Broody quail. Will she stop gathering eggs?

jeanbeanjb

In the Brooder
Oct 27, 2016
25
1
14
Hi, I am so excited we now have a broody Japanese quail. She is sitting on fertilised eggs! She is however in a pen with2 other girls who are continuing to lay. She keeps gathering them under her. Will she stop eventually? Will the eggs be at different stages due to the diffferent days they are laid?
 
Wow, how exciting! You may have to remove the other girls as if she gathers too many eggs they won't be incubated properly (too many to keep consistently warm), plus the other girls probably won't be tolerant of chicks and could attack them. I'd leave the boy as long as she's tolerating him and he's giving her space/doing patrol duty as he 'should' help out when they hatch. But this is rarely explored territory so someone else hopefully knows more than me. I'm just guessing. Good luck and keep us updated!
 
Ok. The male is lovely and very protective of all his girls. Might need to source a pen of some sort to separate the other girls.
 
How big is the enclosure that they are in? Is it possible to cover her with a bottomless cage so everyone sees each other but they can't interfere?
 
https://holistic-hen.blogspot.co.nz/

Have a look at this website.  The link should take you to the contents page and if you look down under Hatching and Raising Quail you will find a few entries about this lady's experiences with broody coturnix quail.  Hope everything is still going well.


Thanks for that. I have Bering reading up on her blogs. Fascinating. I am inspired now to be on a quest to breed broodiness into quails!
 
How big is the enclosure that they are in? Is it possible to cover her with a bottomless cage so everyone sees each other but they can't interfere?

The enclosure is large but she's in an odd spot. The other 3 quails don't seem to be bothering her. I have now marked 7 eggs and have been taking away new ones that she gathers. It's her first clutch so I want her to do a good job with a small number.
 
The enclosure is large but she's in an odd spot. The other 3 quails don't seem to be bothering her. I have now marked 7 eggs and have been taking away new ones that she gathers. It's her first clutch so I want her to do a good job with a small number.

Sounds like you have a good shot then, good luck!
 
​Sounds like you have a good shot then, good luck!

Hope so. The wait is killing me. It's only day 5
1f633.png
. There was a storm last night. I was worried it might spook her but it didn't! Still sitting this morning!
 
UPDATE - sad news. She moved her eggs to another location, sat on them for half the day then gave up
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. I noticed them cold a few hrs later. I have taken half of them and they will sit in the incubator. Hopefully they might keep going? The other half I left in case she changes her mind. Though they might not make it by the time she gets back onto them, if she continues to be broody, she might be able to look after the other half that hopefully might hatch in the incubator. Will see.
 

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