Hatching Quail Eggs Under Hens

Has anyone tried this? thanks

I think the quail eggs are too small and fragile for a hen to hatch them.

I've had a fair few people try to hatch my eggs under bantams, despite me warning them it doesn't go well
reasons it tends to fail:
hen is too clumsy and breaks eggs
hen finds it difficult to turn eggs due to their small size
chicks get tangled in mum's chest feathers
chicks succumb to chicken diseases eg Mareks
chicks get away from hen and get cold
chicks escape from broody house as the house was designed to keep hen chicks in not quail chicks
mum stands on quail chick and squashes it
eggs get cold because hen leaves them for too long - she's designed to incubate hen eggs which can be left uncovered longer as they are bigger and cool more slowly
predators get the chicks
broken eggs contaminate viable eggs
chicks drown in mum's waterer
- usually people hatch very few and lose what they hatch.
If you were to go ahead with it, and the only reason to do so would be that you had a ready supply of quail eggs but can't source an incubator, you would want a very very small bantam such as an Old English Game or similar (even Silkies seem to be too big despite their great maternal instincts). You'd need a very secure broody house designed in such a way that the babies can't get away from the hen. It would need to be well-insulated and predator proof. You'd need to take the hen out for 1/4 hour a day for feed, water and poop rather than let her set her own schedule. You'd need to monitor for broken eggs and remove them. You'd need to take the babies out and brood them yourself most likely.

Do a byc search here for this, it has been covered many many times before.... THIS IS A REALLY BAD IDEA! chickens should not be close to gamebirds as they carry a great number of illnesses that the chicken are immune to, but your game birds are not! The resultant infection will run thru your gamebird population like a wildfire. You will not be able to stop the spread, nor will cure the illness. Also any hen, that includes the tiniest seramas and game hens, is too big and will crush wither the eggs or the peepers once they hatch.

tried that once and it didn't work, they all got smashed.

But a while ago I hatched 3 Quail eggs under a pigeon, worked out well. Just have to check then to make sure you take them out on time, otherwise the baby sitter (the pigeon) tries to feed them and then kicks them out.

Just buy or build yourself an incubator. It will work out better in the end.

Quote:
nothing works better than a good ole broody hen

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Thats funny!!!!! thanks everyone for the help!!!

Quote:
nothing works better than a good ole broody hen

Not for gamebirds.... unless of course she's practicing for a role in a play where whe plays the part of Typhoid MAry...

Quote:
nothing works better than a good ole broody hen

Not for gamebirds.... unless of course she's practicing for a role in a play where whe plays the part of Typhoid MAry...

I LOL"D
JJ you always crack me up