit. I couldn't get my hands on the high protein game bird feed.

I hope one day to be able to grow my own feed and am also interested in anyone's recipe for such!

Quail are easily startled and do not deal with change very well. I keep quail in a ground aviary and if I forget to put a branch or a overturned basket back exactly where it was, while cleaning, they completely freak out and act like they've never seen where they are before.

They love routine, plenty of fresh food and clean water. Once they are set in their surroundings they will begin laying, but it's not uncommon for them to stop laying if they get stressed.

Also, quail are season sensitive; they stop laying for "the winter". If I recall correctly, "winter" for quail equals less than 18 hours of light per day.