Button quail hens incubating same nest!

[miread]

HI there,
this is my first spring with an aviary and I have two pairs of button quail! When they were first introduced, we had some fighting so I took them out and reintroduced in smaller cages over time and then reintroduce the group into the aviary and they've been best pals since! Coming into breeding season there was a little bit of fighting but that quickly dwindled away and the hens started laying so I feel like it might have been mating behaviour? Anyway, I soon noticed both hens were laying their eggs in the one nest, and are now taking turns to incubate them! (there is no fighting between them, one just comes over to the sitter and nudges on to the nest and the other jumps off and gets a feed). I was just wondering if this is normal behaviour, and when/if we get chicks, will there be parenting issues?

 

[Aspen Forest]

Hi,
I don't have quail yet so I cant really help tell you if its normal. However it sounds supper cute! I wouldn't think there would be parenting issues

 

[DK newbie]

Hi there! I don't house several pairs together, but I have one roo with 3 hens, so with regards to several hens I have some experience. I haven't actually had several hens incubating the same nest, though. I had a hen that tried to steal a nest when the mother went eating, but when mommy was done eating and came back to see the intruder on her nest, she made a racket and the other hen decided to leave. A few days later, she started incubating a bunch of eggs in a flowerpot right beside the nest she wasn't allowed to borrow. Hen number 3 was incubating eggs about 5 feet away at the same time.
Anyway, 'mommy' hatched her chicks and this caused 'thief' to leave her nest to help caring for the chicks(which mommy allowed her to). 'number 3' hatched her chicks the next day and joined the other two, and so the 3 of them had 16 chicks to care for, along with daddy.
I would think the problem you might experience, is the roos. Even if they get along usually, the chicks will likely be one group and if both roos want to help caring for those chicks, that might make them spend more time near each other than they would want to. But perhaps they'll be able to work it out.
Good luck!